Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Louder
Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton on writing about his daughter’s death in new memoir
By Matt Mills,
2024-06-27
Lamb Of God guitarist Mark Morton's autobiography, Desolation: A Heavy Metal Memoir , was published on June 25 via Hachette Books.
And, talking about the memoir in an interview hosted by his co-author Ben Opipari, Morton admits that the most challenging chapter to write was that concerning the death of his daughter, Madalyn Grace Morton, in 2009.
Madalyn Grace passed away on the day after she was born, due to an infection.
Explaining why the chapter about his daughter was so difficult to write, Morton says (as transcribed by Blabbermouth ): “It’s not because I discovered anything new about that situation. I just think that I struggled to honour it and word it just right.”
“And I remember telling you [Opipari], ‘I don’t want a lot of notes on this one.’ That was one of the things I was, like, If there’s grammatical stuff… I spent some time with that one.
“I was in a really bad mood those few days. So, in that sense, it just drummed up stuff. It’s not something I bury. It’s not something I forget. It's not something I wanna commodify either.
“I didn't want this to be a book about that, but I can’t tell my story without touching on that. So it was more about finding the balance of all those things and kind of making it feel like I honoured that, but didn’t exploit it and told my authentic version of that. And I think that’s what we did.”
Morton also reveals that the most fun part of Desolation to write was his reflections on the early days of Lamb Of God, originally formed under the name Burn The Priest.
“I really, really enjoyed kind of going through all the memories of the Burn The Priest era of Lamb Of God and then the early Lamb Of God stuff and just really trying to characterise what an absolute just cyclone of chaos and idiocy we were back then,” he says.
“And that was fun to explore and to revisit. And even with the stuff before that, like my high school bands, I did a lot of checking in with folks and seeing if I was remembering this right.”
Lamb Of God will embark on a co-headlining tour of North America next month with Mastodon .
The bands will be celebrating the 20th anniversaries of their respective albums Ashes Of The Wake and Leviathan , with support coming from Kerry King and Malevolence.
See the full list of dates below.
Lamb Of God / Mastodon Ashes Of Leviathan tour dates:
Jul 19: Grand Prairie, TX - Texas Trust CU Theatre Jul 20: Austin, TX - Germania Insurance Amphitheater Jul 21: Houston, TX - 713 Music Hall Jul 23: Jacksonville, FL - Daily’s Place Jul 24: Orlando, FL - Orlando Amphitheater Jul 25: Alpharetta, GA - Ameris Bank Amphitheatre Jul 27: Raleigh, NC - Red Hat Amphitheater Jul 28: Richmond, VA - Virginia Credit Union LIVE! Jul 30: Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE Jul 31: London, ON - Budweiser Gardens Aug 1: Montreal, QC - Bell Centre Aug 3: Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun Arena Aug 4: Manchester, NH - SNHU Arena Aug 6: Bangor, ME - Maine Savings Amphitheatre Aug 8: Reading, PA - Santander Arena** Aug 9: Cleveland, OH - Jacobs Pavilion** Aug 10: Sterling Heights, MI - Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill** Aug 13: Moorhead, MN - Bluestem Center For The Arts Amphitheater Aug 15: Calgary, AB - Scotiabank Saddledome Aug 16: Penticton, BC - South Okanagan Events Centre Aug 17: Kent, WA - accesso ShoWare Center Aug 18: Portland, OR - Theater of the Clouds Aug 21: Los Angeles, CA - The Kia Forum Aug 23: Phoenix, AZ - Arizona Financial Theatre Aug 24: Rio Rancho, NM - Rio Rancho Events Center Aug 25: El Paso, TX - El Paso County Coliseum Aug 27: Magna, UT - The Great Saltair Aug 29: Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre Aug 31: Omaha, NE - The Astro Amphitheater
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
Welcome to NewsBreak, an open platform where diverse perspectives converge. Most of our content comes from established publications and journalists, as well as from our extensive network of tens of thousands of creators who contribute to our platform. We empower individuals to share insightful viewpoints through short posts and comments. It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency: our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. We strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation. Join us in shaping the news narrative together.
Comments / 0