Metal fans were surprised earlier this week to learn that longtime Lamb Of God drummer Chris Adler was dismissed from the band. Adler talked about being let go and why he thinks he was fired on a new episode of Loaded Radio. Adler is also the drummer for Megadeth.
“I haven’t talked about this before, but I had — at the same time as my Megadeth work, in like 2016 or 2017, right at the end of ’16 — I was diagnosed with something called musician’s dystonia,” Adler said. “I didn’t want to talk about it at the time because I felt like it would really hinder my career. But I’ve gone through an incredible amount of work to be able to come back from it.”
“What it is — and I’ve heard Cannibal Corpse bassist Alex Webster talk about this before, and I’m buddies with him — and recently I saw the Nickelback documentary,” Adler continued. “I’m not the biggest Nickelback fan, but it’s a great documentary if you haven’t seen it. Their drummer, Daniel Adair, went through the same thing. It may have been with his arm or his hand, but he was diagnosed with dystonia. For a drummer, or really anybody that plays an instrument, it’s kind of a death sentence.”
Adler went on to explain that the condition affects his right foot. “Dystonia is basically a neurological condition where the nerve that controls the movement of any particular body part deteriorates to the point where that motion becomes impossible,” he said. “People that repeat the same motion for decades at a time, this happens to them. It happens a lot to golfers, quarterbacks, first-chair violinists, people that just practice the hell out of what they’re doing. And this happened to me with my right foot.”
He continued: “I would be playing a song and my foot, when I intended it to depress the pedal, would shoot off to the side or shoot back. That was at the point where I was coming off stage just so depressed with my performance. I think the band was very frustrated with my performance. I did give them the medical paperwork: ‘Here’s what it is, here’s what we can do. There’s just a couple of songs that are really aggravating this. The rest I can get through if you’re willing to change them.'”
Adler thinks that frustrations began to mount in the band when he took the gig with Megadeth.
“At the time, I had also joined Megadeth. Tensions were really high,” he said. “We were never the most functional group of people traveling around the world, if you know anything about the band. Whoever was not in the room was basically getting picked on. And I think the combination of things got to the point where they didn’t want to deal with it, and I wasn’t happy with my performances. So that kind of stopped the train. It was one of those emails: ‘Your services are no longer required’ kind of thing. And that was devastating, because it really was, I felt like it was my baby. It was my project, and I put my life into it. It was my identity.”
Adler said that despite being let go, he holds no ill will towards his former bandmates. “I did take it hard. I did take it personally,” he said. “And it sent me spiraling for a little while. But I’ve worked through those resentments, and I’ve got nothing but love for them.”
Adler’s full interview can be viewed below.
