Lamb of God (reluctantly?) headlines at Electric Factory

We would be remiss in calling Randy Blythe nostalgic, but there are hints that the Lamb of God frontman longs for the old days. For instance, he said in a recent interview, he likes when his band is the opening act.

"I hate headlining," Blythe said, chuckling, speaking in advance of Saturday's sold-out show at the Electric Factory in which Lamb of God will, in fact, headline. The bill also features Anthrax, Deafheaven, and Power Trip.

"I'd rather open up. It's a lot easier to steal a show early on. By the time we play, three other bands are going to play. They're all great bands. So it's going to be, like, the kids are tired, you've got to work extra hard."

Blythe (pronounced Bly) noted that, also unlike the old days, the set list is pretty much locked in for every show.

"There is no spur-of-the-moment with this band," he said, noting that it would be tough to change things on the fly given the lighting and video production in the current show. "Our drummer plays everything, because he's a robot. He has a click-track in his ear - click, click, click, click, click, click. He plays everything into a click-track to be as precise as possible.

"It didn't used to be that way. And I miss that way, because you could have those spur-of-the-moment things - but that's gone now."

The Richmond, Va., band - also featuring Mark Morton and Willie Adler on guitars, and John Campbell on bass - begins its tour Friday night in Pittsburgh, but Philadelphia was a no-brainer as an early tour stop.

"We came up in Philadelphia. That's where we developed our audience," Blythe said. "We formed the band in '94. We used to be called Burn the Priest. And we used to play warehouse shows in West Philly all the time - punk-rock shows. It's where we first developed an audience, even before our own hometown.

"Philly has always been a second home to us. My friend Mikey Brosnan, who I knew just from the punk scene, booked us. He put out our first record. He started a record label in order to put out our first record."

Asked why Philadelphia has embraced Lamb of God, Blythe replied, "Philly is a bigger city than our town, but it's not as overwhelmingly citylike as, say, Los Angeles or New York, you know what I mean?

"It's not as impersonal, I suppose. There's definitely a personality in Philly. People are, I don't know, friendlier, I guess, but with enough of that East Coast attitude. It's a larger city, but has a smaller-town feel to it.

"And Philly has a good art scene. That's always good for music . . . I've always been impressed by Philly's art scene. It's a well-rounded city."

Blythe also raved about Lamb of God's co-bills.

"Anthrax we've known for a long time," he said. "We toured with them very early in our career. They're obviously legends . . . It's nice to have them on the bill again. We haven't toured with them in a long time and they're really cool dudes.

"I just got turned on to Power Trip through our booking agent, his recommendation. I like their record and I hear they really bring it live. But I'm a huge, huge fan of Deafheaven. Their record Sunbather - the one that came out just a couple years ago - is just amazing. And I like their new record, New Bermuda, as well. And they're definitely something different. The bill's going to be pretty diverse, so I'm excited about that."

But not so much about the Grammy nomination - Lamb of God's fifth - for "512," from the 2015 album VII: Sturm und Drang (Epic). The song is about Blythe's monthlong jail stint in the Czech Republic in 2012 after the death of a fan following a show there two years before. (He was acquitted after a weeklong trial in 2013.)

"I don't care, I just don't care if we win," Blythe said of the Grammys. After their first nomination, he auctioned the nominees' medallion he received for charity, so the Grammys have stopped sending them to him.

But if Lamb of God does win, what will he do with the trophy?

"I'll probably just blow it up and film it," Blythe said.

Saturday, January 16 at Electric Factory (421 N. 7th St.) - Tickets