I am guessing many of my readership wouldn’t have heard of the band “As I Lay Dying”. To be honest I am not too familiar with the band myself. When I was doing my research for a story this week this just seemed too good to resist. This week the Beat Marches On to 26th February 2014 when As I Lay Dying singer Tim Lambesis pleads guilty to hiring someone to kill his estranged wife.
As I Lay Dying was formed in 2000 and is from San Diego, California. They started as a trio featuring singer Tim Lambesis, guitarist Evan White and drummer Jordan Mancino. Naming themselves after a book by William Faulkner the band earned a reputation in their local area quickly and by 2001, they had released an album.
Throughout the rest of the decade, the band started gaining popularity. They added two more members which became the classic line-up of the band. Although the lyrics of their songs were aggressive the band came out early and said that they have strong Christian beliefs, and their words didn’t reflect their beliefs.
In 2008 the band continued their upward trajectory when they were nominated for a Grammy for Best Metal Performance for the single “Nothing Left” Singer Lambesis appeared on the reality show LA Ink and the loyal fanbase was ever-expanding.
By 2012 the band were on top of the world. They are headlining arena tours, have six albums under their belt including a covers album and starting to crack the Billboard album charts. That was all about to change over the next 18 months.
Tim Lambesis and his wife Meggan divorced in September 2012. They had been married for eight years and adopted three children from Ethiopia. The reason for the divorce was because of inconceivable differences. The singer had started to take up bodybuilding and his ex-wife was worried that he cared more about bodybuilding than his family. The divorce also claimed that Lambesis had stopped believing in God, which came to a later admission that the band only said that they were religious to get more sales!
Angered by the lack of time he was getting to see his kids Lambesis started lamenting to a worker at his gym (and steroid provider) who is only known as Brett. The singer started to talk to Brett about how he wanted his wife killed. Brett claimed he knew a guy.
Brett didn’t know such a guy but was so disgusted by what he heard from Lambesis that he went to the local police. The police decided to do an undercover operation with a detective posing as a hitman known as Red and would meet in a local bookstore. Brett told the singer to meet Red there and that the price to kill his estranged wife would be $20,000. The meeting was on.
On the 7th May 2013, the two men met at the bookstore to arrange the job. Lambesis bought $1000 as a down payment and pictures of Meggan. He explained the daily routine and the best times to commit the murder. He didn’t mention that he wanted her dead but wanted her gone and to never come back. The meeting ended and the singer started to walk away. He got about 15-20 feet away and said “Just so you know I do want her dead”
That was it. The evidence that was needed by the police to make the arrest. They swooped in, arrested Lambesis and took him to jail. Before he knew it his rockstar life had turned upside down.
Lambesis pled not guilty and a $2 million bail was set. The lawyers blamed the use of anabolic steroids for the defence, but no one was buying it. Yes, ‘roid rage can cause aggressiveness to another individual but they are an in-the-moment thing, a flick of the switch if you will. With the hire of a hitman, it’s a premeditated attack. You have to plan it out.
By February 2014 with the evidence piling up against him Lambesis changed his plea to guilty. He was facing up to nine years in prison and a $10,000 fine. When the plea was changed the band decided to break up. They wanted nothing to do with Lambesis after hearing the allegations.
Lambesis was sentenced to six years in prison in May 2014. He would only serve around three of those six years being released in December 2017. While in prison he attended rehabilitation meetings for his steroid abuse which helped him have a new outlook on life. He was redemptive and apologetic to all those that he had hurt in the past.
The remaining members decided to still play together. They changed their name to Wovenwar hired a new singer and played a completely different genre. They were disgusted by the actions of Lambesis so, upon his release in 2017 and wanting to reform his band again, but they were hesitant to do so.
It took a lot of convincing with the other band members to reform. Wovenwar wasn’t as successful as As I Lay Dying but they had a steady following and had supported a few bands with big followings on tour. One year later Lambesis had eventually convinced the rest of the band that he had changed and announced that they were reforming and releasing a new album in 2019.
The reformation divided a lot of fans. There was some happiness, they were one of the most popular within their genre before the arrest of Lambesis. Others were still so shocked by the actions of the singer that they didn’t want anything to do with the band anymore.
The band hit a few stumbling blocks on their way as a few concerts had to be cancelled due to protests outside the venue. Their record label dropped them, and they were finding difficulties in hiring a producer to work with the band for the new forthcoming album.
They did finally get a label to sign them and they self-produced an album that was released in September 2019. They released a video on YouTube before the album was released explaining that Lambesis had turned over a new leaf and how the band had forgiven him. For the most part, it seemed like the singer had turned over a new leaf. The prison experience had changed him, and he had become a mental health and addiction counsellor.
All the changes that Lambesis made during his prison stint are a positive thing but it still doesn’t take away the fact that he tried to have his estranged wife killed. It’s something that not many people can come back from. The fact that the band are still selling out arenas after the fact is certainly a shock to me.
Looking back at music history it’s not as surprising as I first thought. When Michael Jackson first had accusations, many fans were on his side. The lead singer of Motley Crue killed a member of another band while on a beer run and that was before they started selling out stadiums. Even recently with Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, the fans sided with Depp before any evidence came forward.
A quick Google and you can find dozens of cases like this and more than usual the celebrity tends to get away with it. Yes, you could argue that Lambesis did his time. He served almost three years, but this isn’t he said she said or an accident this was a pre-emptive plot to kill the mother of his children. It takes planning.
It’s something that looks like will be set to continue in the future even with the new #metoo movement. While the most hideous crimes by the elite are getting their comeuppance there are still so many that will get away with crimes and with that something needs to change.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
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The websites used for research were:
You Wouldn’t Want To Meet As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis In Real Life. Here’s Why (grunge.com)
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