When New Jersey metalcore legends God Forbid hit the stage at Blue Ridge Rock Festival in Virginia this September, it was the band's first show in nearly 10 years. God Forbid (and Bad Wolves) guitarist Doc Coyle opened up about the experience in a new interview with the Everblack podcast, saying it was "a lot of fun" and "very challenging."
"[God Forbid material] is really taxing, especially when you've stepped away [from it for a while]," he said. "I've always stayed pretty up with it as far as playing it consistently, but it was a thing where once we kind of all got into a room, it was pretty much all there in terms of the chemistry and the sound and the power of the songs.
The guitarist continued, saying "It's cool, because you don't know how it's gonna be. You take a long time away from something, and you don't know how well it's gonna age or [if] you [are] gonna feel like you're putting on an old pair of shoes that doesn't exactly fit. But it was great, man — it was just great being around everybody."
It was recently announced that God Forbid will be on board for Lamb of God's first-ever Headbanger's Boat cruise next year, and Coyle seems genuinely excited, if not willfully reserved.
"[Playing Blue Ridge] was a stressful situation because it was a festival kind of in the middle of nowhere, and the logistical parts of that was a lot to deal with," Coyle said. "But we figured it out. We had a lot of things go wrong, but everything ended up working out pretty well. I thought the show was great; it was a lot of fun. And now we have some new opportunities coming up for next year. We're not gonna do a ton of stuff. Some of the guys have got kids and jobs and stuff, so I don't think there's an opportunity for the band to be a full-time thing or [to do] a full tour. It'd be hard to imagine how that would work, logistically."
That said, earlier this month, God Forbid's 2023 schedule got a little bit bigger when they announced two more dates, this time on land: the Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on January 6, and The Palladium in Worcester, MA on January 7.
"It's cool that the band still seems to have a place in the hearts of a lot of people, and so we're gonna try and honor that as much as possible," Coyle said. "I don't have kids yet — I do music as my career — so for me it's not a big deal; I can play it whenever; I can go on tour with God Forbid' whenever. But I can't make that promise for everyone else. And it's a collective affair."
You can watch the complete interview with Coyle below.
