Until his arrest in May 2013, As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis enjoyed a successful and lucrative musical career.
The locally based heavy metal band’s singer and co-founder pleaded guilty Tuesday in connection to a murder-for-hire plot involving his wife, Meggan. The story shocked members of the local music community, including SoundDiego contributor Tim Pyles of FM 94/9, when it broke last year.
"He’s not the idealistic young Christian kid he once was, apparently," Pyles said last spring. "Because that’s what [As I Lay Dying] are: a straight-edged Christian metal band. He was a nice guy. I’ve had him on my show a couple times over the years. I just spoke to him via Facebook the last couple months about having him come on to talk about his latest record."
As I Lay Dying formed more than a decade ago and released eight albums, including the Grammy-nominated An Ocean Between Us, which came out in 2007, according to band publicity. The band is also a mainstay of the San Diego Music Awards, nominated in 2012 for Best Hard Rock Album for Decas, winning for Best Hard Rock the year before that. In 2008, 2007 and 2005, the band took home the SDMA statuettes for Artist of the Year. As I Lay Dying were slated to go on a cross-country tour with the Massachusetts metal band Killswitch Engage until Lambesis’ arrest.
Fans of Lambesis and As I Lay Dying voiced their shock and disbelief on Twitter and Facebook after Lambesis was accused of the crime. One fan wrote, "Tim, please tell me the rumors aren’t true," and another posted, "Seems like he is the greatest guy in the world; he adopted a kid from Ethiopia."
Lambesis also played guitar, drums and bass in the band Austrian Death Machine, a thrash metal project inspired by movie star and former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. A new release, Triple Brutal, is scheduled for a release next month.
