It took five weeks, but Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe is finally back in the United States after being imprisoned in Prague on suspicion of manslaughter. And now that he’s back and rested, he’s starting to talk to the media about his time there. First and foremost, in an interview with Rolling Stone, he claims that the Department of Justice knew about Blythe’s manslaughter charges, but never informed him of it.

The Czech authority sent a letter to the Justice Department, and our government told them basically where they can get off. They said, “No, we won’t cooperate.” I don’t know if the American government thought there was not enough basis for them to pursue an investigation. Regardless, what I’m a little bit steamed about is the fact that they didn’t have the courtesy to contact me – in any way, shape or form – and say, “Hey, you’re wanted for manslaughter in a foreign country.” 

Blythe also says that his one meeting with the U.S. Embassy just consisted of one person confirming he wasn’t being tortured. He goes into detail about his time in prison in the interview, talking about how he rationed his reading into “serious reading” and “relaxing reading.” In addition, he says he wrote a song for Hank Williams III, saying “I’ve been wanting to write a song for him for years, and what better place to do it than prison? ” And in addition to that song and lyrics he wrote, he started the outline of a novel set in Pancrak Prison, saying “I’m sure there’s going to be some sort of book out of this experience.”  The whole article is here, and is worth a read.