First published October 5, 2018.
The interpreter in the viral Lamb of God clip is Lindsay Rothschild-Cross, an American Sign Language teacher from Lumberton, Texas. On 20 June 2018 she interpreted the band’s song “Ruin” at a metal show in Austin, matching singer Randy Blythe’s growls with ferocious facial expressions, pounding rhythm and full-body energy. A fan filmed her from the crowd, the footage spread across Facebook and YouTube, and within weeks millions of people had watched a sign language interpreter steal the attention at one of the heaviest concerts of the summer.
For many viewers it was the first time they realised that deaf people go to metal gigs, and that interpreting music is a craft of its own. Here is who she is, how concert interpreting works, and why the clip mattered to deaf fans.
The night in Austin
The Austin show was part of a 2018 tour that brought together Slayer, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth and Testament on one bill. Local Texas news reported that the interpreting team included both hearing and deaf members who rotated through the long evening, a standard arrangement for a show that lasts several hours across five bands. The often-repeated claim that Lamb of God themselves played a six-hour set is a misunderstanding: the whole concert ran for hours, not one band’s performance.
The video was shot by Freddie Ibarra, a fan from Monterrey, Mexico, who was standing close to a group of deaf concertgoers. He has said he was struck by how fully that part of the audience was taking part in the show, and that while he had seen interpreters at other concerts, none had moved him like this.
Rothschild-Cross, then 29, was not a household name in the music world. She taught ASL at Lumberton High School and had interpreted concerts for about four years through Amber G Productions, a company that supplies interpreters to music events. By her own account she had never interpreted death metal before that night and was nervous going in.
Why the clip went viral
Metal is loud, fast and physical. Shows often feature mosh pits, crowd surfing and a wall of sound that few people associate with sign language. Watching an interpreter roar silently along to “Ruin”, headbanging and snarling in time with the drums, broke a stereotype for millions of viewers. Many hearing people commented that they had never thought about how deaf fans experience a concert.
Going viral was not something she enjoyed at first. When her employer told her the video was everywhere, she said she did not sleep and called it her “worst nightmare”. Interpreters are trained to support communication, not to be the centre of attention, and sudden fame can feel at odds with that role.
The band noticed too. Blythe later jumped down from the stage to sing alongside her for a while, and he publicly praised sign language interpreters at Lamb of God shows, describing them as part of the energy exchange of a concert and just as important as any of us performing on stage
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How music interpreting actually works
American Sign Language is a complete natural language with its own grammar, vocabulary and regional variation. It is not English spelled out on the hands, and it is not a set of gestures. Meaning is carried by handshape, movement, location, the space around the signer, and facial expression and body posture, which do grammatical work as well as conveying emotion.
That is why a good concert interpreter does far more than relay lyrics. They study set lists and lyrics in advance, decide how to express metaphors and slang in ASL, and show the music itself: the beat, the instrument lines, the tension before a breakdown, the attitude of the singer. In metal, that means conveying aggression and catharsis through the face and body, which is exactly what made this performance so striking.
Rothschild-Cross described the job simply: It’s not like translating. It’s not word for word.
She has also said that to interpret this music well she had to step into the singer’s persona and channel the anger of the song.
Many deaf and hard-of-hearing people enjoy live music. Some have partial hearing; many feel the bass and drums through the floor and their bodies; others follow the show visually. An interpreter gives access to the words and the emotional arc that the vibrations alone cannot.
What the law says about interpreters at concerts
A common claim attached to this video is that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires every concert venue in the United States to have interpreters on site at all times. That overstates the law. The ADA requires businesses and public venues to provide effective communication for people with disabilities, using appropriate auxiliary aids and services. What counts as appropriate depends on the situation, so in practice deaf fans usually request an interpreter for a particular show, often through the venue or promoter, in advance.
Some festivals and larger promoters now plan access from the start, with dedicated viewing areas and interpreting teams on the schedule. Other events still provide interpreters only on request. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and planning to attend a show, it is worth contacting the venue’s accessibility team early and asking what they offer.
Watch the performance
This is the clip that made the rounds in 2018, interpreting Lamb of God’s “Ruin” in Austin.
A wider message about deaf fans
The viral moment helped raise the profile of concert interpreting at a time when other interpreters, notably Amber Galloway Gallego, whose company employed Rothschild-Cross, were already becoming known for signing hip-hop and rock. It also prompted hearing audiences to see deaf fans as fans, not as an afterthought.
Rothschild-Cross said what she most wanted people to take away: I want people to understand that deaf people can do anything anyone else can do, except hear.
If a crowded, chaotic metal show can be made accessible, so can most events, with a little planning and a skilled team.
Thanks to Mystical Raven for first sharing the video with our readers.
Sources: 12News (KBMT): Lumberton sign language teacher rocks social media; Blabbermouth: Lamb of God frontman praises sign language interpreter; Loudwire: metal sign language interpreter; U.S. Department of Justice: ADA effective communication; video via Mystical Raven.
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