DAVE LOMBARDO: I can still play SLAYER music
'I play music that's a little more difficult and challenging now'
21-04-2023
In a new interview with Sense Music Media, ex-SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo was asked if he still has the physical dexterity and stamina to play material from his former band. He responded: “I could still play it. I think I play music that’s a little more difficult and challenging now than SLAYER. SLAYER‘s music is machine-like; it’s like a locomotive — just go, go, go, go, go. Now I’m playing that, but the songs have a lot more changes. MR. BUNGLE‘s music, it’s a little more complex than what SLAYER‘s was. And some other thrash bands I played recently with, the music has evolved to more complex rather than straightforward thrash.”
He added: “So, to answer your question, I’m totally fine. I don’t have any issues with my wrists, elbows, shoulders, joints. I hope it continues, ’cause I wanna play until I’m 90. I want them to take me from the wheelchair onto the throne. I play like a fucking madman and then back to the wheelchair, back to bed. (Laughs)”
Lombardo was effectively fired from SLAYER after sitting out the group’s Australian tour in February/March 2013 due to a contract dispute with the other bandmembers. He was later replaced by Paul Bostaph, who was previously SLAYER‘s drummer from 1992 until 2001.
Shortly after his dismissal, Lombardo said that he discovered that 90 percent of SLAYER‘s tour income was being deducted as expenses, including fees to management, costing the band millions and leaving them with about 10 percent to split four ways. While he and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya hired auditors to figure out what had happened, Lombardo said he was never allowed to see any of the information obtained.
SLAYER played its last-ever show in November 2019 at The Forum in Los Angeles.
Lombardo will release his debut solo album, “Rites Of Percussion”, on May 5 via Ipecac Recordings.
Dave Lombardo, one of the most influential, innovative and prolific drummers of modern music, has recently shared “Separation From The Sacred”, the second single from his debut solo album, “Rites Of Percussion”, which will arrive on May 5 via Ipecac Recordings.
Watch “Separation From The Sacred” below.
The 13-track collection, previously previewed with the release of “Journey Of The Host”, is the result of a 40-year career that saw Lombardo rise to prominence as a co-founder of SLAYER, earn two Grammy Awards, and expand his repertoire across genres. The Cuban-born Lombardo‘s resume includes outings with the acrobatic, Mike Patton-led FANTÔMAS, the critically revered John Zorn, experimental hip-hop artist DJ Spooky and the resurrected punk icons MISFITS.
Watch the previously released “Journey Of The Host” below.
“Mike Patton originally gave me the idea as far back as 1998,” explains Lombardo. “He introduced me to Tito Puente‘s ‘Top Percussion’ album. I was already familiar with Tito and was a bit shocked that Patton was so musically diverse, and that he surrounded himself with musicians of the same mindset. That inspired me. I have had ideas that I’ve recorded on cassette over the years, but Patton kept insisting that I had to do a ‘drum album.’ So, the idea behind the album is years in the making. I just had to find the right time — for me — to do it.”
“When the pandemic hit, I thought, ‘Well, I can’t tour now,'” he says. “I immediately started working on the record. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. I had my studio, all my drums. Nothing was in storage for once! My home became a place where I could be free and creative. On the one hand, the touring part of my livelihood had been taken away, but on the other, I finally had the time to educate myself on different software and recording techniques. It was a very educational and gratifying experience.”
The recording process of the film score-like album had a simple mantra: drums had to be drums. Mixed in early 2022 by Lombardo‘s son, David A. Lombardo, the self-produced release features a large concert bass drum, a timpani, a grand piano, and a flock of shakers, maracas, Chinese and symphonic gongs, Native American drums, congas, timbales, bongos, batás, wood blocks, djembes, ibos, darbukas, octobans, cajóns, and cymbals.
“Rites Of Percussion” track listing:
01. Initiatory Madness
02. Separation From The Sacred
03. Inner Sanctum
04. Journey Of The Host
05. Maunder In Liminality
06. Despojo
07. Interfearium
08. Blood Let
09. Warpath
10. Guerrero
11. Vicissitude
12. Omiero
13. Animismo
Album pre-orders, which include CD, digital, and three vinyl variants: standard cigar smoke, indie retail exclusive blood sacrifice, and Ipecac-exclusive purple haze, are available now.
Dave Lombardo was born in Havana, Cuba, relocating to Los Angeles when he was a mere two years old. He began playing drums as a teenager, and co-founded SLAYER (and created the band’s logo) in 1981. Rolling Stone, in their list of the “100 Greatest Drummers Of All Time,” dubbed him the “Cuban speed demon, ” Modern Drummer proclaimed him “The King,” and Drummerworld gave him the title of “The Godfather of double bass.” Lombardo‘s eye-popping resume includes over 100 studio albums/recordings and includes both recorded and live stints with GRIP INC., FANTÔMAS, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, DEAD CROSS, MR. BUNGLE, MISFITS, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, TESTAMENT, and most recently creating the soulful duo VENAMORIS, with his wife Paula.
Lombardo was effectively fired from SLAYER after sitting out the group’s Australian tour in February/March 2013 due to a contract dispute with the other bandmembers. He was later replaced by Paul Bostaph, who was previously SLAYER‘s drummer from 1992 until 2001.
Shortly after his dismissal, Lombardo said that he discovered that 90 percent of SLAYER‘s tour income was being deducted as expenses, including fees to management, costing the band millions and leaving them with about 10 percent to split four ways. While he and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya hired auditors to figure out what had happened, Lombardo said he was never allowed to see any of the information obtained.
SLAYER played its last-ever show in November 2019 at The Forum in Los Angeles.
