GENE HOGLAN looks back on assisting DAVE LOMBARDO during SLAYER's 'Haunting The Chapel' sessions
28-08-2024
In a new interview with ProMark Drumsticks, legendary extreme metal drummer Gene Hoglan reflected on assisting Dave Lombardo during the recording sessions for SLAYER‘s 1984 EP “Haunting The Chapel”. Since Lombardo‘s drum kit was placed on a concrete floor during the recording sessions for the EP, it kept sliding around all over the floor. The solution was to enlist Hoglan‘s services to physically hold down the drums while Dave pounded away.
“It’s a pretty well-known story,” Hoglan said. “It’s been told a million times. When SLAYER was in the studio for the ‘Haunting The Chapel’ record. I was there with them. Dave‘s kick drum was walking as he was trying to record ‘Chemical Warfare’. And that’s a legendary SLAYER song. And so Dave was, like, ‘Hey, my bass drum is walking. Can somebody come out and, like, just hold my kick drums in place?’ And sure enough, eight heads turned to me and said, ‘You’re the drummer. You get out there.’ So I’m down there on my hands and knees. I’m holding on to his kick.’ And that tom (that Dave used for) that famous roll (in the beginning of the song), that thing was right over my head. And Dave was using Evans — they were either red or purple hydraulic heads. He had concert toms. Concert toms, meaning you don’t have a bottom head. So it was really easy to see right up in there and see the drumstick that far from my face. I just remember, I was like, ‘God, Dave, I sure hope that you nail this in like one or two takes, ’cause if we’re gonna be here for a couple hours, oh, God, I’m gonna die.’ Sure enough, him being Dave Lombardo, he nails it in one take, but that’s always my memory. Every time I hear ‘Chemical Warfare’, I remember that stick going, ‘Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’ right above my head. Pretty fun story for a 16-year-old.”
Lombardo later recalled that “Gene wasn’t just holding my kit together — he was coaching me. He was an amazing double-bass player even back then. He really helped me out.”
Hoglan is acclaimed for his creativity in drum arrangements, including usage of odd devices for percussion effects and his trademark lengthy double-kick drum rhythms (using what he calls “kick triplets”). His highly technical playing is extremely accurate at very high and challenging tempos, earning him the nicknames “The Atomic Clock” and “Human Drum Machine”. He is best known for his works with Devin Townsend, DARK ANGEL, DEATH, DETHKLOK, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, TESTAMENT and FEAR FACTORY.
Hoglan got his first drum kit when he was 13 and is completely self-taught. He started jamming along to his KISS and RUSH records. In 1984, Hoglan began his music career as a roadie (lights engineer) for the thrash metal band SLAYER, where he also played the drums during concert soundchecks. He was also part of the band WAR GOD with Michelle Meldrum. At the end of the same year he was asked to join the thrash metal band DARK ANGEL as the drummer. He penned most of the lyrics for DARK ANGEL‘s next three albums. He achieved greater fame during the mid-1990s playing with DEATH, at the same time that bandleader Chuck Schuldiner was taking that group into a more progressive style. Subsequently, he recorded several albums with the thrash metal band TESTAMENT, and made the acquaintance of Canadian multi-instrumentalist Devin Townsend, forging a lasting friendship. He has since recorded several albums with Townsend, both as part of the speed/industrial/death metal band STRAPPING YOUNG LAD and under Devin Townsend‘s name.
For the past decade and a half, Hoglan has been working with DETHKLOK, the band from the animated TV show “Metalocalypse”. The show was co-created by stand-up comedian/actor/musician Brendon Small, who also composes or performs all of the music.
Gene joined FEAR FACTORY in 2010 and played on the band’s “Mechanize” album.
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