Back on the Throne – Slayer’s Dave Lombardo
Metallica did it with Death Magnetic, and now Slayer’s done it with World Painted Blood. Both bands came up in the 80s as dictionary-definition groups. And both have – with the afore-mentioned records – gone back to the basics that made them the seminal groups they are. Slayer is out on tour this month, and Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium will be the closest they’ll be to us, on January 31 with Megadeth and Testament.
Dave Lombardo is looked upon as one of the great drummers or our time, not only in metal, but, as his work with Mike Patton and Buzz Osborne in Fantomas shows, in music. I chatted with Dave recently; here’s what we talked about:
There was no way to fit everything in here, so you can listen to the full interview below. Lombardo and I talk about the Cuban metal scene, inside the studio for the recording of the new album, the possibility of more from Fantomas, the demands – physical and mental – of metal drumming and much more.
N4U: Out of nowhere question, and I hope you’ll indulge me here. You’re a native of Cuba, and I was wondering what you think about some of the chatter coming from the Obama administration about maybe relaxing relations with them.
DL: I look forward to establishing relations with Cuban metal record companies. Maybe in the future there could be some work or production that I could do there, molding or even nationalizing the Cuban metal scene. What I think they should do is allow people to listen to the music they want to listen to. Right now, metal in Cuba is underground. The only mainstream, accepted music in Cuba is the typical music of that area.
This kind of comes around to what I wanted to talk about – when I was a kid, there was Def Leppard-type metal and Iron Maiden and that kind of stuff, but what you guys were doing was underground here. You kind of had to know people to get into it.
Yeah. We definitely weren’t part of the mainstream. It’s funny that glam style of music, that was the norm. That was what was accepted.
To be corny, when I first heard you guys, it was like opening a bottle of champagne; nothing sounded like that.
Absolutely. That feeling of how music can uplift you. Especially to teenagers at that time. This happens to me often, when I discover new bands or a style of music or something, I get just as excited as I did when I was a kid. I’m always searching out for bands that do that to me – looking for the ultimate sound.
When you’re looking for new sounds, are you primarily looking at heavy music?
Anything in general, just as long as it has like a… I mean, not all music, because I do enjoy classical, and piano. But for the most part, it has to be heavy. And it has to have dark overtones, whatever that is. It doesn’t matter what genre or style, just so that it has those elements. It doesn’t have to be metal.
So we’re in a time machine and we’re at Slayer’s practice pad back in the beginning. What would we have heard and seen?
I think you would have seen four guys determined to continue playing music for the rest of their lives. We were creating a band, and we were excited – trying to figure out what name to call the band, discussing what songs we would cover – go from Judas Priest to Iron Maiden. It went on and on and on; it developed and grew. We were excited: ‘Hey, when are we gonna practice again?’
Do you remember a Eureka moment, like when you thought, ‘We’re taking this heavy music and playing it like this – really fast – and it’s really cool?’
Yeah, I think the first time we stepped out of Southern California and went up to San Francisco. And we saw the reaction of the fans, you know, moshing and jumping off the stage, crowd-surfing. I mean this was ’82, ’83.
Was the style born like, you’re playing these cover songs and speeding them up? Was it just a natural thing that happened?
Oh it was really natural. It was like an evolution, almost. We would listen to Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, but then Jeff (Hanneman) shaved his head, got into punk music, and showed up at rehearsal with all this different music. I thrived on it – like, ‘Wow, this is amazing; I relate. I can relate to this musical rush.’ I think it inspired the fusion between metal and punk – that energy.
What was the first Slayer gig like? Paint that picture for us.
The first time we played was probably at Southgate Auditorium; it was on Halloween; we got together in summer of ’82, so October of ’82. There’s one picture that I have, and I need to get it back, that shows the band. Jeff has his K.K. Downing hat, you know, white with the black ribbon around it. And Kerry with his little polo shirt (laughs).
Reign in Blood – it’s been called everything from the pinnacle of speed metal to the Sgt. Pepper of metal. How have your feelings about it changed over the years?
I think we’re very lucky to have something like that. Not every band has that, so for us to have that title, to have a record like that under our belt, I mean it only brings good things. It put us on the map.
Fast-forward to when you came back to Slayer after your time away. What was your first feeling when you first sat on the drum throne with the band?
When I looked from my drum riser down to Jeff and Kerry, I thought to myself, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ I just couldn’t believe that I was back in the band – a band that I thought I would never ever come back to. It was an odd feeling; I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay. But it turned out to be cool; everything turned out great. We’re still enjoying it, and we’re still having fun. We’re stronger than ever, I think. There’s deeper stuff than just the music that connects us together.
When you’re just walking around, are you sort of cursed to find rhythms everywhere?
It’s horrible. It’s like an illness. Yes, absolutely. It’s really annoying. I’ll be driving on the freeway and the lines on the road create a pattern, and there goes my mind… but the worst thing is a dryer with clothes or shoes in it… the most annoying pattern ever.
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PHOTO CREDIT | HER PR // ANDREW STUART
