Slayer: The Return Of Dave Lombardo

[Lucifer]

SLAYER: The Return Of Dave Lombardo

Whether directed at God or another immortal diety, old-school Slayer fans' prayers have finally been answered - original drummer Dave Lombardo has reunited with Slayer. Well, kind of. With Slayer's drummer Paul Bostaph having resigned because of a chronic elbow injury, Lombardo will take the stage with his former bandmates for 13 shows in 10 lucky states. RECOIL asked Slayer guitarist Kerry King what in the goddamned hell is going on.

Recoil: Slayer's original drummer, Dave Lombardo, will be filling in on drums for the next leg of your tour. How did that come to be?
Kerry King: Well, it probably starts with drummer Paul telling me like four days before the end of the last tour that he wasn't going to stick around anymore. He kind of put us on the spot. We already had this tour coming up on sale and it's like, "Now what the hell do we do?" Originally, I wasn't into even asking Dave, but our manager said, "If he can do it, it makes sense, ya know. People haven't seen it, there are a lot of new fans that have never seen it. I think it would be pretty cool." And then I realized he was probably right. So we started rehearsing and it's getting really close.

R: Are there any feelings like, "Maybe if this goes well, he'll rejoin the group," or is that simply beyond the realm of possibility?
[/b]KK:[/b] It's not beyond the realm of possibility. It's the music business, stranger things have happened. But it's definitely not on anybody's plate right now. It's not because somebody doesn't want him to or he doesn't want to, it's just that we're not even looking there.

R: How are rehearsals going?
KK: It's awesome. [Lombardo]'s ninety-five percent there. Truthfully, I didn't think he could do it. But he's blown me away - he's got the feet and he's got the hands, he's not missing a step.

R: What exactly is the nature of Bostaph's elbow injury?
KK: I don't know. What it sounds to me like, was like a tendonitis thing. But not knowing, I've got to make up my own assumptions. And tendonitis goes away. So I'm left feeling like, "I don't get it."

R: If Bostaph felt his injury was healed and wanted to come back would he be welcomed back?
KK: I don't think he's going to do that because one of his concerns was he was worried about playing drums later, like after Slayer. He didn't want the injury to keep him from playing drums forever. I think there's more to it than that I just don't know what it is. I'd love to read an interview with Paul. Why don't you call him up, I want to read that. (Laughs.)

R: I've heard that The Eagles knew they were creating a classic when they wrote and recorded "Hotel California." When Slayer was doing the same with "Angel of Death," did you know it would be a metal classic?
KK: Not at all. Shit, [Reign In Blood] came out in what, eighty-six? I was twenty-two. We didn't think about that. "Hotel California" I think came out later in The Eagles' career. They probably had more idea of what's good and what's not. We were just putting out the best ten songs we had at that time. And it turned out to be good.

R: The liner notes for God Hates Us All show Bible verses with sections crossed out with a black marker. What does that represent and where did the concept come from?
KK: It represents a record company with absolutely no idea what the fuck they were going to do. If we would have had more time it could have been better. It looks like some seventh-grader defaced a Bible - cartoonish. I had this idea where it would look like a sociopath [defaced a Bible]. [My idea was to] put the nails [hammered into the Bible's cover] in the shape of a pentagram, but don't draw the pentagram. And in the book itself, have all the holes from the nails miss key words. Like he's such a sociopath that he knows where the words are in the book and every nail he drove in missed them all.

R: Any pre-trading deadline predictions for the Stanley Cup?
KK: Well, man, the Red Wings are like the Yankees. It's like not fair. I've got to go that way.

RECOIL Magazine November 2008

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http://www.recoilmag.com/interviews/slayer_0202.html