Interview by Kris Peters
The name Dave Lombardo is synonymous with thrash metal.
Since co-founding legendary thrash outfit Slayer in 1981, Lombardo has been the barometer for metal drumming.
He has been named by Rolling Stone in their list of 100 Greatest Drummers Of All Time, been dubbed The Godfather of double bass by Drummerworld, proclaimed The King by Modern Drummer... the list goes on.
He has appeared on more than 100 studio albums/recordings, including live stints with Grip Inc., Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle, The Misfits, DJ Spooky, John Zorn, Testament, and most recently creating the soulful duo Venamoris, with his wife Paula.
His resume is unrivalled in the world of music as a whole, let alone his chosen profession as drummer.
But despite the metal undertones and notoriety within his chosen genre, Lombardo is a true student of the arts, finding comfort in a plethora of genres and styles that transcend the perceived heart of metal.
This passion is now laid bare for the world to see with the impending release of his solo album Rites Of Percussion, a self produced release featuring 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.
It is an album created to satiate his own musical desires and one which sees Lombardo exposed like never before.
HEAVY had the pleasure of spending some time with the legendary drummer to dive deeper into his musical psyche.
"It feels a little surreal," he measured, "because I've wanted to release something like this for years and it finally came to fruition. I'm very proud and beyond happy at how well it's been received. I expected the typical metalheads complaining about one thing or another and I was already ready to answer those comments by saying 'well just wait five minutes, I'll be coming up with a new metal album real soon.' Or if you want to revert to Mr. Bungle or Dead Cross, those are a couple of bands that we've just released albums with. It's awesome, man. I love it. Maybe we'll do another one it's been such a great experience."
Making an album where he himself is the only constant and where the quality and success of the material falls squarely on his shoulders is something Lombardo has experienced little of in his time as a musician. With Rites Of Percussion every note, every nuance is birthed by his own volition, meaning more thought and emphasis was required for every painstaking stage of the process.
"The music took the direction on its own," he offered. "I started creating the rhythms, then starting to layer sounds - because I worked by myself - and it started taking a life of its own. As the songs were developing I started seeing the vision a little clearer and it started becoming an actual entity. A body of work. It didn't sound to me... it wasn't developing like alien bits and pieces from different sessions. It became a cohesive body of work. It was really interesting and I had many moments during the recording process - many moments - that were like 'aha' moments, or epiphanies where it was like oh God, where did this come from? It was really cool and it set me up, I feel at this moment as I look back, it set me up to hopefully pursue number two and create a second Rites Of Percussion but it wouldn't sound the same. It would sound totally different because now from different elements - drums, sound designing - it was a really good learning experience to say the least."
In the full interview, Dave talks more about the musical composition of Rites Of Passage, making it an album of just his work without guest appearances, how Mike Patton set the wheels in motion for this album 25 years ago, his album mantra of drums had to be drums and what it means, the different instruments and soundscapes on the album, his love of different genres of music, appeasing fans and more.