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Exit Lombardo, enter Bostaph

Thrash titans Slayer have just announced that their previous drummer, Paul Bostaph has re-joined the band, full-time. This means that Dave Lombardo has been asked to leave the band for good just a week after they paid tribute to Jeff Hanneman at a memorial.

The band has released this statement on their official Facebook page:

SLAYER WELCOMES PAUL BOSTAPH BACK TO THE FOLD. Slayer’s Tom Araya and Kerry King are very pleased to announce that Paul Bostaph has rejoined the band on a full-time basis.  Bostaph will be behind the drum kit beginning June 4 when Slayer kicks off the first leg of its 2013 international tour in Warsaw, Poland.  Gary Holt will continue to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman. Slayer’s 2013 …itinerary will have them playing 35 dates that will include headline shows as well as a number of major summer festivals in Europe, Eastern Europe and South America between June and October.  The complete itinerary is below. “Paul’s a great drummer and a good friend, and we’re very happy that he’s decided to rejoin the band,” said Tom Araya.  “We’re still pretty numb from the loss of Jeff, but we don’t want to disappoint our European fans, and we need to begin moving forward…having Paul back in the band makes that a whole lot easier.” “I’m very excited to be rejoining Slayer,” added Bostaph.  “We spent a very intense ten years of our lives together, had a lot of fun, made a lot of great music, so for me,  this feels like coming home.” Bostaph was Slayer’s drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band – the Gold certified Divine Intervention (1994), the 1996 punk covers album Undisputed Attitude, Diabolus in Musica, (1998), God Hates us All (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for “Best Metal Performance,”  as well as the DVD War at the Warfield (2001), also certified Gold.  In addition to Slayer, Bostaph has been a member of Forbidden, Exodus, Systematic and Testament.

Dave Lombardo asked to leave Slayer?

Earlier today, this message was posted publicly by the official Facebook page of Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo:

Statement From Dave Lombardo Regarding Slayer Australian Tour 2013

I want to personally apologize to all of our fans in Australia who have bought tickets for the tour expecting to see me in my usual place on the drums.

So that you all know the truth, as of the end of the business day on February 14th, I was notified that I would not be drumming for the tour in Australia. I’m saddened, and to be honest I am shocked by the situation.

Last year, I discovered 90% of Slayer’s tour income was being deducted as expenses including the professional fees paid to management, costing the band millions of dollars and leaving 10% or less to split amongst the four of us. In my opinion, this is not the way a band’s business should operate. I tried rectifying it by letting my band mates know, and Tom and I hired auditors to figure out what happened, but I was denied access to detailed information and the necessary back up documents.

I spent the Christmas and New Year holidays realizing I had toured all over the world in 2012, but yet, had not been paid (except a small advance) or provided a proper accounting for a full year’s sweat and blood. On top of this, I was told that I would not be paid until I signed a long form contract which gave me no written assurance of how much or on what basis management would deduct commissions, nor did it provide me access to the financial budgets or records for review. It also forbade me to do interviews or make statements having to do with the band, in effect a gagging order.

Last Monday, I sat down with Kerry and Tom to rehearse for Australia and to propose a new business model that I felt was the best way forward for Slayer to confidently protect itself so we could do what we do best . . . play for the fans. Kerry made it clear he wasn’t interested in making changes and said if I wanted to argue the point, he would find another drummer. On Thursday, I arrived at rehearsals at 1 pm as scheduled, but Kerry did not show. Rather, at 6:24 pm I received an email from the lawyers saying I was being replaced for the Australian dates.

I remain hopeful that we can resolve our issues. But once again, I sincerely apologize to all of our fans in Australia who spent their money expecting to see the 3 of us original Slayer members.
I look forward to seeing you in the future.

Sincerely,
Dave Lombardo

 

EXODUS’ guitarist Gary Holt recruited by SLAYER

Slayer have recruited Gary Holt, the guitarist of Bay Area thrash metal band as  a temporary replacement for Jeff Hanneman, who’s underwent emergency surgery after contracting necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh eating bacteria on his skin. Holt will join Tom Araya, Kerry King and Dave Lombardo at the Soundwave festival that begins this February in Australia.

“Jeff is our brother, we’ve all been friends and together as a band for almost 30 years,” said Araya, “so we just want him to completely recover as soon as possible.”

“After everything that happened last year,” King added, “we all agreed that we just can’t let our fans down again,” referring to Araya’s severe back and neck pain that prompted his January 2010 surgery, unfortunately leading to the band’s postponement or cancellation of numerous shows in 2009 and 2010. “Jeff is totally on board with this decision, so we will tour as planned. At this point, we can’t pinpoint exactly what day he’ll be back, but he’ll be back as soon as he possibly can. And we can’t wait for Jeff to get better and get his ass back on the road.”

We at Headbangers India wish the best to Jeff Hanneman and hope he recovers soon, as well as a successful tour for Gary Holt with Slayer!