Lombardo’sadaptability also extends to soundtrack work, including season seven of Californication, with composer and Marilyn Manson guitarist Tyler Bates, and Leigh Whannell’s Insidious: Chapter 3, with composer Joseph Bishara. Heck, he’s even performed with a 75-piece orchestra by request of composer Christopher Young. So how does he do it? Well that’s something you can ask him yourself. The Repercussion of Dave Lombardo is a masterclass tour hitting Allans Billy Hyde music stores around the nation this October. Lombardo will discuss his Rhythm Mysterium art collection, show never-before-seen footage, demonstrate his new Paiste Reign ride cymbal and participate in a candid Q&A forum.
“At a very early stage in Slayer’s career I felt it was important to expand your horizons,” Lombardo says. “I like to create new sounds, not just do the same thing over and over. I have always felt I had more to offer then just one style. Reinventing and challenging yourself is a good thing… especially in music.”
One of Lombardo’s earliest influences was Led Zeppelin, whose music he used to drum along to as a little kid, using cardboard boxes as percussion tools long before he owned a drum kit.
“I didn’t really have a drumming mentor,” he says. “I feel the various, diverse records I acquired were really my inspiration when I was a teenager.” Those records tended to be heavy and atmospheric, from the more bombastic-bent of Led Zeppelin to the darkness of Black Sabbath and on through KISS, punk rock and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
“I don’t know what it is that draws me to heavier music,” Lombardo says. “There’s something about minor chords and a powerful drum sound. I’m very much attracted to minor chord structures. The energy you feel from listening to those particular note combinations gives you the feeling something bad is going to happen. I like that tension and anxiety in the music. It feels dangerous.”
With such a diverse back catalogue, it’s no surprise Lombardo doesn’t default to Slayer when asked what track sums up his approach to the darker side of drums. “Is there a particular Slayer track? Not really. I would choose a song by Grip Inc., like Hostage or Testament’s Fall of Sipledome.”
When presenting a drumming masterclass like the ones he’s presenting in Australia, Lombardo fields questions of all sorts from attendees. “Some of the themes or questions are technical, but a lot of them revolve around my history with various bands and requests to perform parts of songs I’ve recorded,” he says. There’s also plenty of gear talk: “I just replaced my old Roland TD-10 V drum unit with a newer TD-20X. I’m going to start incorporating electronic sounds to my repertoire – staying creative.”
So if Lombardo could attend a drum masterclass with any player, alive or dead, who would it be? “I would love to have sat with John Bonham and watch his execution behind the kit. I would have liked to see him improvise.”
BY PETER HODGSON
