Philm mailman Dave Lombardo has relayed some of his favourite road stories from his time with Slayer.
The drummer, who was dramatically sacked by Slayer last year after his third stint with the metal icons, recalls one fan who dived from a speaker and ended up crashing straight through the stage floor.
And he remembers going for a stage dive of his own, only to be beaten up by an allegedly coked-up bouncer.
Lombardo tells Road Stories: “There was one time we were playing somewhere in the midwest and kids would jump onstage and dive off. It stemmed from the old punk scene, that was what they used to do.
“It was an old theatre. Some kid climbed up on a speaker and ends up jumping feet first and goes right through the stage. All you see is half his body sticking out the stage and he can’t get out. His little head is trying to move. He fell right through it.
“This other time in Brooklyn, New York, I had the habit of jumping off stage and the fans would throw me back on. The club had these bouncers with billy clubs. I made the move to jump off stage and this bouncer grabs me from behind, the back of the neck, and puts his fingers in my eyes.
“I was fighting and kicking. He didn’t know who I was. We end up knocking down the Marshall stacks and they drag me out the stage door. Someone tells him I’m the drummer. I said, ‘You son of a bitch, I’m in the fucking band.’ And he punches me in the face. I went crazy. It turns out the guy was screwed up on cocaine.”
Lombardo last year revealed he’d been dismissed by Slayer after questioning the band’s business practices. He’d worked out he was paid an average of $800 per show, while Araya and King got just over $1200 – even though they were drawing around $50,000 a night.
Philm release their second album Fire From The Evening Sun on September 15.
