At this point in his career, noting that Dave Lombardo is a legend seems besides the point. After all, what do you say about a musician who shaped an era with his playing on Reign in Blood, anchored the original Misfits reunion, helped Mike Patton resurrect Mr. Bungle and joined Patton in his hardcore outfit Dead Cross, and—oh yeah—still has time to be a member of Testament? Legend? Please, as if. Dave Lombardo simply is heavy metal.
So, how does he do it all? Full Metal Jackie recently asked that of Lombardo in a new episode of her radio show, and—true to form—Lombardo kept his answer pure and easy.
"I'm just being myself," Lombardo said. "With Testament, I came into the picture after Gene [Hoglan] was in the band for many years. I asked, 'What do you want me to do in this section? This is Gene right here, but I wouldn't approach it this way. I would try something different,' and they would tell me, 'Be yourself — you have a style, make these songs your own.' I remember speaking to Gene and I said to him, 'I'm going to perform these songs and in your honor. You wrote these songs and these drum parts.' And he said, 'Make them yours. Make them Dave Lombardo.' So it's just being myself and sometimes you do have a crossover and emulate what the original drummer did. You just try to hone it in and make it your own."
Next up for Lombardo, he'll be honing it in and hitting it hard on the sophomore release from Dead Cross, II, which will be available on October 28. II was produced by Ross Robinson (Korn, Slipknot) and is available for pre-order here. Two singles—"Reign of Error" and "Heart Reformer"—have been released so far, and you can check them out below.
