DAVE LOMBARDO On SLAYER's Early Days: 'We Were Our Own Street Team'

On August 2, former SLAYER and current PHILM drummer Dave Lombardo debuted his collection of rhythm-on-canvas art for the first time on the East Coast with an in-person appearance at Art On A Gallery.

A video interview with Lombardo conducted at the event by the “No Limits Music Show” can be seen below.

Speaking about how advancements in technology have changed the way music is being made, Lombardo said: “The process in which we record music is different; now it’s recorded onto a computer. When I recorded [SLAYER‘s] ‘Reign In Blood’, I recorded on tape, so those were one take. Those songs, you know, we didn’t put ’em through Beat Detective [the extremely powerful beat-slicing tool] or any type of quantizing… I mean, all those songs back in those days. All those albums up to ‘Seasons In The Abyss’ were recorded onto tape, so technology has changed. It’s a little easier for drummers now. All a drummer needs to do is probably play two bars of a rhythm, or a beat, and the engineer copy-pastes that and… It’s not real.”

Asked if he thinks it’s harder for new bands to get their foot in the door nowadays than it was when he was first starting out, Lombardo said: “I don’t know. I’ve been lucky. I’ve really been lucky in my career. I was sixteen years old when I pulled Kerry [King, SLAYER guitarist] off the lawn. When I first met him, he was watering his grass on the front lawn. I heard that he was a guitar player through other musicians I was working with, so when I approached him, one thing led to another. We were very focused in what we wanted to do and where we wanted to be. We would put flyers in high school lockers. Nowadays, the schools are closed, so you can’t get on the campus. But back in those days, the campuses were open, so we’d go in there with a stack of flyers and put it in every single locker, and that’s how we would promote shows. We would drive down th street with Kerry‘s friend that had a P.A. on his truck, or some type of a megaphone: ‘SLAYER performing at the UAW Hall… blah blah blah… this date.’ And that’s how we promoted [our shows]… Street team. But we were our own street team. So I think things have changed. Maybe kids aren’t as creative as they used to be. We tried our best and we forged our own path.”

As the founding drummer of SLAYER and the current drummer in PHILM and FANTÔMAS , Dave Lombardo is responsible for some of music’s most acclaimed rhythms. With his art debut “Rhythm Mysterium”, Lombardo crafted the visuals in the collections through drum performance. Working with art team SceneFour, Lombardo utilized drumsticks that light much like a painter uses brushes with oil. An extensive process from start to finish, Lombardo‘s rhythms are captured and brought to canvas in a highly vivid and abstract way.

“Rhythm on canvas” is a new medium in art — a movement led by the world’s greatest drummers, started at SceneFour, a visual art team based in downtown Los Angeles. Through their signature collaborative art approach, they work with notable visionaries outside of the fine art world to collectively create original art projects. At the conclusion of the creation process with featured collaborative guest, an original art collection is born and released worldwide.

Art On A Gallery specializes in works by independent, alternative artists, often with a connection to the music scene and is proud to be the first East Coast gallery to display Dave Lombardo‘s collection.

The collection will be on through September 6.