thePULSEBy Patrick Douglas
If ever there were an appropriate term to describe Slayer, it would be “mayhem.” That’s why it’s fitting that the band is co-headlining this year’s Mayhem festival with Marilyn Manson ~ and whether you’re ready for it or not, it’s all going down Tuesday, August 4, at the Comcast Center in Mansfield.
Even though Slayer has been shredding the stage for nearly 30 years, the fact that the band is still considered brutal enough to headline such a tour is humbling, according to drummer Dave Lombardo, who recalled the days before Slayer.
“Every time I turn my head, ten years goes by,” he said. “I was 14, 15 years old and I’m at home and here’s a little kid that wants to be a rock star, playing drums in his bedroom with posters of KISS and Judas Priest and AC/DC on his wall, my parents saying ‘You’ll never make it. You’ll never amount to that.”
Although is still remains to be seen when the latest album, “World Painted Blood,” will hit store shelves, it is expected to be sometime late summer. In addition to bringing in producer Greg Fidelman for the new album, the band also threw out the tediousness of pre-recording rehearsals, deciding to just write and record all in the studio, all at the same time.
“I was improvising while I was recording. There was stuff that I was coming up with that I didn’t even know where it was coming from,” says Lombardo. “Sometimes you’ll come up with some really cool stuff at rehearsal but you’ll forget it by the time you go into the studio. [This time] in the studio, tape was rolling all the time and they were able to capture all those parts and they were able to use them or refer back to them.”
There’s no denying that many bands today are feeling the crunch that comes with having to sell as many records as possible, whether as a breakthrough artist, a band releasing its sophomore record, or even an established name. But Slayer doesn’t worry about anything when it comes time to deliver.
“We don’t heed to pressure,” said a laughing Lombardo. “We’re Slayer and we’re going to perform and create how Slayer performs or creates and if your musical tastes are in that genre of music I have no doubt that you will enjoy it. But if you’re one of these guys in another world and listen to another style of music … you’re not gonna like it. What you get on a Slayer record is what you’re gonna get live and live it’s probably ten times better than what’s on the record,” he continued. “If the excitement’s good on the record, man, live it’s gonna be phenomenal.”
In addition to Slayer and Marilyn Manson, the Mayhem gig will feature Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium, God Forbid, All that Remains, Cannibal Corpse, Job for a Cowboy, Behemoth, The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel and Killswitch Engage. Tickets are $25.25 to $58.55 available online at www.livenation.com.
