SLAYER performed live for the first time since the death of guitarist Jeff Hanneman, and the return of drummer Paul Bostaph, on June 4th at Poland, Warsaw’s Impact Fest 2013. EXODUS‘ Gary Holt is filling in for late guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who passed away on May 2nd.
Footage shot by fans at the concert can be seen below:
Slayer performed the following setlist:
‘World Painted Blood’
‘Hallowed Point’
‘War Ensemble’
‘Hate Worldwide’
‘At Dawn They Sleep’
‘Stain Of Mind’
‘Disciple’
‘Bloodline’
‘Mandatory Suicide’
‘Chemical Warfare’
‘Seasons In The Abyss’
‘Dead Skin Mask’
‘Raining Blood’
Paul Bostaph is “excited to be back” with SLAYER and is “looking forward” to hitting the road again with the band starting this week, the drummer revealed during his first interview since rejoining the group.
Speaking to Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone (hear audio below), Paul said: “I’m excited to be back. It’s been I don’t know how many years since the last time I played with them… I think 12 years or something like that. It’s been really cool to come back in the room and play some of the songs; SLAYER songs are epic and amazing. So that’s been great. We had a lot of great years together when I was with them — I had a lot of fun with them — and I’m hoping to continue all that. So I’m looking forward to it.”
It was announced on Thursday (May 30) by SLAYER‘s Tom Araya (bass, vocals) and Kerry King (guitar) that Bostaph will be behind the drum kit beginning June 4 when the band kicks off the first leg of its 2013 international tour in Warsaw, Poland. EXODUS‘ Gary Holt will continue to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died on May 2 from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver.
Asked to recount one of his favorite memories of Hanneman, Bostaph told Blakk: “I remember the first time I ever met Jeff, when I came down to audition. [I met] each individual guy in the band. Tom had a big smile on his face; he was there when I got there, and he shook my hand. Kerry was all business and introduced himself and asked if I was ready to kick ass, and I [said], ‘Yup.’ And the tour manager came out and asked if I wanted to meet Jeff, and I’m, like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ So they had this big warehouse and Jeff was sitting in the front, watching TV, and I came in. I was standing in the doorway, Jeff was sitting on the couch, and the tour manager goes, ‘Paul Bostaph, Jeff Hanneman. Jeff Hanneman, Paul Bostaph.’ And [Jeff] didn’t even look at me, he just kind of nodded over my way and just [went] [makes grunting noise]. And he kept watching TV. And I was, like, ‘OK. Great meeting you.’ So we got to business, the audition part of it, and after we got done playing, everybody was really cool. But that impression of Jeff was really… After I got to know Jeff, it became comedic to me, because he didn’t realize he did it. Years later, I [asked him], ‘You remember when I auditioned for the band and remember when you met me?’ He was all, ‘No. What did I do?’ And when I told him, he couldn’t believe it. It was really funny and it was indicative of Jeff‘s sense of humor. Back then, they probably auditioned so many guys, it was just another drummer coming through for him. But I thought that was funny, because after that initial meeting, I thought, ‘Boy, that guy’s not really nice.’ But that was so not him. You know what I mean? That’s why I think that [memory of Jeff] stands out [to me].”
Bostaph was SLAYER‘s drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band — the gold-certified “Divine Intervention” (1994), the 1996 punk covers album “Undisputed Attitude”, “Diabolus In Musica” (1998), “God Hates Us All” (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for “Best Metal Performance”, as well as the DVD “War At The Warfield” (2001), also certified gold. In addition to SLAYER, Bostaph has been a member of FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, SYSTEMATIC and TESTAMENT.
SLAYER‘s 2013 itinerary will have the band playing 35 dates that will include headline shows as well as a number of major summer festivals in Europe, Eastern Europe and South America between June and October.
“Paul‘s a great drummer and a good friend, and we’re very happy that he’s decided to rejoin the band,” said Araya. “We’re still pretty numb from the loss of Jeff, but we don’t want to disappoint our European and South American fans, and we need to begin moving forward… Having Paul back in the band makes that a whole lot easier.”
In a 2003 interview with the San Francisco-based Internet music magazine Perfect Pitch Online, Bostaph broke his silence regarding the real reason he left SLAYER in December 2001. An official press release issued by the SLAYER camp had listed a chronic elbow injury as the reason for Bostaph‘s departure while a number of people had speculated that he left the band in order to join SYSTEMATIC. According to Paul, however, his reasons for leaving were purely musical.
“I didn’t leave SLAYER because of an arm problem, and I certainly didn’t leave SLAYER to join SYSTEMATIC,” Paul told Perfect Pitch Online. “I was ready to go. It was nothing personal towards anybody in the band, it was just my time to leave. Musically, I wanted to do something else. And in terms of the problem I had with my arm, I re-aggravated an old softball injury by lifting up a laptop at the airport. That happened right at the beginning of the tour, and it never had time to heal. But even at that point, I was considering moving on from the band.”
He continued: “SLAYER‘s a great band, and I had a lot of fun playing with them, but I have to feel like I’m taking chances musically.
“The first time I left SLAYER, I did [a project called] THE TRUTH ABOUT SEAFOOD — sure, it never got signed, but I enjoyed it a lot. SLAYER took my drumming to a new level, but there are also other levels of drumming that I haven’t even touched yet. I want to become a more eclectic drummer.”
Original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo sat out the band’s recent Australian tour due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX).
SLAYER‘s Tom Araya and Kerry King are very pleased to announce that Paul Bostaph has rejoined the band on a full-time basis. Bostaph will be behind the drum kit beginning June 4 when SLAYER kicks off the first leg of its 2013 international tour in Warsaw, Poland. EXODUS‘ Gary Holt will continue to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman.
SLAYER‘s 2013 itinerary will have the band playing 35 dates that will include headline shows as well as a number of major summer festivals in Europe, Eastern Europe and South America between June and October.
“Paul‘s a great drummer and a good friend, and we’re very happy that he’s decided to rejoin the band,” said Tom Araya. “We’re still pretty numb from the loss of Jeff, but we don’t want to disappoint our European and South American fans, and we need to begin moving forward… Having Paul back in the band makes that a whole lot easier.”
“I’m very excited to be rejoining SLAYER,” added Bostaph. “We spent a very intense ten years of our lives together, had a lot of fun, made a lot of great music, so for me, this feels like coming home.”
Bostaph was SLAYER‘s drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band — the gold-certified “Divine Intervention” (1994), the 1996 punk covers album “Undisputed Attitude”, “Diabolus In Musica” (1998), “God Hates Us All” (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for “Best Metal Performance”, as well as the DVD “War At The Warfield” (2001), also certified gold. In addition to SLAYER, Bostaph has been a member of FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, SYSTEMATIC and TESTAMENT.
Pictured below: Paul Bostaph at public memorial celebration for Jeff Hanneman on May 23 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, California (photo credit: Stephanie Cabral)
Enter Music Publishing‘s third annual DRUM! Night was quite a hit. The event, a benefit for San Jose, California’s Lincoln High, featured diverse drum concerts and clinics by world-respected drummers and local legends. The third annual benefit, which also included a raffle and silent auction, rocked the San Jose Repertory Theater on August 10.
“Enter Music Publishing really has made it a commitment to conduct events like this for the good of music education,” said Phil Hood, publisher and co-founder of the company. “Let’s face it. These days, high schools need help from the community to keep music in the educational mix. DRUM! Night, without a doubt, was an attempt to demonstrate the power of drumming to high school-age musicians.”
Among the highlights of DRUM! Night was the awarding of the second annual BADAAS Award (Bay Area Drummers Achievement Awards) to Paul Bostaph.
Bostaph, who hails from Newark, California, and came to fame playing with FORBIDDEN, before moving on to SLAYER, EXODUS, and TESTAMENT. In his acceptance speech, he thanked all the drummers and companies, who have stood behind him throughout his career.
Last year, Mike Bordin (FAITH NO MORE) won the inaugural BADAAS Award.
For pre-event highlights and more photos, click here.
TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy has confirmed to U.K.’s Terrorizer magazine that drummer Paul Bostaph has left the band.
Due to a “serious injury,” Bostaph was absent from the recording sessions for TESTAMENT‘s new album, “The Dark Roots Of Earth”, which is scheduled for release on April 27, 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records. He was replaced in the studio by Gene “The Atomic Clock” Hoglan (ex-DARK ANGEL, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK), who also sat behind the kit for select dates on TESTAMENT‘s recent North American tour with ANTHRAX.
“We just found our last week Paul Bostaph is not coming back to the band, he’s starting his own new project and doing some things on his own,” Billy told Terrorizer. “So we’re actually going to be holding a couple of auditions with probably small group of drummers that we chose — we don’t want to have a revolving drum stool, we have a new record we want a permanent drummer.”
According to Chuck, the split with Bostaph is amicable. “We’re still buddies,” he said. “It’s just that Paul feels at this point in his career he wants to be in a little more in control of the artistic creation of the songs and with his new project, they are all involved with that process whereas with our group, Eric [Peterson, guitar] is pretty much the main songwriter and that’s just the way its been with us for 25 years.”
LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler plays on one track on “The Dark Roots Of Earth”, which was helmed by veteran British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, NEVERMORE, MACHINE HEAD, ARCH ENEMY).
Bostaph is currently focusing on BLACKGATES, the new East San Francisco Bay Area/New York metal outfit also featuring former ANTHRAX singer Dan Nelson, guitarist Jeremy Epp (THE VENTING MACHINE) and bassist Uriah Duffy (WHITESNAKE). The group was scheduled to enter the studio last month to start pre-production on its forthcoming debut album.
Bostaph previously stated about BLACKGATES‘s musical direction, “Our sound is drawn from all of our influences. Mostly, we don’t want to be a thrash metal band, although we draw from that genre as well. There is something in our music for everyone. Heavy grooves, good hooks and Dan‘s killer pipes. I think we have an independent sound that will stand on its own.”
In a September 9 interview with the “Metal Zone” host Nikki Blakk on the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone, Bostaph stated about the “serious injury” which has forced him to sit out the recording sessions for TESTAMENT‘s new studio album and not be able to take part in any touring activities with the band, “I have a rehearsal studio of my own, and [back in March] I finished rehearsing and there was some equipment stacked around my drum set that, when I rehearse sometimes, I keep that studio a little dark… which is always good except for when you can’t see what you are walking around. And I tripped over some stuff on the floor, fell, and subsequently, a couple of hours later, I had a lump on my wrist. I wasn’t sure what it was and I went into physical therapy and the lump had caused tendonitis, so it kept me off the drum set for a while. And I just have had the lump removed. And what it turned out to be was I was born with what they call an extensor muscle that was attached to my index finger of my right hand, which is an extra muscle. They removed the muscle, the tendonitis is gone. Now I’m just recovering from the surgery, so as soon as I do that, I’ll be back behind the kit again.”
When asked about when fans can expect to see him back behind the hit, Paul said, “As soon as I’m ready to play. Basically, the tendonitis problem is gone; it was the result of the ‘mini-me’ that was in my wrist. The tendonitis that was caused from that is gone, but now they had to make an incision in my wrist, and because of that, anytime you get an incision, scar tissue develops after the surgery. So the scar issue is around all my tendons, and that has to be broken up through physical therapy, which is now happening. I’m getting my range of motion back, and after I get my range of motion back, then I get my strength back, and as soon as I get the confidence to start playing behind the kit, which is all repetitive motion. When you’ve got scar tissue surrounding tendons, and it’s really tight and you try to push it, and you start doing any kind of a repetitive-motion exercise, which would be drumming, you could make whatever you were trying to fix, like, worse, or permanent. I’ve been getting timetables [from doctors] ever since I injured [my wrist], and they never turn out. The last time I saw my doctor, the doctor said, ‘Take up the sticks whenever you’re ready.’ So as soon as I feel healthy enough and I’m confident that my wrist feels good, then I’ll start picking up the sticks again and I’ll start playing. I’m a very physical player, so there’s only one way I know how to play, and if I can’t do that, then that’s just not playing drums to me. So I’m just gonna take my time.”
Metal Shock Finland (World Assault ) 