A week ago, we posted the Part 1 Of an Interview with the mighty Dave Lombardo. Today we present you the final part in which Metal Wani’s Laura Vezer & Dave Lombardo talk about SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, fan response to live shows around the world, whether the band plans to write another record in the future, MISFITS reunion & a project with Lorenzo Aruga where he drummed over Vivaldi compositions. Here are some of the excerpts:
You been playing with Suicidal Tendencies for more than a year now and you played on the latest record “World Gone Mad”. Fans are loving every bit of Suicidal on road as well as the record. How’s it been so far with Mike and the other guys?
It’s been amazing working with Mike Muir and the rest of the band. I’ve been a fan of Suicidal Tendencies since probably 1982 when I first saw them play in Orange County, neighboring city. Working with them now, and just listening to the music style just brings back a lot of memories. Really good memories of the Slayer/Suicidal years, when we used to tour together, and just enjoy Suicidal’s music in the van when Slayer would travel across the country in a van. We’d listen to Suicidal and other punk bands as well, but I remember in particular Hanneman and I trading off lyrics and singing along to Suicidal records. [Bringing back some good memories and reliving those a bit?]Very good memories.Even on stage performing with them, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a great band, a great organization. I love the ‘World Gone Mad’ album, it taps into a different style that I’m able to play. A little groovier, funkier, but still the punk edge. It’s another perfect album to add to my list of albums I’ve recorded.
Mike recently said ‘World Gone Mad’ is probably the last Suicidal album although Dave keeps asking me: “Lets write new music.”Do you think there will be another Suicidal album in the future?
I hope. I really hope. I feel like that guy has a lot more creativity in him, and a lot more energy than to throw in the towel. I feel Mike is on top of his game, and he’s got a great band and great history with this band and I think that we should keep going. And I hope he does. I’m not going to stop asking him to record. I’m going to make sure that I keep bugging him: “c’mon, let’s record another album, why not!” let’s record a new album! I try to motivate the musicians I’m with because there’s no reason to stop. You gotta keep recording, you gotta keep creating. It’s what we do for a living.
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Moving into the Misfits work that you’re doing, how has the experience been playing with them on the reunion tour?
To give you an idea of what my history with the Misfits is, their music never crossed my path. When I got into punk, I got into it after the Misfits had broken up and I never really went back and listened to their music. Then I started hearing about Danzig and his projects, and I got more into Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedy’s, DRI, Verbal Abuse, more of the hardcore style of punk. But now going back and listening to this music they recorded in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I found these songs to be jewels, these songs were amazing. How could I have overlooked this music through all the years? I’ve kind of discovered the Misfits as if they’re a new band and I had to learn their music. I fell in love with them. I love the music, I love the structure. The songs are very short but they’re almost like radio songs. They’re like radio hits, all of them! They’re great bodies of work. And working with them has been an honor to work with a band with such profound history in the punk scene. I was able to hang out with Jerry during the rehearsals, and I stayed over at his house. We’d stay up late and talk about bands like Black Flag that used to stop by the Misfits house and they used to crash in the basement, and of course there were parties. He told me stories about the sex pistols when they came into town and how he had to drive them around the city. There’s a lot of history, and working with Glenn and Jerry and Doyle has been an absolute pleasure. And I was honored when Glenn Danzig called me and said he’d like for me to be their drummer and that I was his first choice. It’s awesome. It’s a really good feeling. I’m in a good place in my life right now.
There is one project that you worked on a long time ago and I hope you don’t mind me asking you about it. Back in the late 90s you worked on a project with Lorenzo Aruga, where you drummed over a bunch of Vivaldi compositions. Tell me a bit about that project and how you ended up working on it?
It was really interesting. There’s this singer from a metal band from Italy called Bulldozer, his name is Alberto Contini, he’s an interesting character. His family owns a classical record company and he thought of this idea of putting my drumming style together with some classical musicians. He pulled his idea from a book by Carpinteria, and his story was how music would have evolved in the 16th 17th century if Vivaldi had collaborated a Cuban drummer or percussionist. I don’t the know the details of the story as the book was written in Spanish or French. It was an interesting story that this author wrote, so what he tried to take was “let’s put a Cuban drummer in the studio with some classical musicians and see what happens and let’s record.” They told me not to listen to any of the music, they told me to just show up and I will learn everything and they will improvise with me in the studio. When I went in there they said “okay we’re going to perform this one,” and Lorenzo (conductor of the orchestra) would explain to me for example “La Tempesta” he would say “this is very stormy, it’s exciting, it’s part of the four seasons,” and he would explain each piece. I’d go in there with those thoughts and then start performing with the musicians. I’d have to make notes and map out some of the music, but most of it was improvised and learned on the spot. So it was really exciting and I’d love to do it again. I’ve been offered to take some classical musicians and perform that album live which I’m still considering, but I don’t know if I can pull that off right now. I think that might take place somewhere either in Germany or in Poland, so I’d have to fly in there a week before and rehearse with the musicians and try to perform this live which is possible, but would take some work. I love that album, I’m very proud of that album, it was very marking in my life because it showed everyone that I was much more than just a metal drummer.
