Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo recently participated in an interview on The David Ellefson Show podcast ( via Metal Injection ), hosted by the former Megadeth , where he shared behind-the-scenes details of his participation in the show with Metallica at the Download Festival in 2004.
That day, Lars Ulrich was unable to perform due to health problems. On the day of the show, he had a medical emergency while traveling to the festival and needed to be hospitalized. Since Metallica didn't want to cancel the performance, they quickly called Dave Lombardo, Joey Jordison , and Metallica's drum technician, Flemming Larsen.
Lombardo says he felt confident playing the band's more classic songs like "The Four Horsemen" and "Battery." "When they told me, I said, 'Look, I can do both. I could probably figure out some of the others.' But they had me go up and do the first two, and then Joey [Jordison], and obviously, Flemming [Larsen] went up and finished the rest of the songs."
During rehearsals, which Dave describes as having an exciting and fun atmosphere, a special moment occurred. “We were in one of those… I think it was a small portable rehearsal room. They had a drum kit there, their amplifiers, they were playing, warming up, getting ready. And while we were there, I could see their excitement when I played the music. They were really into it. And I kind of sped things up a little bit, just to give them a little push.” Lombardo highlights the moment as a unique experience that would remain vivid in his memory forever. “And it was fun, man.”
Although the experience was exciting, Dave Lombardo explains how his mindset changed during the show: “Then we went on stage. And, obviously, the professional mode kicks in – you really need to focus, make sure everything goes right and give your best in that moment. But it was a challenge — an exciting, fun and rewarding moment in history, something that will never happen again.”
The drummer also shared a private moment with guitarist Kirk Hammett , but still in a humorous one: "Some of Kirk's comments, which I'll keep private, were very, very funny, very complimentary, and very kind of him."
Joey Jordison's participation
Lombardo recounts how Joey Jordison, then drummer for Slipknot , was more familiar with Metallica's music than he was: “Luckily, Joey had a Metallica cover band when he was young, before Slipknot or maybe even during Slipknot. And he was very familiar with several of their more recent albums. I was, obviously, more into the first three or four—I think up to Master of Puppets . And, although at first I didn't like the Black Album , eventually it grew on me, because it's a masterpiece.”
"I have the utmost respect for these guys. My respect is absolute," concludes the drummer, expressing admiration for the band.
Dave Lombardo highlights Lars Ulrich's importance to Metallica.
In 2021, in an interview on the Speak N' Destroy podcast ( via Ultimate Guitar ), Dave Lombardo spoke about Lars Ulrich and his importance to Metallica: “I think Lars is a good drummer. He’s a good arranger. Without Lars, there would be no Metallica. So, you have to give him credit for what he does for the band. It’s very important when you have chemistry within a band. There are four members in the band. When there’s chemistry, like, a special interaction between the musicians, if you take one musician out, it’s not the same thing. If you take Lars out of the equation, it won’t be the same thing.”
The early years of Slayer and Metallica
Still in the same podcast interview, Dave was asked if he remembered what the first interactions between Metallica and Slayer were like, and he replied:
“We played in a very, very small club, with a maximum capacity of 250-300 people. It was Metallica and Slayer, Ron McGovney was on bass and Dave Mustaine on second guitar. Dave Mustaine sometimes sang some songs, and other times [James] Hetfield sang, but the person who talked to the audience, as far as I remember, was Mustaine. […] And I believe they inspired us in many ways, because then we got the demo [ 'No Life 'Til Leather' from 1982], and we were definitely influenced by them.”
“If you listen to 'Hit the Lights' and then listen to 'Aggressive Perfector,' they have almost the same structure. There's a very similar intro, you know, it was almost a copy of 'Hit the Lights.' Slayer did a good job at the beginning, but yeah, listening to those songs, you see that they have very similar sections. Although the riff, obviously, isn't the same – but yeah, you can tell we were influenced.”
READ ALSO: Dave Lombardo: “I disapprove of people who talk trash about Lars Ulrich”
