Lead singer gives statement in interview
In an interview with The Skinny website, Slayer vocalist Tom Araya explained Dave Lombardo's departure from the band in early 2013. See the full statement below:
"Let me make this clear once and for all. A long time ago, almost fifteen years ago, we were looking for someone to replace Paul Bostaph – that's how long ago we started with Dave. Paul had decided to go on without us, but he stayed with us until we found a replacement. Dave said, 'I can stay for a tour or two,' and in that process, we drew up a contract with him because that's what you have to do; make sure everything is being taken care of, that everyone is happy. We drew up an agreement that lasted for a while, and when we were in the process of improving things for Dave, because after so many years playing with us we thought, 'we need to review this, we need to find a way to be better for Dave,' we came up with an agreement that had everything he wanted, and it lasted for three years. After three years had passed, he still hadn't signed the contract.".
We had obligations at the time, and when you're given an ultimatum you have to do something, so we decided to move on and Dave was very upset. We told him that if he signed the contract we could continue together, but he had other plans so we called and told him to break up, because he was starting to put us in a very bad situation. We found someone to replace him and went to play in Australia, and Dave started talking and telling a one-sided story. I hate to speak ill of him, but he did what he did and we had to move on. He started to portray us as villains and we wanted to continue our lives.”
Slayer's new album, "Repentless," will be released on September 11th. The album is already available for pre-order on iTunes and can be heard here .
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