Testament guitarist Eric Peterson recently spoke with Brave Words, and talked about the recruitment of ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo into Testament. Perhaps the most surprising thing Peterson shared during the interview was that Lombardo refused to traditionally audition for the role of drummer.
Initially, Peterson said, when Lombardo was being considered to replace former drummer Gene Hoglan, there was some thought that the legendary drummer’s dance card might be full already. “I remember his name got brought up and we were like, ‘No, he’s in Suicidal Tendencies, he’s in The Misfits, he’s in this, he’s in that’,” Peterson recalled
Later, Peterson shared that he called Lombardo, hoping to acquire some video of Lombardo performing some songs, to which he responded, "I don't need to do no fuckin' video," and Peterson said, "I go, 'Okay, you're all good.'"
Peterson added that, "I think when I ran it by our old drummer Louie [Clemente] and some other people… it's the obvious choice. Even if there were some other drummers that were younger or maybe knew more songs… for where we were with the pandemic, with this tour, I don't think there was really anybody else that made sense. I think that would make people happy. We did a record with him – we already know that he is badass." Lombardo made his live return with Testament on April 6 at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, CA. Clemente came out to the band's gig in Huntington, LI as well to throw his support behind Lombardo, as well.
Hoglan departed from Testament earlier this year, explaining in a recent episode of the Talk Toomey podcast, "During the pandemic, I took time to start curating a lot of my projects, a lot of the things going on, so when I was laying things down on the calendar, they were just starting to kind of conflict with some of Testament's plans.
"It just became a situation where it's, like, 'Man, you guys need to keep moving forward. I need to keep moving forward myself. You never know about the future, but at least for right now, we'll get you guys somebody else.' And look who they ended up with — the mighty Mr. Dave Lombardo. Win-win all over the place. Testament fans are super happy."
You better believe we are!
7/9 DE Ballenstedt Rock Harz Festival
7/10 CZ Vizovice Masters of Rock
7/11 PL Krakow Studio (w/ Exodus & Heathen)
7/12 SK Bratislava Refinery Gallery (w/ Sepultura, Exodus, Death Angel, Heathen)
7/14 DE Neukirchen-Vluyn Dong Open Air
7/16 AT Leoben Area 53 Festival
7/17 IT Cremona Luppolo in Rock
7/19 IT Rome Rock in Roma (w/ Exodus, Death Angel, Heathen)
7/21 DE Fritzlar Rock am Stück
7/23 BG Plovdiv Hills of Rock
7/24 RO Sibiu Art Mania
7/26 SI Tolmin Metaldays
7/29 PT Vagos Vagos Metalfest
7/30 ES Burgos Anden 56 (w/ Exodus & Heathen)
7/31 ES Pamplona Totem (w/ Exodus, Heathen)
8/3 ES Malaga Paris 15 (w/ Exodus, Heathen)
8/4 ES Villena Leyendas del Rock
8/5 ES Madrid La Riviera (w/ Exodus, Heathen)
8/6 ES Barcelona Razzmatazz (w/ Exodus, Heathen)
8/9 FR Bordeaux Rocher de Palmer (w/ Exodus, Heathen)
8/12 UK Catton Park Bloodstock Festival
8/13 BE Kortrijk Alcatraz Festival
8/14 DE Saarbrücken Garage (w/ Exodus, Heathen)
8/16 AT Innsbruck Music Hall (w/ Exodus, Heathen)
8/17 DE Dinkelsbühl Summer Breeze
8/19 DE Sulingen Reload Festival
8/20 NL Eindhoven Dynamo Metalfest
8/21 FR St. Nolff Motocultor
w/ Exodus & Death Angel
9/9 – Phoenix, AZ – Van Buren
9/10 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
9/12 – Wichita, KS -Cotillion
9/13 – Kansas City, MO – Truman
9/15 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
9/16 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl
9/18 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
9/19 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
9/21 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
9/22 – Silver Spring, MD – Fillmore
9/23 – Stroudsburg, PA – Sherman Theater
9/26 – Hartford, CT – Webster Theater
9/27 – Albany, NY – Empire Live
9/28 – Portland, ME – State Theatre
9/30 – Montreal, QC – Mtelus
10/1 – London, ON – London Music Hall
10/3 – Ft. Wayne, IN – Piere's
10/4 – Milwaukee, WI – The Rave
10/6 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
10/8 – Calgary, AB – Palace Theatre
10/10 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore
10/12 – Ventura, CA – Majestic Ventura Theater
10/13 – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
10/14 – Reno, NV – Cargo
10/15 – San Jose, CA – San Jose Civic
