Dave Lombardo Issues Statement As Iron Maiden’s Nicko McBrain Weighs In On Slayer Drum Situation

by | Mar 4, 2013 | Metal Musical Chairs | 7 comments

Since drummer Dave Lombardo broke his silence about  being replaced for Slayer’s Australian tour, he’s come off as transparent about what goes on with Slayer’s finances, even if he doesn’t really know the extent of what’s happening. In a recent interview, Kerry King didn’t really shed much light on the situation, instead making it more about Lombardo exiting the band than any talk about how he feels about the situation or the band’s finances. As Metal Sucks says, until King gives an honest explanation about the situation, Lombardo’s going to look like the good guy unfairly pushed out of the band. And now Lombardo has posted a thanks to his fans via his Facebook page:

I have always known that my fans were awesome! But never has it been more clear to me than in the past two weeks, how passionate, supportive and sincere you really are.

Thank you for all your kind responses and I hope to see you all very soon.

In the meantime, Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain spoke about both Lombardo and Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward in an interview with the Broward Palm Beach New Times. After being told about Dave’s situation, McBrain commented “most of the issues that pro musicians have sooner of later in time boils down to the to royalty check or performance royalties.” Yet while admitting he doesn’t know the full story, appeared to take Lombardo’s side:

I’m sad to hear that that has happened, but, you know, when you find out and look at something and say “could you explain this to me, why we’re not getting what we should according to these numbers” and if somebody turns around and says “Fucking shut your face or you’re fired,” that therefore it tells you there’s an alarm bell going off. Without knowing all of the ins and outs of it, you can’t pre-judge it.

You have to ask yourself this: How did Dave Lombardo get the information that led to this problem, is what I’d like to know. Who gave him the financials, if he wasn’t on top of it with an accountant already?  I’m sad because Dave is so much a part of that band; he’s so identifiable. There’s great drummers out there, but Dave Lombardo is a master with it, and Dave is… to me, he isSlayer with Kerry and the guys! I think Kerry really may have overreacted and might be regretting it. I hope that that’s the case and they can sit down and sort it out.

As far as Bill Ward, McBrain points the finger at Sharon Osbourne as the reason behind him playing, which is no surprise, given the back and forth between Ozzy and Maiden stemming from Ozzfest. “It’s beyond me – I mean, Bill Ward was the original freaking band memeber, you know?,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me. If I was entitled to more, I don’t really want to know. I’m happy!”
It doesn’t seem from King’s interview that Slayer is about to sit down and hash things out with Lombardo, especially since the drummer spoke about band business in his initial statement. Yet in the court of public opinion, Lombardo is innocent, and this might reflect on  Slayer as a band that’s more concerned with making money than they are maintaining integrity and keeping Lombardo in the band.