Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo has claimed that he was only paid an average of $745 per show in 2011, and bandmates Tom Araya and Kerry King only got $1266 for each appearance – even though concerts were bringing in around $49,000 per night.
After examining the band’s accounts, he concluded that the musicians only received $400,000 out of the $4.4m they’d generated that year. His notes led to the argument that led to his fired in 2013.
Lombardo insists he did everything he could to persuade his colleagues they were all entitled to a better deal, not just him – but alleges the management made extra payments to Araya and King to let the issue drop.
Lambgoat reports a video interview in which Lombardo said: “I knew something was up and I tried my best to work it out with the guys. I had Tom in a hotel room with me, talking to my attorney, telling him everything their management company had been doing to them for the past 30 years.
“Tom got bought out. Management flipped him a couple of hundred grand – who knows how much? – and Kerry as well, to keep quiet. They turned their backs on me.”
He says he “held his breath” for longer than he’d wanted to, before finally confronting his colleagues at the end of 2012. He told them: “‘Out of $4.4m the band gets $400,000. Where’s the four million? Lawyers, accountant and the manager.’
“I just said, ‘Guys, look at this – it came from your accountant.’ I made $67,000. Kerry and Tom, that was about $114,000. Let’s say about 90 shows per year; you break that up per show. It’s disgusting.”
Slayer are working on their first album since the death of guitarist Jeff Hanneman, while Lombardo is concentrating on his former side-project Philm. He says: “My schedule is open; I can do whatever I want, whenever I want.”
source: classicrockmagazine.com
23 Responses
Amazing, how can this be true. Nobody could be that stupid to get ripped off for 30 years, when once the record companies used to rip you off, signing a contract with them was liking sign a deal with devil, now artist have different sharks floating aroind stealing their tour money. Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Kiss are a few bands that have business smarts, you have to regretfully treat your band like a brand, the business part is every bit as important as the making and performing the music. You slack off on either you will lose your fans or get your asses ripped off. Music business is as crooked as wall street. Just remember people this is only one side to the story.
1.5% to Lombardo, 98.5% for Murray in N.Y.C.. Here, sign this. Okay. Cassidy: same lawyers, same buildings on Wilshire as many bands, ask Tom Petty, he took a chapter seven on them eating him alive, Vince Neal was so broke a few years ago he couldn’t pay his lawyer 16K, his own lawyer sued him and it was to get the other Murrays off his back to begin with on his chapter 7.
Its time to leave the legacy alone,they need lombardo,top 5 alltime drummer and shouldnt go on without hennenman
Im sure the reason why they would settle for so little was at the time nobody listened to music like this hardly, they wouldnt play it on the radio and they didnt have any videos. I would say that they felt like they was lucky to get anything and did not ever think they would get as popular as they are certainly not hall of famers. I have loved them since the 80s and I remember then if you liked music like this you was looked upon like some weirdo and a drug abuser, only a very small percentage of my high school was fan of these guys. Fans were often labled sometimes called grits, hippies, headbangers and at the time Metallica was leading this crusade of not “selling out” to the record companies, playing for the music and not the money and avoiding being called trendy even though we all looked the same. But the lack of popularity was caused by social discrimination, when the masses was eventually exposed to it they realized how it good it was and the style of music exploded in popularity that was something that I would have never thought would happen nor did anybody else in the metal scene.