SLAYER DRUMMER PAUL BOSTAPH ON LATE GUITARIST JEFF HANNEMAN, “I REALLY LOVED THE DUDE”

July 2, 2015Dana No Comment

Gary Graff of Billboard reports:

Joining Slayer for a second time has been a different kind of reign for drummer Paul Bostaph.

When Bostaph first replaced founding drummer Dave Lombardo in 1992, the group had completed its first decade and released its first five albums. “It was very intimidating,” Bostaph tells Billboard. But there was a big difference, “The Internet did not exist. There was no social media. If people didn’t like (the switch) we weren’t hearing about it all the time. We only heard through word of mouth, and I just had to go out and deliver to shut everybody up.”

Not so this time around, however. “People are pretty brutal with their opinions sometimes, so I guess you have to have thicker skin now,” says Bostaph, who began his second tenure with Slayer in 2013, after an acrimonious schism with Lombardo, who’d returned and replaced Bostaph in 2001. “At least I had been with the band for 10 years when I left, so I had equal tenure as the drummer at that point. I have a history of recording and touring with the band, so I think that’s actually helped win people over — again.”

Bostaph did not have to win over his bandmates, particularly the late Jeff Hanneman — who fellow guitarist Kerry King has said mandated Bostaph’s return before Hanneman died in May of 2013 of alcohol-related cirrhosis — and King himself, who immediately began recording tracks with Bostaph for the upcoming Repentless.

…”When I came back I fully expected to start working with Jeff,” the drummer says. “Jeff was part of the decision-making process of bringing me back. Kerry and I got to work and I assumed I’d see (Hanneman) sooner or later, probably sooner. But he passed away a couple weeks after I rejoined the band, which was devastating. I really loved the dude. As great as a songwriter as he was, he was also a great guy. When we go on stage every night I think of Jeff because we play a lot of his songs.”

Read more at Billboard.

Slayer is currently on Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival (see dates below) and be onboard Motorhead’s Motorboat when it sets sail on September 28th out of Miami.

Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival remaining dates:

July:

3 Ak-Chin Pavillion, Phoenix, AZ
4 Isleta Amphitheatre, Albuquerque, NM
5 Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Denver, CO
7 Harrah’s Council Bluffs, Council Bluffs, IA
8 Eagles Ballroom, Milwaukee, WI
10 Klipsch Music Theatre, Indianapolis, IN
11 DTE Energy Amphitheatre, Detroit, MI
12 First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre, Chicago, IL
15 TD Echo Beach, Toronto, ON CANADA
17 Susquehanna Bank Arts Center, Camden, NJ
18 First Niagara Bank Amphitheater, Pittsburgh, PA
19 Xfinity Theatre, Hartford, CT
21 PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ
22 Erie Insurance Arena, Erie, PA
24 Jiffy Lube Live, Bristow, VA
25 Xfinity Center, Boston, MA
26 Nikon Theatre at Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY
28 Orange Peel, Asheville, NC*
29 Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood, Atlanta, GA
31 Alamo City Music Hall, San Antonio, TX