Dave Lombardo Refused to Audition for Testament Drummer Gig: "I Don't Need to Do No Fuckin' Video" | Page 2 | Revolver

Dave Lombardo Refused to Audition for Testament Drummer Gig: "I Don't Need to Do No Fuckin' Video"

Ex-Slayer drummer was confident he could rejoin thrash titans without formal process
Dave Lombardo 2015-ish press live shot , Milosz Bauza
Dave Lombardo
photograph by Milosz Bauza

Earlier this year, following the amicable departure of longtime drummer Gene Hoglan, Testament announced that Dave Lombardo would fill the full-time position behind the kit. The ex-Slayer drummer briefly played with Testament in the late Nineties and performed on their 1999 album, The Gathering, so this wasn't the prolific thrash musician's first rodeo with the band.

In fact, Lombardo was so confident about his ability to rejoin the group — a reunion he said "was bound to happen" upon the initial announcement — that he refused to do a formal audition tape for the coveted role. According to Testament guitarist Eric Peterson, the exact words Lombardo chose were, "I don't need to do no fuckin' video."

In a new interview with Brave Words, Peterson expounded on his band's recruitment of Lombardo, detailing how they thought he might be too busy with other projects to consider Testament. "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.

At some point, once they realized that he might be open to the part, Peterson said that he called Lombardo and casually asked him to send over some video clips of him playing along to Testament songs —  you know, the type of thing bands ask for when they ask someone to audition for an important role. "I don't need to do no fuckin' video," Peterson remembered Lombardo saying, to which Peterson remarked, "I go, 'Okay, you're all good.'"

"I think when I ran it by our old drummer Louie [Clemente] and some other people. . .it's the obvious choice," Peterson added. "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's current stint with Testament commenced earlier this spring with the start of their Bay Strikes Back tour alongside Exodus and Death Angel. Check out footage of Lombardo's first show back with the band here.