Next week on 11th (Klub Firlej, Wrocław), 12th (B90, Gdańsk), 13th (Blue Note, Poznań) i 14th March (Hybrydy, Warszawa) PHILM will be performing in Poland and thanks to band manager Paula Willigar we were able to catch someone who does not need any introduction on Skype. In almost 30-minute long interview for DeathMagnetic.pl, Dave Lombardo admitted that he is „really looking forward” to play Polish gigs during the tour promoting „Fire From the Evening Sun” album. PHILM drummer also mentioned about his „drum-paintings”, his favorite drummer nowdays and about the origin of the name of his current band itself. You can read a whole interview transcribed by DeathMagnetic.pl underneath.
Hell-o! This is Matthiew 'Mate’ Sendecki from DeathMagnetic.pl and today we are honoured to have a living drum legend, music producer and percussive artist from band Philm with us – Dave Lombardo! How are you Dave?
I am doing really good, how are you?
I’m far more than fine and thanks for asking! And I was wondering how was your flight from Sao Paulo?
Oh, it was a little long, but you know – hey, it was worth it! We had a really good time.
And what about Motorcycle Rock Cruise? Was it fun with Sepultura and other bands too?
Yes, it was a lot of fun. I found myself, you know, obviously hanging out with Sepultura and, of course, one of my favorite drummers today, Eloy and we had really really nice time. We got to play not only the Philm show, but we played a jazz version of our Philm music, so that was a treat for fans there as well.
Jazz version of Philm music?!
Yes!
Whoa! This sounds awesome! I can’t wait to see if any fan have recorded that show!
Yeah, I think that they recorded it, I hope they did. I’m still waiting for some footage t come up on internet, but I haven’t found anything. That sounds really good.
I have another question connected with Fire From The Evening Sun Tour, which just begun in Sao Paulo or a couple of days earlier in January. I can see that you have a little gap between it and European tour, which will take almost two months, and I was just wondering if you have any plans connected with working, maybe recording some material on third Philm album before hiting the road?
Well, the only thing we are going to do now is going to New York city. I’ve received an offer from friend of mine to come to the studio and record some music, so we decided to rehearse the Philm jazz version of our music from the boat in Sao Paulo. We rehearsed it, we performed it and when we will get to the New York, we’re going to record it and hopefully release it after we release the third heavy album. So we had a lot of music that we’re really anxious to put out.
I have another question connected with the albums, because you mentioned about 5 new tracks even before releasing “Fire From The Evening Sun”. What’s with them? Will you be doing also mentioned EP?
Yes, we are going to record it. We already recorded 6 and we anticipate on recording 4 more. And this is obviously the heavy version of Philm. Hopefully we will get those, when we get back from the tour and get those out as soon as possible.
So, third album will be less improvised like “Harmonic” and more structured and heavier as sophomore record?
Yes, its going to be heavier and more structured as our sophomore record.
Oh, that’s good to hear! You have here a quite huge fan base in Poland and we are extremely pleased that during almost 2 months-lenght tour you, Pancho and Gerry will be performing – wow! – 4 times in our country! So were there any special factors that made you guys play that number of gigs here, exclusively for us?
Well it was the demand. We’ve found that the promoters was very excited to book us. When Philm performed in Poland the very first time, we had such a great time and we had a lot of support form a lot of the fans there they really enjoyed it. Now with our return, we are surprised that we doing 4 shows for the promoters there and we are excited. We can’t wait to hang out with all polish fans and have a great time.
We will have also a great time for sure! Well and I have a question for you Dave about the Polend, which you have visited also with your ex-band Slayer. Did you know that here in the city of Jaworzno we have roundabout named after Jeff Hanneman?
Yes! I saw that online and that was very, very nice. I very appreciate it.
And we appreciate your current works and those you’ve done along with the Jeff! So if we touched the topic of Slayer, we are just wondering if there is any Slayer song which would be still challenging for you to perform or is there any bands song that could make you sweat a little?
Um… no! [laugh] No there isn’t any song. Well you know you have to learn it, you have to practice it and then you play it – that’s all.
So apart from your extremely creative band Philm, I just saw your “Rhythm Mysterium” works and, should I say, those are like drum-paintings! When, where and how whole concept of those artworks came about?
Well a friend of mine, Bill Ward who played in the Black Sabbath, told me to check this kind of art out. I looked at it and I really enjoyed it. His assistant put me in touch with SceneFour which is a company that puts that art pieces out. Then we worked on the photo shoot and we released it. Its really exciting. I really liked art in general. Its just another way to express your ability to create. Whenever its on canvas or in the music. There’s just so many different avenues to be creative and there is no reason to stay in one style or only one category.
Did you named the titles of those drum-paintings?
Yes, I did.
Those titles are quite original, I must admit! I especially like „Immitance„, which reminds me of those cosmic visualizations from Kubrics’ “2001: Space Oddyssey”…
I agree. There is lot of very strange pieces, there is so many different colors and you see so many different images within the picture and thats what I really love most about this format in which we create these art pieces. You can really see other images inside and within this actual work. So, thats why I basically titled them. It is all about what the picture was resonating, what it was saying, what it was immiting.
Yeah and there is another one than I just love the title – “Broken Angel”. Wow that sounds just pretty cool and originative too. And you have also my favorite “La Sombra”. I particularly liked it because it is underlining your powerful bass kick with all those lights. Where just jamming during that sessions or playing whole songs?
I wasn’t playing particular songs, I was soloing when the pictures ware taken. Then I would stop and create another solo and then I would stop again. It was all improvised. Nothing was written. It was spur of the moment, it wasn’t planned.
I’m totally astounded by them! You have, I believe, about 6 galleries of those. Do you want to do it more?
I would love to do more! I think that there is other images that can be captured, maybe different angles. Now when I did it one time, I feel like I can do it better next time. I’m not saying that this version isn’t good, because it great and I love it, but while being creative you always want to outdo yourself and create a better piece. I’m definitely into dong more, I’d love to and I really enjoyed it.
We are waiting for more of those drum-paintings, because I will continue to call them that way. I have another question connected with Philm, ’cause there is this hilarious anecdote about the “Fire From The Evening Sun” original title, which Pancho could not pronounce Is there any story behind the bands’ title, the Philm?
Well, when we first put the band together, the music was catching attention of some movie directors. Those directors asked us to create some music to the video. That movie was a short film (I don’t remember the name of it right now but it will come to me) and at that time we didn’t have a band name, so we decided just to call ourselves “Film”, because the music we’ve created could be easily adapted to movie scores. It was very musical, it had a certain vibration, it had a certain spirit, so that’s how the name “Film” came up. Then we changed the “F” to “PH” to make it a little bit different, so here we are many years later with the same name. I kind of like it, its different, its ambiguous, it doesn’t really mean anything which is what I kinda like.
Yeah and I must admit the same thing is with the Philm name font and layout of the album covers – their not detailed. You can just expect anything form it!
Yeah! And if it comes to the details in music, there is so many bands out there, that try to create so much details in their name that you can’t read it. I want to go against the grain. If somebody is doing painting in red, I will do painting in green and if somebody is doing music in A, we’ll do it in C#. We don’t follow trends, we don’t follow whatever someone else is doing and as you can see, music today seems like everyone is following each other. If you have more detailed name – you just can’t read it! So that’s why we do things we do.
Yes, I can agree with that! I was pretty amazed by what I’ve heard in “Fire From The Evening Sun” and I guess I’ve heard an Argentinian tango beat in one of the tracks…
Oh! [laugh] In 'Corner Girl’?
Yeah, that’s right!
Well, its combination of Cuban, saloon or bar room music. Its very different and its unlike anything I’ve ever done before. There is no Argentinian music – that was just our creativity. We just create it, we didn’t take it from any particular culture or anything. That was just all of us together and what we do.
Yes and this album is really great! So many genres: from thrash metal, rock music to vaudeville, I guess, in the 'Corner Girl’. I love “Harmonic” album also. But let’s focus more on you Dave. You are all-embraced drummer and you could find yourself just in any musical style, so is there any musician with whom you would like to land some music?
You know, there is many musicians out there and I can’t pinpoint one and particular, but I’m just very open to create with as many musicians as possible. I’m not afraid to work alongside any any style of artist. Actually thats when I feel the most comfortable – when I’m challenged. If I’m around musicians that are doing the same thing that I’ve been doing for past 30 years, I’m not gonna feel very comfortable. Its like “Okey…”. There is nothing to stimulate my senses , there is nothing that I’m not going to hear that I haven’t heard before. Well that’s kind of what I’ve stand and there is just many musicians out there from which I just won’t particulary pick out.
So the next question will be somehow connected with what you’ve already said, because I was about to if there is any young generation drummer who gained you attention?
One of my favorites right now is my really good friend Eloy Casagrande from Sepultura. He incorporated his cultural style and he brings it into the metal genre which is really good, because he is experimenting, recreating something that’s already there. Imagine what it will be like, if Slayer wouldn’t create something unique and different and just play music like Poison or Quite Riot – then Slayer wouldn’t be Slayer. If you are just as creative as you can possibly be, you come up with new genres and new styles of music That’s important not only for musicians but also for the listener because you can get tired of hearing the same style of music.
And is there any particular band, genre or just a song, which was recently inspirational for you?
There is many genres that inspires me on a daily basis. It could be funk, I listen a little bit of something more classical, I listen to avant-garde music, I listen to Afrobeat which is very funky groove with some horns, I listen to industrial music. So there isn’t any particular form from which I learn from or study. I try to embrace all style of music and take inspiration from all of them.
… and as a result we have your “Fire From The Evening Sun” I guess?
Yeah! Especially you can hear in it drum 'n bass influence, there is funk there is rock, there is thrash, there is punk. There is like you’ve said vaudeville and I there is something that I really can’t describe what it is. There is also some very-like eastern sounds for example in couple of last songs from the album. So there is a quite variety of genres and that can tell you how well-rounded these musicians that I’m working with are. That’s what I love the most about this album, its very diverse.
I’m really amazed by skills of 'Pancho’ Tomaselli, because I’m bass player myself. I think he have a strong funk background in his bass playing.
Oh yeah, there is a lot of funk background and he knows a lot of Latin rhythms and he has a wide variety of bass skills. He is, to me, one of the best right now. As well as Gerry. Gerry to me is a guitar player that could not only plays guitar, but he play piano as well. That’s why we are recreating the Philm songs in jazz form because of Gerry and that’s why some of the movements he creates musically are fantastic. The way he places his lyrics and the melody is very unique and its in places where most people wouldn’t think to put the lyrics or the melody. I really like these musicians. The caliber of musicians that are compatible to my playing and my style. So I feel that Philm is a band, is a unit and there is a lot more to come. There is so much creativity in this band that the only sky is the limit for what we can do.
What is most important for you guys inside the band?
I think it is our friendship, our camaraderie. It is very important to us. It starts there and then it translated on stage.
…and we can hear it and I hope I will personally hear it live during one of the gigs here in Poland!
Yes you will.
I also hope your trip to Poland and Europe will be pretty inspirational and we will find those inspirations, maybe on the third Philm album.
Yes, definitely! We are looking forward to it and we can’t wait to go back to go back to Poland. Its gonna be a lot of fun.
And one more thing about what you’ve said about the Gerry and his lyrics which are just like poetry to me. You named titles of your drum-paintings yourself, so did you ever tried to assume the role of the bands lyric and songwritter?
Well, Gerry ask me on the occasion: “Hey, what kind of line should I put here?” and I help him out sometimes with the lyrics. But for the most part my work is done within the music. Thats pretty much my contribution there. Gerry focuses a lot on the lyrics. Pancho and myself – we focus on the music.
Last question, Dave is about something that put our attention and what you’ve said during one of your cdrum clinics and interviews. You’ve advised young musicians to no to turn their back on business side of music industry. I’m just curious what detailed hints could you give to the new bands?
Well its not about only about learning and understanding the music industry. Ask questions. Always ask questions. There is nothing wrong with asking questions and it is very important. The music industry is a business and it should be treated as the business.
We are coming to the end of this stimulating interview, so what else could you tell to your Polish fans?
I can tell them I’m really looking forward to visiting Poland and we will see each other very soon!
I must thank you very, very, very much for your precious time, Dave. I will try to be there in the first row to enjoy your amazing music! So, have a nice day Dave and that was Matthiew 'Mate’ Sendecki from DeathMagnetic.pl interviewing Dave Lombardo!
Awesome man, see you soon!
