Slayer have announced that Paul Bostaph has officially replaced drummer Dave Lombardo in the band.
“Slayer’s Tom Araya and Kerry King are very pleased to announce that Paul Bostaph has rejoined the band on a full-time basis,” say the band in an official statement. “Bostaph will be behind the drum kit beginning June 4 when Slayer kicks off the first leg of its 2013 international tour in Warsaw, Poland. Gary Holt will continue to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman.
“Slayer’s 2013 itinerary will have them playing 35 dates that will include headline shows as well as a number of major summer festivals in Europe, Eastern Europe and South America between June and October. The complete itinerary is below.
“Paul’s a great drummer and a good friend, and we’re very happy that he’s decided to rejoin the band,” said Tom Araya. “We’re still pretty numb from the loss of Jeff, but we don’t want to disappoint our European fans, and we need to begin moving forward…having Paul back in the band makes that a whole lot easier.”
“I’m very excited to be rejoining Slayer,” adds Bostaph. “We spent a very intense ten years of our lives together, had a lot of fun, made a lot of great music, so for me, this feels like coming home.”
Bostaph was Slayer’s drummer from 1992 until 2001 and worked on the following four albums: Divine Intervention (1994), Undisputed Attitude, Diabolus in Musica, (1998) and God Hates us All (2001). Bostaph has also played with Forbidden, Exodus, Systematic and Testament.
The news will perhaps come as a shock to fans hoping that Lombardo would make a return to the fold despite his sacking from the Australian tour earlier this year. Lombardo made an appearance at the public memorial of former bandmate and Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who passed away on May 2.
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