Ekaterina Gorbacheva

Dave Lombardo to release debut solo album on 5th May

Author Hernan Osuna - 8.3.2023

Dave Lombardo, inarguably one of the most influential, innovative, and prolific drummers of modern music, will release his debut solo album, “Rites of Percussion”, on 5th May via Ipecac Recordings.

The 13-track collection, previewed with today’s release of “Journey of the Host”, is the result of a 40-year career that saw Lombardo rise to prominence as a co-founder of Slayer, earn two Grammy Awards, and expand his repertoire across genres. The Havana-born Lombardo’s resume includes outings with the acrobatic, Mike Patton-led Fantômas, the critically-revered John Zorn, experimental hip-hop artist DJ Spooky and the resurrected punk icons, The Misfits.

“[Mike] Patton originally gave me the idea as far back as 1998,” explains Lombardo. “He introduced me to Tito Puente’s Top Percussion album. I was already familiar with Tito and was a bit shocked that Patton was so musically diverse, and that he surrounded himself with musicians of the same mindset. That inspired me. I have had ideas that I’ve recorded on cassette over the years, but Patton kept insisting that I had to do a ‘drum album.’ So, the idea behind the album is years in the making. I just had to find the right time – for me – to do it.”

Dave began working on the album at a time when touring was not possible. He says. “I immediately started working on the record. It was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had. I had my studio, all my drums. Nothing was in storage for once! My home became a place where I could be free and creative. On the one hand, the touring part of my livelihood had been taken away, but on the other, I finally had the time to educate myself on different software and recording techniques. It was a very educational and gratifying experience.”

The recording process of the film score-like album had a simple mantra: drums had to be drums. Mixed in early 2022 by Lombardo’s son, David A. Lombardo, the self-produced release features a large concert bass drum, a timpani, a grand piano, and a flock of shakers, maracas, Chinese and symphonic gongs, Native American drums, congas, timbales, bongos, batás, wood blocks, djembes, ibos, darbukas, octobans, cajóns, and cymbals.

Album pre-orders, which include CD, digital, and three vinyl variants: standard cigar smoke, indie retail exclusive blood sacrifice, and Ipecac exclusive purple haze, are available now here.

Rites of Percussion” tracklist:
1. Initiatory Madness
2. Separation from the Sacred
3. Inner Sanctum
4. Journey of the Host
5. Maunder in Liminality
6. Despojo
7. Interfearium
8. Blood Let
9. Warpath
10. Guerrero
11. Vicissitude
12. Omiero
13. Animismo