Defenders Of The Faith, le forum Metal

To all our Testament fans around the world,
First off, we are beyond grateful to have had Gene Hoglan ''Official Page'' behind our drum throne for ten years, several albums and countless tour dates. Unfortunately, our brother Gene’s additional tours and solo endeavors in 2022 conflict insurmountably with Testament’s rescheduled dates after two years of lost time due to the pandemic. Rather than Testament having to reschedule upcoming dates (yet again) or Gene having to cancel his own plans, we have decided to amicably part ways. We understand that this announcement will cause some disappointment but rest assured: There is no drama, only the best of vibes between us. As Gene embarks upon a new chapter, we thank him from the bottom of our hearts for bringing the most powerful drum beats to Testament and heavy metal. We have no doubt he will continue to bring it as only he can. Gene Hoglan will always be family and we ask all of you to join us in wishing him only the best of luck going forward!
Also rest assured that we will continue to deliver yet another top notch addition to Testament and will reveal soon! We will see you all on tour very soon!
Testament

Achille a écrit : ↑

02 mars 2022, 08:33

Un rassemblement de tueurs en somme.

Asked if he had to physically audition for the drummer spot in TESTAMENT this time around, Dave quipped (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I just sent them a link to my Wikipedia. 'I've done these records, including one of yours. Can I come back?' [Laughs]"

Lombardo said that he reached out to the TESTAMENT camp the same day that the band announced it was splitting with its longtime drummer Gene Hoglan.


"I was still asleep, and my wife, she just said, 'Hey, Gene just left TESTAMENT,'" Dave recalled. "And she's been always telling me, 'Man, I can't wait for you guys to get together for that 'Gathering' reunion.' 'Cause we had been talking about this two and a half, three years ago — before the pandemic. And so I immediately — I didn't even get my other eye open and I was texting [TESTAMENT singer] Chuck [Billy]. I said, 'Hey, man, what's going on?' I don't know exactly what I mentioned in my text, but it was very simple, 'Hey, what's happening?' And he immediately called me back. And I remember Tiffany [Chuck's wife] was on the phone; Chuck was on the phone. We were, like, 'Hey.' It was a great come-together moment, like, 'Hey, here we go. This is the moment we've been waiting for.'"

Dave went on to say that the timing was right for his return to TESTAMENT.

"'The Gathering' reunion didn't have to happen putting Gene out, separating Gene and saying, 'Gene, we're gonna go with Dave for a while now.' Nothing like that happened," he said. "This happened organically. And it happened at a time where my other bands, two of the bands that I have, MR. BUNGLE and DEAD CROSS, [Mike] Patton sings in them and he's trying to get healthy and is taking a little hiatus. And SUICIDAL TENDENCIES hasn't been touring much lately. So that leaves me with a lot of little odd projects here and there that I work on in my free time. So it just felt like the right moment.

"I know it can be deceiving because I am in so many different bands, but there's 24 hours in a day and I only sleep eight hours, or seven to eight hours, so that leaves me 16 other hours," he explained. "And I don't take Saturdays and Sundays off. So it was a no-brainer."

Chuck said that he was surprised to hear from Dave so quickly after TESTAMENT made the news of its split with Gene public.

"Right when it happened, it was within minutes after the announcement," Billy recalled. "And Dave doesn't remember, but [his text message to me was] simply 'Lombardo?' That was the text. I'm, like, 'You're shitting me. Tiffany, Lombardo just wrote me, 'Lombardo?'' I called him right away. I said, 'Hey, dude, what's happening?' He was, like, 'Dude, I heard the news.' I'm, like, 'Dude, I would have called you right away, but I just thought it was kind of far-fetched for you to kind of jam because I know you're probably pretty busy with all the other projects going on.' And he was, like, 'No. I've got a big opening and I'd love to get back.' And we talked about 'The Gathering', doing that again. And here we are — it could be a reality to get to play 'The Gathering' like we spoke of."

Lombardo issued the following statement regarding his latest departure: "We knew 2022 was going to be relatively easy, as far as schedules go, between myself and Testament. Unfortunately, 2023 has not been so easy. After months of trying to work out specific tour dates, our schedules are just conflicting too much to make sense this year. Therefore, I will not be joining Testament for their 2023 tour dates.

"We are all thrilled that we were able to share the stage last year, it’s some thing we wanted to do for a very long time. I had an amazing experience with the band and am wishing them all the best moving forward. To the Testament fans, thank you for welcoming me, making every show a killer experience, and for your understanding as we all move forward."