Dave Lombardo: I ‘Don’t Believe’ in Retirement

Drumming can be one of the most physically demanding actions taken while playing music, but in a new interview with Ultimate-Guitar, drummer Dave Lombardo has emphatically dismissed the idea that he might retire from music.

When asked about what he hoped his legacy would be once he hung up the drumsticks, the stickman quickly set the record straight. "I'm not going to give up the drumsticks, man. Those motherfuckers are going to die with me. Shit, I don't retire. Even with all the money in the world, you couldn't get me to retire," explained the drummer.

"I love what I do. I love music. Musicians don't retire, they only move on to another band or something," added Lombardo.

He later commented, "I don't believe in that word. Buddy Rich… all those guys played until they were 80, you know? I think he played until he was 80. That's just something I had in my mind ever since I was a kid, looking up to these older guys – Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich. Ed Shaughnessy wrote me a beautiful letter – we got to hang out – he played for years on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He played well into his later years. We love it. It's good for our health. It's good for our lungs and our upper body strength."

In his post-Slayer years, Lombardo has remained active manning the kit for a wealth of projects and he says that doing so has made him "fearless" in terms of what he can do.

"Nothing scares me. I've become, in a way, fearless," says the drummer. "What do you want to try? Sure. You know, if someone approaches me to write a music score for a documentary – that happened recently. The guy approached me 10 years ago and said he was working on a documentary and asked if I would score it one day. I said, 'Sure.' I didn't speak to him again for like eight years and he calls me up and says, 'The documentary is ready,' and asked if I'd still do it. So, I said yes."

With the pandemic, many of his projects remain on hold with the drummer singling out Suicidal Tendencies and Dead Cross being in a period of stasis and Misfits being on "standby." Lombardo also had a hand in the recent Mr. Bungle reunion. But he remains hopeful for things picking up once pandemic restrictions lift.