SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo is featured in a new interview with Panagiotis Karagiannidis at Greece-based Metal Paths discussing his new band, PHILM. An excerpt from the interview and the audio are available below:

Dave Lombardo

Q: How exactly did this band come out? Tell us a few things about how you met with the other guys and how Philm started in general.

Lombardo: "Well, it’s kind of a long story. We’ve got together around ‘95 or ‘96 and I couldn’t continue the band because I was working with Slayer, I was working with FANTOMAS, cooperating with TESTAMENT… all those bands at a time. I was releasing albums and I couldn’t focus on working with Philm. So I told Philm that I have to finish these projects. We took a long break and then I think we got back together maybe in 2004 or 2005. Then in 2008 I was getting a divorce and Tom Araya was going into surgery, for his neck, and we had to cancel some shows because of Tom. So I had a lot of time for myself and I called Gerry, the guitar player and I asked him if he was busy and if he wasn’t, we should get together, but I couldn’t find the original bass player. So I had to look for another one and I remembered there was one guy that I had met at my drum clinic in West Los Angeles and his name was Pancho Tomaselli and he knew that I liked funk music and RnB music. So I called him up and he said he would love to play in the band. So we’ve been working together since and he is a great guy and here we are with a new album and hopefully a tour coming up."

Q: Harmonic is your debut album. How would you describe the music to a fan that has not listened to the album yet?

Lombardo: "Well, the first thing I tell them is that it’s different. It’s different from anything I’ve done before. It’s not heavy like Slayer, it doesn’t have that sound, it’s a different sound. It has an old, vintage sound, maybe like the 60s and 70s and it’s a trio so there’s only drums, bass and guitar, and the guitar player sings. My drum-set is a very small drum-set, I play only a 4-piece. In Slayer I play in 9-piece drum-set. So it’s a lot smaller and it helps me create differently. You still have aggression, you know fans like Dave Lombardo aggressive in drums, but it’s a little different. It’s aggression in a more punk way and the album is more extreme rock instead of extreme metal or thrash metal, speed metal, grindcore whatever it is. It’s not like that, it’s more extreme rock."

Click here for the complete transcript.

Slayer recently issued the following health status of their "brother" Jeff Hanneman:

"Slayer fans everywhere - it's time to let you know what is going on with our brother Jeff Hanneman. As you know, Jeff was bitten by a spider more than a year ago, but what you may not have known was that for a couple of days after he went to the ER, things were touch-and-go. There was talk that he might have to have his arm amputated, and we didn't know if he was going to pull through at all. He was in a medically-induced coma for a few days and had several operations to remove the dead and dying tissue from his arm. So, understand, he was in really, really bad shape. It's been about a year since he got out of the hospital, and since then, he had to learn to walk again, he's had several painful skin grafts, he's been in rehab doing exercises to regain the strength in his arm; but best of all, he's been playing guitar. We were all excited when he joined us onstage for the encore a year ago at The Big Four show at Coachella (see photo below).

Since then, we've given him all the time and support he's needed to continue his rehab so he can come back to the band fully recovered and able to deliver the kind of shows we all want him to. While Jeff's been doing some writing and has been coming to rehearsal over the past several weeks, he has decided he needs to take more time to continue his rehab. While we want him back onstage with the band, all of us support his decision. So, we're very grateful that Gary Holt (EXODUS) will continue to fill in for Jeff, and will tour with us until Jeff completes his rehab and is ready to return. How long will that be? The best and most honest answer we can give you is 'as long as it takes.' We also wanted you to know that we've been doing some writing and recording for the next Slayer album - we've tracked a few songs, and will finish the album when we're off the road later this year. Gary will join us on tour in Europe and the UK in May and June, and then we'll all see you on this Summer's Mayhem Festival.

Slayer's tour schedule can be found here.