Slayer’s Dave Lombardo explains why early Pink Floyd is “inspiring”
Dave Lombardo made his name as the co-founding member and drummer of American thrash pioneers, Slayer. After helping to bring thrash to the masses, he found success in the widely influential supergroup, Fantômas and played with Mr Bungle, Dead Cross and Misfits. Despite being inextricably linked to the heavier side of music, Lombardo also has a penchant for music’s more experimental face. If his work with the Mike Patton-fronted Fantômas and Mr Bungle didn’t already make this clear, his love of Pink Floyd will.
On the most recent episode of Amoeba Music’s What’s In My Bag?, Lombardo shared his love of Pink Floyd and particularly their early material, which he calls “inspiring”. This came by way of him choosing their original frontman Syd Barrett’s 1970 debut solo album, The Madcap Laughs. The record is a classic moment of psychedelic folk recorded after Barrett had departed Pink Floyd in 1968 due to his disintegrating mental health.
Produced by himself alongside former bandmates David Gilmour and Roger Waters, Peter Jenner and Malcolm Jones, and featuring Gilmour and Waters, as well as the likes of Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt, it remains one of the most lauded albums of the era. This status is despite the tragic backstory of Barrett’s arc and the route his life would take after 1970. In many ways, it represents a triumph in the face of adversity.
Gilmour said after The Madcap Laughs was released, “Perhaps we were trying to show what Syd was really like. But perhaps we were trying to punish him…” Famously, Barrett said of his record: “It’s quite nice, but I’d be very surprised if it did anything. If I were to drop dead, I don’t think it would stand as my last statement.” Roger Waters gave a more optimistic account of the opus at the time, labelling Barrett a “genius”.
Speaking on What’s In My Bag?, Lombardo said: “I recently purchased Pink Floyd’s first two records, and Syd Barrett (was) obviously the band’s main influence. I had to pick up The Madcap Laughs, Syd Barrett’s solo record.”
The former Slayer man proceeded to wax lyrical about Pink Floyd and their “inspiring” early work: “I didn’t know, but it was produced by David Gilmour and Roger Waters, you know, it’s going to be an interesting ‘trip’ to listen to this, for sure. I had to pick this up; I’ve been really getting into early Pink Floyd. There’s something special about the older recordings that I find endearing and enjoy.”
He continued: “You could hear the progression of the band as you get to (1979’s) The Wall. Their ability, their production, their songwriting, you can hear it evolve. And sometimes the earlier music, like the first two Pink Floyd records, I find those very inspiring because they didn’t hold back their experimentation.”
Concluding: “They didn’t care about, ‘Oh, we need a hit; it needs to be three and a half minutes long, or three minutes long,’ they didn’t care about that. So that’s what was special, I think, for me.”
Watch the clip below.
