Source: Blabbermouth
The official Facebook page of SLAYER‘s current touring drummer, Paul Bostaph, has released the first photo of the lineup that has spent the past month on the road in Europe, featuring original members Kerry King(guitar) and Tom Araya (bass, vocals) alongside hired musicians Bostaphand Gary Holt (guitar). Check it out below.
It was announced on May 30 by Araya and King that Bostaph would be behind the drum kit for the first leg of the band’s 2013 international tour.EXODUS‘ Gary Holt is continuing to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died on May 2 from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver.
Bostaph was SLAYER‘s drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band — the gold-certified “Divine Intervention” (1994), the 1996 punk covers album “Undisputed Attitude”, “Diabolus In Musica” (1998), “God Hates Us All” (2001) that received a Grammynomination for “Best Metal Performance”, as well as the DVD “War At The Warfield” (2001), also certified gold. In addition to SLAYER, Bostaph has been a member of FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, SYSTEMATIC and TESTAMENT.
SLAYER‘s 2013 itinerary has the band playing 35 dates that include headline shows as well as a number of major summer festivals in Europe, Eastern Europe and South America between June and October.
“Paul‘s a great drummer and a good friend, and we’re very happy that he’s decided to rejoin the band,” said Araya. “We’re still pretty numb from the loss of Jeff, but we don’t want to disappoint our European and South American fans, and we need to begin moving forward… Having Paul back in the band makes that a whole lot easier.”
Original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo sat out the band’s recent Australian tour due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX).
Photo below courtesy of Paul Bostaph‘s Facebook page (left to right: Gary Holt, Tom Araya, Kerry King, Paul Bostaph)
