[youtube width=”500″ height=”344″]http://youtu.be/JYp3gUw0Dyw[/youtube]
Jon Dette might be one of the busiest guys in metal right now. Not only is he playing with Slayer in Australia (amidst a whole lot of drama), but he’s also filling in on drums for Anthrax…all on the same tour! Drama aside, those aren’t exactly easy jobs to do (let alone at the same time). So how did the drummer get the temp gig with both bands?
A week prior to the Australian tour, Dette (who was actually a member of Slayer for a brief time in 1996) was interviewed by Tama drums. While you can watch the entire interview above, here’s what he had to say about how he got the gig with Slayer:
“I got a call from Kerry [King]. And he said, ‘Hey, what are you doing next week when you’re in Australia when you’re not playing for Anthrax?’ And I said, ‘Drinking.’ [laughs] He said, ‘Well, you might wanna hold off the drinks, if you can, cause we might need you to fill in, if you can.’ And I said, ‘Of course!’ I mean, first, I was kind of taken aback, I was a little paused. But they basically called me and asked if I could do the Australia dates for them. So I will, actually, be playing drums for Anthrax and Slayer at the Soundwave festival in Australia, and then also we have a one-off show — Slayer and Anthrax in Sydney, which, that will definitely put me to the test. Cause it’s gonna be an hour on stage with Anthrax, and then I’ve got 20 minutes to take a break, and then it’s an hour and 40 with Slayer. So I’ve got my work cut out for me that night. But I’ll man up, I’ll make it happen, and it’ll be a good show.”
As for how he landed the job with Anthrax (first filling in for Charlie Benante late last year during the European tour), apparently he was recommended by Shadows Fall’s Jason Bittner, who played with Anthrax last summer. More interestingly, though, Dette also reveals that there’s a chance he’ll be playing with Anthrax on the Metal Alliance Tour. “Possibly… We haven’t worked out the exact dates yet, but I will be doing some of the U.S. tour, the Metal Alliance tour, helping Charlie fill in on dates that he can’t make,” claims Dette. This is rather surprising, since Benante seemed to be looking forward to the tour when we recently spoke to him. How much of the tour Benante plans to miss (if at all) is unknown, and we can only speculate whether his recent legal woes are the reason for his recent and potential future absence.
