Looks like even after nine years, tensions remain high between At The Gates/Paradise Lost drummer Adrian Erlandsson and Slayer’s Kerry King. First though, a little recap of how this all started:
While it’s hard to imagine Slayer without drummer Dave Lombardo (though he was absent from the band for most of the 90s), the band did have problems finding a drummer in 2002. Paul Bostaph had just left the group, and Dave Lombardo wasn’t sure he wanted to rejoin the band permanently (though eventually he did). So for a brief time Slayer actually auditioned a few drummers. During this time, King talked to Sweden’s Close-Up Magazine about their drummer situation. When asked if Slayer would consider auditioning any Scandinavian drummers, King gave the following response:
“I haven’t seen a lot, but the only thing I’ve seen is a lot of soft hitters. Like the guy in Cradle Of Filth who used to play in The Haunted [ed. note: Erlandsson was in Cradle Of Filth at the time this interview happened]. He hits like a f*g! He hits everything, but he hits like a f*g. This is Slayer; people expect more.”
Ouch! Not very flattering words from one fellow musician to another. And while it’s been nine years since the interview was published, Elandsson wants to let King know that he’s still a little bent about his comments. The drummer tweeted the following caption along with a picture of a bent drum beater:
“Up yours, Mr. King, soft hitters don’t bend bass drum beaters!”
Zing! We don’t expect King to respond, though we are curious if he still thinks Erlandsson is a “soft hitter.” Judge for yourself, and watch clip of the Scandinavian drummer performing with At The Gates at the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival in Helsinki, Finland this past July after the jump.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_BCcnS7iqE[/youtube]
[via Blabbermouth]
