Drummer PAUL BOSTAPH Quits TESTAMENT

Just read this earlier this morning and what a disappointing story.

TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy has confirmed to U.K.'s Terrorizer magazine that drummer Paul Bostaph has left the band.

Due to a "serious injury," Bostaph was absent from the recording sessions for TESTAMENT's new album, "The Dark Roots Of Earth", which is scheduled for release on April 27, 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records. He was replaced in the studio by Gene "The Atomic Clock" Hoglan (ex-DARK ANGEL, ex-STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK), who also sat behind the kit for select dates on TESTAMENT's recent North American tour with ANTHRAX.

"We just found our last week Paul Bostaph is not coming back to the band, he's starting his own new project and doing some things on his own," Billy told Terrorizer. "So we're actually going to be holding a couple of auditions with probably small group of drummers that we chose — we don't want to have a revolving drum stool, we have a new record we want a permanent drummer."

According to Chuck, the split with Bostaph is amicable. "We're still buddies," he said. "It's just that Paul feels at this point in his career he wants to be in a little more in control of the artistic creation of the songs and with his new project, they are all involved with that process whereas with our group, Eric [Peterson, guitar] is pretty much the main songwriter and that's just the way its been with us for 25 years."

LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler plays on one track on "The Dark Roots Of Earth", which was helmed by veteran British producer Andy Sneap (MEGADETH, EXODUS, NEVERMORE, MACHINE HEAD, ARCH ENEMY).

Bostaph is currently focusing on BLACKGATES, the new East San Francisco Bay Area/New York metal outfit also featuring former ANTHRAX singer Dan Nelson, guitarist Jeremy Epp (THE VENTING MACHINE) and bassist Uriah Duffy (WHITESNAKE). The group was scheduled to enter the studio last month to start pre-production on its forthcoming debut album.

Bostaph previously stated about BLACKGATES's musical direction, "Our sound is drawn from all of our influences. Mostly, we don't want to be a thrash metal band, although we draw from that genre as well. There is something in our music for everyone. Heavy grooves, good hooks and Dan's killer pipes. I think we have an independent sound that will stand on its own."

In a September 9 interview with the "Metal Zone" host Nikki Blakk on the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 The Bone, Bostaph stated about the "serious injury" which has forced him to sit out the recording sessions for TESTAMENT's new studio album and not be able to take part in any touring activities with the band, "I have a rehearsal studio of my own, and [back in March] I finished rehearsing and there was some equipment stacked around my drum set that, when I rehearse sometimes, I keep that studio a little dark… which is always good except for when you can't see what you are walking around. And I tripped over some stuff on the floor, fell, and subsequently, a couple of hours later, I had a lump on my wrist. I wasn't sure what it was and I went into physical therapy and the lump had caused tendonitis, so it kept me off the drum set for a while. And I just have had the lump removed. And what it turned out to be was I was born with what they call an extensor muscle that was attached to my index finger of my right hand, which is an extra muscle. They removed the muscle, the tendonitis is gone. Now I'm just recovering from the surgery, so as soon as I do that, I'll be back behind the kit again."

When asked about when fans can expect to see him back behind the hit, Paul said, "As soon as I'm ready to play. Basically, the tendonitis problem is gone; it was the result of the 'mini-me' that was in my wrist. The tendonitis that was caused from that is gone, but now they had to make an incision in my wrist, and because of that, anytime you get an incision, scar tissue develops after the surgery. So the scar issue is around all my tendons, and that has to be broken up through physical therapy, which is now happening. I'm getting my range of motion back, and after I get my range of motion back, then I get my strength back, and as soon as I get the confidence to start playing behind the kit, which is all repetitive motion. When you've got scar tissue surrounding tendons, and it's really tight and you try to push it, and you start doing any kind of a repetitive-motion exercise, which would be drumming, you could make whatever you were trying to fix, like, worse, or permanent. I've been getting timetables [from doctors] ever since I injured [my wrist], and they never turn out. The last time I saw my doctor, the doctor said, 'Take up the sticks whenever you're ready.' So as soon as I feel healthy enough and I'm confident that my wrist feels good, then I'll start picking up the sticks again and I'll start playing. I'm a very physical player, so there's only one way I know how to play, and if I can't do that, then that's just not playing drums to me. So I'm just gonna take my time."

i figured this was going to happen when they got ol'chubby to drum for them. i look for Pete Sandoval to "officially" leave Morbid Angel as well.

Didn't Bostaph use the injury excuse when he left Slayer to join Systematic?

mc666 wrote:

i figured this was going to happen when they got ol'chubby to drum for them. i look for Pete Sandoval to "officially" leave Morbid Angel as well.

Both Gene Hoglan and Tim Yeung are monster drummers, it would be hard to come back and do an album after they did drums.

metalhead777 wrote:

mc666 wrote:

i figured this was going to happen when they got ol'chubby to drum for them. i look for Pete Sandoval to "officially" leave Morbid Angel as well.

Both Gene Hoglan and Tim Yeung are monster drummers, it would be hard to come back and do an album after they did drums.

they are no better (or worse) than Bostaph & Sandoval.

Tim Yeung is good, but he is worse than Sandoval. Sandoval was a far more creative drummer, but Yeung was a good pick.

Hoglan would be nice in TESTAMENT and it would be a good paycheck for him, but considering that he does'nt even like their music that's all it would be for him.

nevermore wrote:

Didn't Bostaph use the injury excuse when he left Slayer to join Systematic?

I don't think it's an excuse. I think he has a lot of soccer injuries.

He didn't blame his quitting this time on injuries. He wants to spend time on his own band.

As long as they don't get that fat English dude that was in CoF and Dummy Burger (now in Sadistic Intent) they should do just fine.

Nick Barker.

I think the fact that Peterson was such a big fan of DIMMU was how he got in the band.

Nick Barker is a good drummer. He plays in the death/grind band Lock Up now.

Tim Yeung would be the perfect fit, he's like the modern-day Dave Lombardo

EmoElmo wrote:

Tim Yeung would be the perfect fit, he's like the modern-day Dave Lombardo

Dave Lombardo is even more like the modern day Dave Lombardo.

I don't usually feel any difference when a drummer is replaced

Speedmetalfreak wrote:

I don't usually feel any difference when a drummer is replaced

...and Bassist

Unless they have their own Signature sound ala Portnoy or Lombardo

You replace Lars, it would still sound like Metallica because all he does (and knows) are basic marching beats

I really liked Bostaph on the first 2 Forbidden albums and on Slayer's Divine Intervention but imo he hasn't done anything impressive since those albums.

It doesn't surprise me to see him leap from band to band since Slayer and in fact if I remember correctly, he even took leave of absence from Slayer right after Divine when things didn't work out too well between him and the rest of the band only to return for a couple of years and leave again.

Speedmetalfreak wrote:

I don't usually feel any difference when a drummer is replaced

I gotta agree with you on this. If I didn't read about the change, I'd have never known.

Temple of Blood wrote:

nevermore wrote:

Didn't Bostaph use the injury excuse when he left Slayer to join Systematic?

I don't think it's an excuse. I think he has a lot of soccer injuries.

He didn't blame his quitting this time on injuries. He wants to spend time on his own band.

Unless you are the goalie you don't use your hands or wrists in soccer. But if he wants to do other things musically more power to him.

Knee inuries are common in soccer, and I guarantee a torn ACL will affect the ability of an aggressive drummer like Bostaph.

I can't believe people don't care about thrash drummers. It's an important part of the band.

It was his wrist that got injured, not his leg though.

Yeah Nick Barker is that idiots name. Hate that dude and he sucks!

you can injure any number of areas playing sports. you can fall the wrong way or run into another player, etc etc. any number of factors can come into play.

why the Barker hate, btw? is he a jerk or do you just not care for his past bands? i've not met the guy.

Yeah I met him. Real piece of work.

Decent drummer. Hope he lands a good gig somewhere.

mc666 wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

Tim Yeung would be the perfect fit, he's like the modern-day Dave Lombardo

Dave Lombardo is even more like the modern day Dave Lombardo.

Yes,yes He is!

Bostaph is a great drummer along with Lombardo and Hoglan

Lurideath wrote:

Yeah I met him. Real piece of work.

Mind explaining? You have my interest.

On the note about the difference between drummers ...

I think each drummer is very different and you can clearly hear when the skill, talent and abilities with some of them. Others tend to sound very cookie-cutter but there are quite a number of drummers that have their own signature sound - some were mentioned in this thread like Tim Yeung and Pete Sandoval - it also depends on the type of music being played.

I think that in bands that utilize the drummer more - like say technical death metal and various prog bands, each drummer can have a very distinct sound and changing a drummer can either be a benefit or a detriment to the band.

However, I will agree that in large part changing drummers is not as huge of an issue as changing the vocalist. It will make a difference if the drummer does not fit with the band's signature sound or if the drummer is generally mediocre...