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PAUL BOSTAPH Breaks Silence On Departure From SLAYER

April 23, 2003

Former SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph has finally broken his silence regarding the real reason he left the group in December 2001 (he has since been replaced by his predecessor in the band, original SLAYER skinsman Dave Lombardo). An official press release issued by the SLAYER camp had listed a chronic elbow injury as the reason for Bostaph's departure while a number of people had speculated that he left the band in order to join SYSTEMATIC. According to Paul, however, his reasons for leaving were purely musical.

"I didn't leave SLAYER because of an arm problem, and I certainly didn't leave SLAYER to join SYSTEMATIC," Paul told San Francisco-based Internet music magazine Perfect Pitch Online. "I was ready to go. It was nothing personal towards anybody in the band, it was just my time to leave. Musically, I wanted to do something else. And in terms of the problem I had with my arm, I re-aggravated an old softball injury by lifting up a laptop at the airport. That happened right at the beginning of the tour, and it never had time to heal. But even at that point, I was considering moving on from the band. SLAYER's a great band, and I had a lot of fun playing with them, but I have to feel like I'm taking chances musically. The first time I left SLAYER, I did [a project called] THE TRUTH ABOUT SEAFOOD — sure, it never got signed, but I enjoyed it a lot. SLAYER took my drumming to a new level, but there are also other levels of drumming that I haven't even touched yet. I want to become a more eclectic drummer."

SYSTEMATIC's sophomore CD, "Pleasure To Burn", was released April 15 through Elektra Records. The album — the group's first to feature Bostaph and former ECHO 3/MAXIMUM PENALTY bassist John Mark Bechtel (a.k.a. Johnny Chow) — was produced by Howard Benson, who has previously worked with P.O.D., MOTÖRHEAD, SEPULTURA and CRAZY TOWN, among others.

(Thanks: Perfect Pitch Online)

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