Exodus drummer Tom Hunting recently spoke with Radioactive MikeZ of 96.7 KCAL FM radio about originally picking up guitar as a kid, but soon switching over to drums as his musical interests changed. Though an interesting factoid that Hunting shared was that, being left handed, he played the guitar as a lefty.
Then, when he got to junior high as a drummer, he pleaded for instructors to let him turn the kit the other way because, as Hunting put it, "They finally let me turn the kit around to left-handed, and then I could actually play, 'cause I couldn't do shit right-handed. So that's where that journey started."
But it's not where it ends. "A lot of drummers out there that are left-handed, they play open-handed," Hunting continued. "A lot of people don't know this, but Dave Lombardo [Slayer, Misfits, Testament] is actually left-handed; his prominent hand is left. Which makes him double badass, 'cause when he goes into a drum roll, one hand's gotta climb over the other one. It's crazy. But through that he invented his own sound."
There you go, folks: another reason why Dave Lombardo is one of the best metal drummers of all-time.
But there are other closet lefties out there according to Hunting. "There's a lot of goofy-foot left-handers out there too. Like Will Carroll [of Death Angel], I call him goofy-foot, 'cause he's lefty in the top of his body, doing his rolls and stuff, but his prominent foot is his right for his kick drums. My right kick-drum foot is pretty ridiculous; it doesn't have the same brain as the left one does. It gets me in trouble sometimes. [Laughs]"
Hey man, sometimes a foot just has a mind of its own. It happens. Last year, Hunting—along with Exodus guitarist Gary Holt—took fans through the making of their most recent album, Persona Non Grata. Hunting beat cancer in the summer of 2021 and has remained healthy since undergoing treatment, and we hope things stay that way for Tom!
