It's hard to name a more influential band on the development of extreme metal than Slayer, as countless musicians will tell you. Cannibal Corpse drummer Paul Mazurkiewicz is the latest to go on record, sharing that not only is Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo his biggest influence, he probably wouldn't be playing death metal at all without Lombardo paving the way, as he told Pod Scum (transcribed by Blabbermouth).
"Dave Lombardo is my biggest influence, of course. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be doing what I'm doing. He's the king of thrash, double bass and all that, so as a teenager, hearing him play in the mid-'80s, obviously I wasn't playing at that point yet — I [was] just starting out — so that really solidified me wanting to play the way I play today, what he was doing and still is doing. But all those bands and all those influences we had in the mid-to-late '80s, going from, I guess, any of the heavy metal like Iron Maiden, as it progressed, into bands like Metallica, Slayer and then the thrash bands of… Kreator and things like that, Death Angel, that really, really were the forerunners of death metal and what we do in Cannibal Corpse. So, I mean, so many, so many influential bands and drummers back then, but, yeah, Lombardo would be my biggest one."
Elsewhere in the interview, Mazurkiewicz discussed how his body is holding up and having to adjust his lifestyle as he ages.
"I'm feeling fairly good for my age. And, Jeez, if anything, there's a lot of times I think, 'Man, I'm playing better than I ever have been,' which is, I guess, a good thing. But you've gotta make those tweaks, you've gotta make those adjustments. You can't just rely on young adrenaline and just pure fury, like you might have done when you were younger. So, you have to kind of maybe try to take care of yourself a little bit more so. I mean, it all comes down to the basics. The way I look at it anyways is if you can get good sleep, you stay hydrated, you eat fairly well and you practice, those are the main keys. Of course, having some good genes perhaps. Unfortunately, you hear [about] these guys that just have problems, back problems, and there's nothing you can do. Luckily, I guess I do have pretty decent genes in that regard where I never had any major ailments in that way. So, if anything, you've just gotta really play a lot more."
