David Lombardo (born February 16, 1965) is a Cuban-American drummer, best known as a co-founding member of American thrash metal band Slayer. He is currently playing drums with Testament, Fantômas, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Cross, Mr. Bungle, and the Misfits. Lombardo previously played drums on nine Slayer albums, including Reign in Blood (1986) and Christ Illusion (2006). His music career has spanned over 40 years, during which he has been involved in the production of 35 commercial recordings covering a number of genres. He has performed with numerous other bands, including Grip Inc., Philm and Fantômas, in addition to Slayer. Lombardo is widely known as an aggressive heavy metal drummer. His drumming has been praised as "astonishingly innovative". Drummerworld named him "The Godfather of Double Bass". He has had a significant influence on the metal scene and inspired modern metal drummers, particularly extreme metal drummers. Biography Early years Lombardo was born in Havana, Cuba, on February 16, 1965, where his father owned three meat markets. He is of Italian descent through his paternal great-grandfather, who relocated to Cuba in the 19th century. Lombardo moved with his family to South Gate, California, when he was two years old, and still speaks Spanish. He has two older brothers and an older sister; his brothers had previously emigrated to the US via Operation Peter Pan. His musical interests were fueled by his first musical performance when he was eight years old; he played bongos to Santana's "Everybody's Everything". Lombardo joined his school's band and played the marching drum. After noticing his son's persistent interest in music, Lombardo's father bought him a five-piece Pearl Maxwin drum set for $350 when Lombardo was ten years old. Lombardo bought his first record, Alive! by Kiss, to play along with. He learned to play Kiss' "100,000 Years" by repeatedly listening to the record until he could play the drum solo perfectly. Lombardo asked his parents for drum lessons. Although they agreed, the lessons were short-lived. Lombardo grew bored because the lessons were repetitive and did not challenge him. Lombardo's friends introduced him to disco, which appealed to his affinity for funk, Latin and soul. He became a temporary DJ for a mobile disc jockey under the name A Touch of Class. Unimpressed with their son coming home at 4:00am, Lombardo's parents pressured him into quitting the DJ gig or face military school. Lombardo returned to playing rock music