Paul BOSTAPH
Name: Paul Bostaph Plays: Drums Born: March 26th - 1964 in Newark (in the so-called "Tri-City" area) California Paul grew up in Newark, California. He started playing drums in 1979 and he graduated from Newark Memorial High School. Before playing in Forbidden, he jammed with a bunch of guys called Rick Cottingham, Ken Keeler, Eric Shmidt. They played at school and at garage parties. His first real gig was at the Old Keystone in paloalto in 1985. Paul had a special knack for a drumkit before he realy knew how to play them. Later, in the 80's, he played with the thrash band, Forbidden, and with them he did 2 records. Paul then got somewhat tired of playing heavy music; he felt that it was too limiting. After the break with Forbidden, he got a call from Kerry King who found out that Paul left Forbidden. Kerry wanted Paul to join Slayer, but at first Jeff wasn't too keen on the idea but eventually he agreed with Kerry; Paul has always been a big fan of Slayer, so it took him a nanosecond to accept the offer. Paul was then given a list of Slayer songs and he had like 12 days to rehearse them. After that, it was the plan that Paul should be "tested" in an audition that lasted 3 days. Paul passed the audition with flying colours. He even did a song that wasn't on the list - "Silent Scream", a very drum-demanding song. As Paul said : "I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off with my walkman with Slayer in it..." and "I pretty much ate, breath and slept Slayer in 12 days..." In 1992, when Paul was still new in Slayer, Paul was contacted by Testament who wanted him to do a show with them and Paul is also on the Testament live album, "Return To The Apocalyptic City". Then the drummer playyed some clubdates in the States before flying to Europe and do the large Monsters Of Rock dates. Paul did well and the rest of the Slayer guys was very pleased with him. He also gets fine along with Tom, Kerry and Jeff. From what I know, Paul is somewhat shy about meeting new people, he also seems like a very modest person. He is/was very dedicated to Slayer. He helps the others designing t-shirts, writing lyrics etc. Like the other Slayer guys, he is interested in sport. Actually, Paul plays soccer in his sparetime for a team in San Francisco - I was told that he is pretty good at it also. Paul learned to play drums to listen to his heavy records, mostly Iron Maiden. He tried to pull off what Nicko did. Many people said : "Paul Bostaph has awfully big shoes to fill". To that, Tom said "Actually, the shoes are a little too tight". He left the band in late 1995 because he wanted to persue his own interest in the band "The Truth About Seafood" - Slayer then hired Jon Dette but he was later kicked out and at that time (January 1997) Paul wanted to play heavy music and therefore he returned to Slayer. There is some rumours, however, that he left Slayer again..... On the new Slayer record, "Diabolus In Musica" he is behind the drumset despite all the romours. He does it very well. He is back to his usual self, kicking ass! Paul used to be together with the (very!) hot porn star Jasmine St. Claire, but they're not together anymore, due to unknown reasons. Tama Artstar II kit in a chrome wrap. 8X8 tom 10X10 tom 12X12 tom 13X13 tom 14X14 tom 16X16 floor tom 14X20 Gong Bass drum 2 18X22 Bass drums 4X14 snare drum 3 1/4 X 14 bronze snare drum.
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