PHILM -- a new power trio project featuring Slayer's Dave Lombardo on drums and joined by vocalist/guitarist Gerry Nestler and bassist Pancho Tomaselli -- will make its live debut in Los Angeles this week. The band will play at the Aqua Lounge in Beverly Hills on Sept. 15 and at the Whisky in Hollywood on Sept. 19. It's been a long time coming for Lombardo and Nestler, who have tried to put something together in the late 1990s.

"Dave and I first got together in 1997 to start an original band," Nestler told Noisecreep. "We later regrouped between Slayer's scheduled tour dates in late 2009, playing some upstairs jams at the Rainbow in Hollywood. We then decided to restart our band. Pancho had met Dave a few years back at one Dave's drum clinics and we decided to invite him in."

The band has crafted a crunchy, thrashy, yet thoroughly unclassifiable sound. "The music of PHILM is channeled through the many different influences of drum and bass, expressionism, and underground that ranges via ancient and indigenous to street," Nestler said. "There are many different things that Dave and I have been into that have contributed to the vision of PHILM. Pancho's highly skilled bass playing, chordal color and shape have helped expand the overall sound instrumentation and groove. Dave Lombardo's drumming goes without comparison, except that it might be said, to quote Pancho that 'it's like playing with the seven, not four, horses of the Apocalypse behind you.'"

Nestler also said that the music is heavy but sensitive, powerful and atmospheric. He further elaborated, saying, "The band is a dark landscape at times where glimpses of light are held within the shadows. As an artist it is always a very satisfying joy and difficult to be held to such immensity. Art is not just f---ing around or else it's just s---. Responsibility and art are one and the same. But it is really the chemistry of the players that make all the difference in the music of PHILM."

The band will record their debut for Blood Orange Records imminently.

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