Slayer Drummer Dave Lombardo Fired from Australian 'Soundwave' Tour in Dispute Over Money with Kerry King

Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo has been asked not to go on the band's Australian Soundwave tour. According to Lombardo, Slayer's lawyers asked him not to join the the band on tour after he had a dispute over money. Jon Dette will replace Lombardo on drums.

Lombardo posted a lengthy Facebook post yesterday apologizing to fans and explaining his disagreement with the band.

Lombardo explains, "Last year, I discovered 90% of Slayer's tour income was being deducted as expenses including the professional fees paid to management, costing the band millions of dollars and leaving 10% or less to split amongst the four of us. In my opinion, this is not the way a band's business should operate. I tried rectifying it by letting my band mates know, and Tom and I hired auditors to figure out what happened, but I was denied access to detailed information and the necessary back up documents."

Lombardo went on to say that on Thursday he showed up to rehearsals as scheduled only to get an email from the band's lawyers saying he was being replaced for the Australian tour dates.

Today, the band released its own statement in response. The entire version can be found on Blabbermouth's website. Slayer refuted Lombardo's statement saying, "...SLAYER does not agree with Mr. Lombardo's substance or the timeline of the events, except to acknowledge that Mr. Lombardo came to the band less than a week before their scheduled departure for Australia to present an entirely new set of terms for his engagement that were contrary to those that had been previously agreed upon."

This is the second issue with a drummer for this year's Soundwave tour. Blink 182's drummer Travis Barker recently announced he would not be joining the band in Australia due to his fear of flying after being involved in a plane crash fiver years ago.

Obviously Lombardo and Slayer have different perspectives on how this all played out. Lombardo is claiming he offered up a new business model to guitarist Kerry King that King was not receptive to. It seems by the band's statement, that is not exactly how things went down. Unfortunately, they don't provide much more light on the issue other than disagreeing with Lombardo's recollection of what went down.

What do Slayer fans think? Do you believe Lombardo's side of the story?