MMN Exclusive: Slayer’s Kerry King On Scalpels, Struggles, and the End of Metal’s Biggest Beef
Despite his 46 years, Slayer’s tatted-up, goateed guitarist and primary songwriter, Kerry King, is still absolutely terrifying. Sure, there are hints of a genteel underbelly in the endearing name he uses to hide in hotels, but any more talk about that will get us sacrificed in future Slayer songs… so let’s leave it alone.
King is in Toronto, and as he answers the phone, it’s clear he’s just risen (it’s solidly after noon). He sounds like a man who isn’t entirely sure what day it is or city he’s in. Understandable, given that the band he formed nearly 30 years ago remains militantly dedicated to touring their heretical gospel, in this case for 2009′s World Painted Blood, for roughly half of the year.
King, co-guitarist Jeff Hanneman, bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and drummer Dave Lombardo (the band’s original foursome) left for overseas in May, and have yet to rest. Since July, they’ve been traveling across Canada and the U.S. with Megadeth on the American Carnage tour, playing their 1990, Rick Rubin-produced masterpiece, Seasons in the Abyss, in its entirety (Megadeth also runs through their watershed Rust in Peace record from front to back). Fittingly, the trek doesn’t cease until just prior to Halloween.
All of which makes it miraculous that King could shrug off his restlessness and speak with MMN Managing Editor Kenny Herzog about why he was initially against the tour, how his beef with Dave Mustaine came to a close, and why he won’t carve “Slayer” on your arm with a scalpel.
MMN: Did you guys decide to embark on another full-album tour after the success of going out on the road with Reign in Blood in 2004?
KERRY KING: We had to cancel this run twice, and promoters are notorious for getting cold feet. So the promoters were suggesting, “Why don’t you guys do an album top to bottom?” and I was against it the whole time. [Laughs] I’m kind of over that. I don’t know if we were the first, but we were definitely in the pioneer stages of playing entire albums. It’s fun to do it when you want to. It’s not fun when you do it because you’re told to. It’s like fuckin’ being a kid: Whatever your parents tell you, you do the opposite.
MMN: At this point in Slayer’s career, you wouldn’t have more say in those kinds of discussions?
KK: Yes and no. In the back of my head, I wanted to play this record next if we did another full album. It’s cool the way it came down, cause Megadeth’s doing Rust of Peace, so we’re both doing records from the same era, which I think is really awesome. To have two bands to agree to do that is something to be said in itself, because every band has its own agenda. We didn’t even do this on [Slayer and Megadeth's] Clash of the Titans [tour] when the albums were fresh, so to do it 20 years later says something for both bands.
MMN: And the fact that it’s not for nostalgia, and you guys are still making vital, commercially relevant records, has to make something like this tour that much more special for fans.
KK: Yeah, that’s what this comes down to. When all this came together, me and Dave, far as the press was concerned, still had beefs going way back. And my thought was, I’m not gonna take this out on the fans, which is essentially what I’d be doing. At that point, I was like, “The fans will fucking love this.” So I just bit my tongue and said, “Yeah, let’s try it.” And since then, me and Dave have talked a bunch of times and just moved on.
MMN: Your fans tend to be a bit crazy. What’s the most insane thing you’ve ever seen a fan do to show their loyalty to the band?
KK: Not this tour, but we were playing in Spain. If we’re playing a smaller place, kids can get to where the buses are, or the backstage door. Me and whoever will go out and sign stuff, and I’m going down the line with the Sharpie, signing their stuff. And this one kid sticks out what I figured was his pen, and he was pretty persistent about me using his pen. And I was like, “Alright, sometimes kids are like that. They wanna make sure their pen works.” And the guy hands me a scalpel. He wants me to carve Slayer into him. I was like, “Dude, I’ll sign anything you want, but I’m not gonna cut you.” That’s just a lawsuit.
MMN: As you said, it’s been two decades since you’ve toured all at once with the likes of Megadeth, Anthrax, and Testament. What’s the most noticeable difference about the atmosphere backstage now versus the turn of the ’90s?
KERRY KING: It’s funny, because I was making this observation last night. Megadeth was still at the venue, which they’re usually not. I’m like, “Alright, [Megadeth drummer'] Shawn [Drover]‘s gonna hang out. We can see the dudes!” cause Shawn likes to hang. I come off stage, I see them, I see Testament, I change clothes, and everybody’s fucking gone. It took 10 minutes; what the fuck is going on here? But Testament had moved their party out to the bus and they all came back, and Megadeth left. [Megadeth frontman] Dave [Mustaine] don’t hang out at the venue too long after he plays. That’s why I thought it was odd that they were still there, but they bailed while I was changing.
MMN: Even if the off-stage camaraderie has settled down, a tour like American Carnage feels reminiscent of when metal, punk, and hardcore shows organized bills with like-minded bands that every fan would want to see.
KK: The only thing that bums me out about what we’re doing right now is that Testament has to go on so early. And none of us are really playing that long. Us and Megadeth play and hour and 10. But they’re on at like five minutes to 7, and most of these places have 11 p.m. curfews, and it doesn’t allow for us to play as long as I would like to, as long as I’d have everybody play. Especially when we’re doing albums. We play Seasons, and then we might have time for five other songs. We were doing Reign in Blood, and we did the album and we still threw in 12, 13 other songs, so that you don’t alienate people that don’t like Reign in Blood. I don’t think we have any of those anyway.
MMN: But that said, are there songs that you just kind of keep in the vault, or any era you’re not too eager to revisit?
KK: There are songs I will never put in a set. There are songs I don’t like; there are songs Jeff doesn’t like, and they’ll never see the light of day. On this tour, since we’re doing Seasons, it’s the first time we’d ever played “Temptation,” because it’s got a vocal and answer track. But it’s cool to play that song. There are some great riffs in that tune.
MMN: And in the event that you could do your three-hour, Bruce Springsteen-length dream set, would you consider doing a few entire albums in succession in one night?
KK: I don’t like being stuck to a format. I don’t think any of us do. I think a perfect Slayer set time would probably be an hour and a half to an hour and 40. I know people like Metallica play two hours, but like it or not, they have all the “Unforgiven”‘s, and there’s times where they can really take down the pace. We really don’t have that. It becomes sensory overload. Kids just run out of gas.
MMN: So we’re not going to see the stripped-down, introspective Slayer record any time soon?
KK: Hell no. I have an acoustic at home, and it just lives in its case.
Stay tuned for Kenny’s upcoming interview with Megadeth co-founder and American Carnage-co-headliner Dave Ellefson.
Front Photo: Mark Seliger/Inside Photo: Courtesy of Slayer
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Slayer fucking RULES!!! Hope to get your autograph someday Kerry,I’m 36,and you guys have been rockin’ me since junior high!
If that acoustic at home ever gets in the way,I could give it a happy home.
See ya in Cleveland!
~Don
You’re not alone being 40 man
I’ve followed Slayer from Norway since the beginning 
“KK: Hell no. I have an acoustic at home, and it just lives in its case.” — HAHAH
I can’t wait to see Slayer, Megadeth, and Testament tonight! It’s gonna be epic here in San Francisco!!!!
You Sir/Madam are the enemy of confusion evyerhwere!
WEEEEEEEL IF I WERE NOT BUSY GETTING FUCKED OVER IN WISCONSIN I WOULD SLAY TESTAMENT AND REPLACE THEM WITH THE LOUIS SVITEK BAND!
JUST LIKE MAYHEM MINUS ONE HEADCRUSHER DELBERT WILLIAMSON.
UBER ALLES SLAYER
Kerry, you guys blasted Joe Lewis arena in Detroit. Thank you man!
You gotta give Kerry a lot of credit for his persona towards his fans. The guy almost never seems bothered to sign autographs. Thanks Kerry, us fans really appreciate stuff like that. Tilburg (Holland) was awesome!
I FUCKIN luv SLAYER,I always have & I always will!!!!!!!!!
YOU FUCKIN ROCKED CHICAGO! I SPENT THE LAST OF MY MONEY IN THE WHOLE WORLD TO COME AND SEE YOU GUYS.
I WAS RIGHT UP FRONT FOR MEGADETH AND IT WAS AWESOME. MY HEART WAS BEATING SO FAST IT FELT LIKE I SMOKED SOME COKE. I HAD TO GO OUTSIDE TO SMOKE (THAT REALLY SUCKED)IT WAS MUGGY OUT THERE.
I JUST STOOD ON THE STAIRS FOR SLAYER BECAUSE I COULD NOT BREATH FROM ALL THE NASTY CIGARETTES I AM FORCED TO SMOKE. MARIJUANA IS A BIG CRIME IN PLATTEVILL WISCONSIN. I EVEN HAD TO TAKE A FEW PUFFS OFF OF MY ASTHMA INHALER….THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE MOMENT.:)
Throughout all the years I have been listening to Slayer and the work of Kerry King, I have never been disappointed and I doubt I ever will. Slayer Rules and there will NEVER be another band like them!
Kerry and Jeff kill it period! I am a 40 year old guitar player and hands down, SLAYER kills it. punk/metal? game fucking on. Huge fan since Show No Mercy.o
The question is… do they deserve to be in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? And would they get inducted even if they did?
And guys, don’t forget to come back in the coming days for my interview with Megadeth’s Dave Ellefson
SLAYEEEEEER!!!!!
Have been lucky enough to see slayer twice!
Hands down they should be inducted as both pioneers and leaders in metal. Very few bands at all can go on for 30 years with the original members.
I love slayer. My girlfriend and i meet well raining blood was playing .
I guess finding useful, reliable information on the internet isn’t hpoeelss after all.
Slayer rules and always will reign in blood!!!!!!!
hey kerry cant wait to see u guys next year in melbourne australia