A Conversation with Slayer’s Tom Araya and Kerry King – HuffPost 9.10.10
Mike Ragogna: You’re on what you’re calling The American Carnage Tour?
Tom Araya: That’s correct.
MR: Where does it cover?
TA: Actually, it started on the east side of Canada, which was actually the Canadian Carnage Tour. Then Europe, then the U.S.
MR: How’s The American Carnage tour going?
Kerry King: Cool, man. We’re having a blast.
MR: What acts are touring with you?
KK: It’s us, Megadeth, and Anthrax.
MR: Who came up with the idea for The American Carnage tour?
KK: I think it was management and booking agents. Of course, they have to run it by us, but other than that, I don’t pay attention until it comes time for, “Hey, are you into this or are you not into this?”
MR: What’s the tour like, are you guys having some fun out there?
KK: We’re having a lot of fun with Testament because usually Megadeth is generally gone by the time we get off stage. I see them a little bit during the day, but Chuck Billy, (Paul) Bostaph, and Alex Skolnick are hanging out a lot.
MR: Now, June 16, you performed along with Megadeth and Anthrax at Bemowo Airport in Poland as part of the Sonisphere Festival?
TA: Yeah.
MR: And then you played Bucharest and Istanbul. Tom what’s it like playing to international audiences as opposed to U.S. audiences?
TA: Well, they’re just a tad more excited than the U.S. audience because they rarely get shows like that. They rarely get concerts, at least big ones. It’s not a common thing to get a musical band to play in their country. So, whenever you play in areas like that–we played Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria — those are the areas that really don’t get concerts. So, when they do, they’re overly excited, and they’re genuinely happy to see you. It has a lot to do with the fact that everybody tours in America, and I hate to say it, but we’re a little spoiled when it comes to things like that.
MR: In America, we pretty much take it for granted. It’s like, “Yeah, we went to another show last night.”
TA: We take it for granted, but in those areas they are few and far between.
MR: You have some new live DVDs with Live Intrusion, Still Reigning, and War At The Warfield.
TA: Yeah, it’s going to be cool.
KK: I don’t think anything is new, I think it’s just re-release. The only new thing is that Live Intrusion is on DVD for the first time. It was only on VHS, if you can believe that.
MR: Why did it take this long to get on DVD?
KK: I brought it up years ago: “Why don’t we have Live Intrusion on DVD?” Maybe they’re doing it now because we’re at the end of our contract with them and they want to put out as many things as they can before were on a different company.
MR: From that three-pack, Still Reigning from ’04 was named the best live DVD ever byRevolver.
TA: Wow.
MR: That show was at the Augusta, Maine, Civic Center, right?
TA: I think so, yeah.
MR: Legend has it that you played a twenty-eight minute version of “Reigning Blood,” and basically preformed the whole album.
TA: Yeah.
MR: And it was ended by the band being drenched in one-hundred-fifty liters of blood as you were singing “Wall Of Blood.”
TA: Yep.
MR: How do you get clean after that?
TA: You take a long, long shower.
MR: Kerry?
KK: It rinses right off, man. It looked good, but yeah. I mean, sometimes I would just wipe it off, I wouldn’t even rinse it off.
MR: So Slayer is a part of Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.
KK: Yeah. I passed to where you have to start moving your hand on the fret board, then I stopped because I don’t want that confusing me when I’m on stage.
MR: Are you good at Guitar Hero?
TA: Yeah, when I play it (laughs). It’s one of those things where the more you play it, the better you get at it, and when you take a break for a while, it’s kind of hard to get back into the groove of it.
KK: Well, I don’t care about getting it perfect, you know? It’s fun to play, but I don’t waste my life on it like a lot of people do.
MR: You’ve been associated with these games since the original Guitar Hero with “Chemical Warfare,” and then you were on Metallica Guitar Hero with “War Ensemble.” You guys are staples.
TA: Yeah. I think, actually, “Reigning Blood” is on one of them, I think it’s the Legendsversion. Yeah, it’s one of the bonus tracks that you have to do to really beat the game.
MR: Nice, what an honor.
TA: There are four songs at the very end of the game that you have to beat in order to beat the game. I thought that was kind of cool because my son got all the way to the end, and I said, “These are the last four?” I think it was “Reigning Blood.” He was able to do it, but it wasn’t very easy.
MR: It’s like everybody is playing Guitar Hero, but shouldn’t they also be learning how to play guitar?
KK: Well, I agree. The funny thing about that is that some people have actually gotten turned on to our band and other bands because of that video game. That’s something I never even thought of.
MR: Kerry, what guitars are you playing these days?
KK: B.C. Rich.
MR: What denominations?
KK: I’m playing Vs, Warlocks, and Beast Vs.
MR: Nice. You’ve played on a few really interesting things. You played on early Beastie Boy tracks.
KK: I’m only on one.
MR: You’re on “No Sleep Till Brooklyn,” right?
KK: Yep.
MR: Now, in the video, you knocked a gorilla offstage, but I understand it wasn’t originally planned like that.
KK: No, the original plan was for the gorilla to knock me offstage. I said, “I ain’t letting a f**kin’ gorilla knock me off anywhere.”
MR: Now, you’ve played with Pantera, Rob Zombie, Sum 41, Marilyn Manson and many others. When you’re a guest guitarist, do you go in feeling like, “Yeah, man, this part is going to really kick this song in”?
KK: No, I just go in there, you know, like it’s maybe something I’ve written. Friends ask me to do stuff because I have a particular style and sound, so I try to add that to whatever I’m playing on.
MR: Well, when listening to some of your runs, to me, you’re obviously some of the magic on the record.
KK: Well, I appreciate it (laughs). I played on a Witchery album, and that was fun because they took their friends and had them do guest leads. So, I was on there, the guys from Exodus were on there, Hank Shermann from Mercyful Fate was on there. So, that was really cool.
MR: Someone once asked you what your KFK meant, and the big reveal was it stands for “Kerry F**king King.”
KK: Oh yeah, we did that because that’s what everybody calls me.
MR: So, it’s still Kerry F**king King, you’re sticking with that.
KK: Yeah, my parents don’t really understand that, but yeah.
MR: Are you guys working on anything new?
KK: Not officially, no.
TA: Not that I’m aware of at the moment. Right now, we’re going to do these tours, and then we have more stuff lined up for next year.
MR: Are you messing around on your guitar at all?
KK: Yeah. You know, if there’s a good idea, you definitely try to remember it.
MR: Are you maybe working on some solo material?
KK: No. I’m still doing this, I don’t even have any guest spots coming up.
MR: Any side projects?
KK: No.
MR: In the past, you were a big wrestling fan.
KK: I was. I haven’t paid attention to it much anymore. I was really into it back when Stone Cold was popular.
MR: So, where do you see it going these days?
KK: I have no idea. When it gets too goofy, I just stop paying attention to it.
MR: Yeah, like twisted soap operas.
KK: There are no hardworking, good ol’ boys. The Undertaker is still there, which is cool, but Stone Cold, Triple H, the old school guys aren’t. That’s not really old school, but as fast as that thing changes, it could almost be considered old school.
MR: I remember watching a South Park episode that totally sent-up wrestling. The kids didn’t want to know what actual wrestling was, they were into the setups.
KK: Yeah, I saw that one.
MR: Speaking of kids, do you have any advice for new or young musicians?
KK: You’ve gotta f**kin’ practice a lot. I don’t. I scare myself sometimes when I think about how good I could be if I really tried.
TA: You know, don’t give up. Be persistent. Don’t listen to critics; you’re your worst critic. The only advice I have is don’t give up, and don’t go looking for anything. Don’t go looking, it will find you. Just be awake when it does because you might miss it.
MR: What a great line.
TA: It’s like opportunities are always in front of you, and you need to see them. So, don’t go looking for it because you’ll never find it. Let it find you. And never give up.
MR: Never give up.
TA: Never give up. Never, ever give up because dreams come true.
Transcribed by Ryan Gaffney