'International Day Of Slayer' Founder Discusses Holiday's Hidden History

Saturday, June 6, 2026 marks the 20th International Day Of Slayer. For the first time, founder Jeff Tandy reveals the long-running tradition's unredacted history on metal podcasts "Talkin' Slayer" and "Metalenema".

Both shows feature the same interview between "Talkin' Slayer" host D.X. Ferris and Tandy, two of the world's foremost SLAYER evangelists. The episode, which can be heard below, hits the Internet midnight, June 6, almost everywhere podcasts are hosted, except iHeart.

"SLAYER is something you have to evangelize. You're coming to your audience, going 'This is the thing, this is the big deal., And they go, 'Yes it is,'" explains Tandy in the conversation. "On June 6th, Hessians worldwide come together to do something upon which we can all agree: listening to SLAYER. Finally, one of the most dismissed cultural groups in the world has a holiday to call its own. Join us in our cause to stand unified in our celebration of metal music. And let us prove to the rest of society that we too have a voice."

This episode is a co-production between the International Day Of Slayer organization, Tandy's long-running "Metalenema" show and "Talkin' Slayer", the weekly Slaytanic history podcast by unofficial SLAYER biographer D.X. Ferris.

"SPIN magazine's Joe Gross called SLAYER 'the thrashiest of the Big Four' thrash metal bands," says Ferris. "And I agree. No group has such a dedicated fan base. Superfans are known to carve the band's logo into their willing flesh. Their groundbreaking music has inspired a culture that is equally extreme and dedicated to intense reactions in all forms."

As detailed on the talk shows, Tandy established the holiday in 2006, as a tribute to one of his favorite bands. The first year was also a parody of the National Day Of Prayer, a Christian event. The monumental metal day linked the date 6/6/06 with the Biblical Number of the Beast, 666, which represents the prophesied Antichrist.

June 6 is also the birthday of SLAYER singer Tom Araya. Araya was born June 6, 1961 — 6/6/61. This year, the frontman turns 65.

In 2007, the event changed its name to the International Day Of Slayer, after fans in 19 countries established gatherings and web sites to hail the thrashers' incendiary career and the worldwide phenomenon it inspired.

Tandy and co-founder Dag Nilsen — sometimes identified as Dag Hansen — publicly distanced themselves from the holiday after attempts to link the celebration to high-profile vandalism of various religious landmarks, including St Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, New York. In following years, they continued coordinating annual events, but used a growing list of false names to avoid infamy and legal action.

The annual event continues encouraging fans to play the band's music in public, on open sound systems — and, if possible, to call off work and hesh out to SLAYER's music.

In 2006, co-guitarist and songwriter Jeff Hanneman told Los Angeles hard rock radio station KNAC he loved the idea, declaring, "That's funny as hell. I'd like to get up that day and just turn on the news, like, 'Everybody's walking out of work.'"

In 2009, Araya took a break from recording the "World Painted Blood" album to record a video acknowledging the holiday.

In 2014, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King shared a video from Germany, acknowledging the celebration and mourning Hanneman, his late creative partner and friend. Eventually, late-era SLAYER record label Nuclear Blast incorporated the June 6 SLAYER celebration as part of its marketing campaign.

In the revealing interview, Tandy recalls gradually entering the band's official circles, from a backstage invitation to a VIP spot at the Los Angeles public memorial for Hanneman, whose May 2, 2013 death shocked the metal world.

A veteran metal musician, Tandy plays bass with Texas-based death metal band IMPRECATION. His "Metalenema" show has existed various forms since 1994. In the "Talkin' Slayer" / "Metalenema" episode, the musician and superfan discusses his favorite SLAYER live experiences, the band's formative influence on death metal, his revealing brushes with the members, and what SLAYER means in popular culture worldwide.

"I consider SLAYER an ultimate truth," says Tandy. "It is this inalienable reality. It is a show of force. It is a triumph…. It is a rejection of everything conventional, courteous, and reasonable. It gets into the primacy that allowed human beings to take over the planet. And it's distilled into these songs that ask you to go back to those places and become that thing again."

Ferris details the band's history in the of his fan-favorite history book "Slayer 66 2/3: A Metal Band Biography… Or, How F**kin' Slayer Kicked F**kin' @ss". Writing for Record Collector magazine, fellow SLAYER biographer Joel McIver called the "Reborn" fourth edition "the most metal book ever written."

The previous edition of the biography ran 350 pages; the post-reunion update runs 639, with 70 images and 795 research citations and endnotes. The band biography is also available as an audiobook.

Ferris broadcasts annotated chapters of the book on the podcast "Talkin' Slayer". Season 4 launched May 2, 2026, with an all-new tribute to Hanneman. For the first time, Season 4 features interviews with high-profile SLAYER fans. The podcast is ad-free, member-supported, and features music by CHUPACABRA (UK) guitarist Nige Savage.

"Podcast ads and banter are stupid," says Ferris. "We don't do that. We're all killer, no filler."

SLAYER was founded in 1981, based in neighboring East Los Angeles neighborhoods. The group helped establish the sound, conventions and extremes of thrash metal, alongside fellow "Big Four" bands METALLICA, ANTHRAX and MEGADETH — the latter of which King briefly played in.

SLAYER retired in 2019, then reformed in 2024. Every year since, the group has played well-received reunion sets with replacement guitarist Gary Holt (also of EXODUS) and drummer Paul Bostaph, who replaced founding drummer Dave Lombardo in 1992 and 2013 — the second and third times the band and percussionist parted ways.

"A full 13 years after SLAYER and Lombardo parted ways, people still want to know why the greatest metal drummer isn't with the gnarliest Big Four band," says Ferris. "On one level, the book is a very long answer to that great question."

Ferris is an Ohio Society Professional Journalists' Best Reporter of the Year and two-time SLAYER author. In 2008, Continuum (now Bloomsbury Academic) published his book about SLAYER's genre-defining 1986 classic "Reign In Blood", as part of the prestigious 33 1/3 series.

In fall 2026, SLAYER is scheduled to play ten live shows in six countries, including Araya's native Chile and a two-night hometown stand at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. Select dates will commemorate the 40th anniversary of "Reign In Blood" with a performance of the Def Jam / Def American / American Recordings release in its entirety.

"It is absolutely a primal force that just grabs hold of your reptile brain and manipulates you to violence," explains Tandy. "That is the effect that SLAYER has on their audiences: They are vibrating and completely letting go of any polite impulse in their body."

Photo credit: Ryan Segedi