KERRY KING Knew PHILIP ANSELMO Wasn't The Right Singer For His Solo Band

In a new interview with Glide Magazine, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King spoke about the rumors which circulated for a while that PANTERA's Philip Anselmo would sing on the debut album from King's solo project. Kerry said: "Well, the Phil connection that was loved by all the suits. And by suits, I mean the booking agents, the promoters, and my manager because they all see dollar signs. And, you know, I'm not upset with that. That's what they get paid to do. But I told them all along, I'm, like, 'Phil's not the guy.' I said, 'I've got the guy,' and they fought me tooth and nail all the way through. But at the end of the day, you know, I'm in charge."

He continued: "We had conversations with Phil, but it never even got to a point where we played in a room together. He was dragging his feet for a long time because I don't think he really wanted to do it. And he got some music and I think he realized it was probably too thrashy for him and what his style is these days. So, you know, the PANTERA thing came around and that just flew right out the door. Never thought of it again."

This past May, Kerry told SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" that his conversations with Philip about collaborating together "didn't get real far". He added: "And everything you saw online, that was just all rumors, because it never got past me and Phil talking about it.

"I've known Phil decades — I've known Phil before [PANTERA's] 'Cowboy From Hell' [album] came out," King continued. "He's been a friend of mine throughout the years. And all the business suits wanted me to go that way — my manager, my record company, my promoter, everybody — because it's it's gonna put massive butts in seats, so to speak. But talking to [Phil] about it, I know this is too thrashy a project for him. I'm not saying he can't do it; I'm saying I don't think he wanted to do it. But we did a little bit of legwork on it, and especially once [the] PANTERA [reunion] came up, that just blew it out of the water."

Kerry previously discussed the possibility of Philip singing on his solo album back in February during an interview with Rolling Stone. At the time, King acknowledged that a collaboration with Anselmo "was considered. My management, my promoter, my record label all wanted Phil," he explained. "Phil's a good friend of mine, but I always thought he's not the right guy. That has nothing to do with his ability; I just knew he wasn't the right guy. When you hear Mark [Osegueda, DEATH ANGEL singer] on this record, you know that's the guy.

"I had to do due diligence, because at the end of the day, had Philip been the guy, we'd be in arenas immediately because we could play new stuff, we could play PANTERA, we could play SLAYER, and fans would've been happy. It ended when the PANTERA thing came up."

Pressed about the rumors that Kerry was at one point going to be part of the PANTERA reunion, the guitarist replied: "I won't confirm or deny that."

King went on to say that Mark "was on board early on" for Kerry's debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise". "I just didn't pull that trigger," Kerry said. "I was, like, 'Let's see what happens.' Say for instance, [JUDAS PRIEST's] Rob Halford calls me and says, 'Hey, I would love to be your singer,' I'd have to go that way.

"Mark knew how I expected the songs to be performed. On my demos, I sing with very good conviction, but I don’t have pipes; that's why I don't sing. With 'Residue', he sounded so good I had to ask him, 'Is this sustainable? I don't want you to blow your load on this record and then blow your voice out every third show.' And he swore up and down he could do it. He went on to some of the harder ones and did the same thing on those, so I went, 'Okay.'

When the interviewer said that Mark's vocals make King's music album like SLAYER, Kerry said: "Well, that's me putting the vocals together. Tom [Araya, SLAYER frontman] could scream his ass off. I'll never take that away from Tom. His conviction might come and go — and I'm not looking to jab at Tom, that's not the point — but Mark just showed up every fucking day and is on point every fucking second of every song."

"From Hell I Rise" was released on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music. All material for the LP was written by the 60-year-old SLAYER guitarist alongside the rest of his solo band, consisting of Osegueda, drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER),guitarist Phil Demmel (MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE) and bassist Kyle Sanders (HELLYEAH).

King's first-ever festival solo appearance came in early May, just two days after his solo group made its live debut at Reggies in Chicago, Illinois.

KERRY KING is the special guest on the LAMB OF GOD/MASTODON North American "Ashes Of Leviathan" co-headline tour. The six-week run launched on July 19 in Grand Prairie, Texas and will wrap on August 31 in Omaha, Nebraska.