KERRY KING On His Solo Band: 'These Are My Guys Now, So Get Used To Them'

In a new interview with Eddie Jorgensen of San Francisco's CBS SF, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King spoke about the formation of his solo band, which also includes drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER),bassist Kyle Sanders (HELLYEAH),guitarist Phil Demmel (formerly of MACHINE HEAD) and vocalist Mark Osegueda (DEATH ANGEL). Asked why he chose to tap three well-known musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area metal scene for the new group, Kerry said: "I didn't think of it like that, but that's just how it panned out. I've known these guys — especially everybody from the Bay Area — for decades. All of them except Mark needed work. Certainly Paul and I were out of work. Phil Demmel was also out of work, but he put his name in the hat very early and worked with us doing demos off and on. Every five or six weeks, he'd come down to play and we'd sound better. Using the demos we had, Phil would send new ideas whenever had new material. Phil's an incredible player and Mark's one of the best singers in thrash metal, without question. The pulse of thrash definitely comes from [the San Francisco Bay Area]. We [in SLAYER] were a little displaced because we were in Southern California, but at the end of the day, so was METALLICA."

He continued: "I met Kyle in 2015 on the 'Mayhem' tour and we became friends very quickly. I knew that if I ever wanted a bassist, that's who I'd be calling. He's my East Coast connection. Paul's been working with me on and off since the early '90s, so the talent and the friendship is there. I'm happy I could help the guys out when they didn't have work. Right now, I get to go forward and show everybody what we got."

King went on to say that KERRY KING "isn't a solo project. KERRY KING [the band] happens to have my name on it," he explained. "This is my band and will be until we decide no longer to be one. Hopefully, that's when we're all done and want to hang it up to go sit on our porch and watch a bucket of grass grow. These are my guys now, so get used to them."

Kerry's new band played its second show ever Thursday night (May 9) at the Welcome To Rockville festival in Daytona Beach, Florida.

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

As was the case with Reggies, King's setlist for Welcome To Rockville included SLAYER tracks as well as several of the 13 songs that appear on King's upcoming debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise", which is due on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

Fan-filmed video of the Welcome To Rockville performance can be seen below.

In a recent interview with Metal Hammer magazine, King stated about the setlist for his solo band's shows: "For this coming summer in Europe, we're gonna do like nine or 10 tracks from the album and, depending on set length, fill it with stuff I've done — something I wrote in SLAYER or co-wrote. So nobody can say 'he's playing Jeff [Hanneman, late SLAYER guitarist] songs,' because although I love Jeff songs and he was such a big part of my life, I don't want to rely on it this year, this album cycle. At some point, I will play 'Angel Of Death', but there's so many fucking faceless haters on the Internet, I don't want to give them ammunition."

All material for "From Hell I Rise" was written by the 59-year-old SLAYER guitarist. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.

King told Rolling Stone about the decision to call the band KERRY KING: "It was going to be KING'S REIGN for a long time, which is really cool. But even with that one, I went to the guys, like, 'I'm not a vain dude. I don't want my name to be a part of it.' We talked about BLOOD REIGN for a while, but it didn't work. Every time I came up with anything remotely cool, it was taken by some obscure band in Eastern Europe. It became KERRY KING because I love that logo."

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

KERRY KING will next play at the Sonic Temple festival on May 16.

Photo credit: Jim Louvau