KERRY KING: 'SLAYER Is Alive And Strong'

June 14, 2013

California thrash metal veterans SLAYER were honored with the "Kerrang! Legend Award" at this year's Kerrang! Awards, which was held last night (Thursday, June 13) at London, England's Troxy Club. The award was accepted by SLAYER guitarist Kerry King, who gave a short speech, saying: "Before SLAYER, I would go to the mom-and-pop stores — that's what we had back then; we didn't have the Internet — and I got one of the, probably first five Kerrang!s ever, and I still have it today."

He continued: "In a day of dying magazines, Kerrang! still exists. I've got all those ones from way back when, I've got all the ones SLAYER was in. And that's pretty cool; you can't really say that anymore.

"But anyway, thanks to Kerrang! again.

"SLAYER is alive and strong, and we will see you on the road."

Video highlights from last night's event, including Kerry's speech, can be seen below.

Asked what it's like being honored with the "Kerrang! Legend Award" without founding SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who passed away last month, King told Entertainment Daily News: "Coming to something like this wasn't really his spiel; he wasn't an awards-show kind of guy. He wanted to be the quiet guy doing his thing at the hotel. But, you know, he's gonna be in everybody's thoughts for a long time. It's unfortunate you can't keep unfortunate things from happening. But, you know, we're gonna carry on, and he'll be there in spirit."

It was announced on May 30 by SLAYER's Tom Araya (bass, vocals) and Kerry King (guitar) that Paul Bostaph would be behind the drum kit for the first leg of the band's 2013 international tour. EXODUS' Gary Holt is continuing to fill in for fallen guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who died on May 2 from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver.

Bostaph was SLAYER's drummer from 1992 until 2001 and recorded four albums with the band — the gold-certified "Divine Intervention" (1994),the 1996 punk covers album "Undisputed Attitude", "Diabolus In Musica" (1998),"God Hates Us All" (2001) that received a Grammy nomination for "Best Metal Performance", as well as the DVD "War At The Warfield" (2001),also certified gold. In addition to SLAYER, Bostaph has been a member of FORBIDDEN, EXODUS, SYSTEMATIC and TESTAMENT.

Original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo sat out the band's recent Australian tour due to a contract dispute with the other members of the group. Filling in for him was Jon Dette (TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX).

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