MARK OSEGUEDA Says KERRY KING Is 'Pretty Wonderful' To Work With: 'I Consider Him One Of My Dearest Friends'

In a new interview with Extreminal Metal TV, DEATH ANGEL singer Mark Osegueda spoke about his working relationship with Kerry King in the SLAYER guitarist's solo project. Joining Mark and Kerry in King's band are guitarist Phil Demmel (MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE),drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER) and bassist Kyle Sanders (HELLYEAH). Asked about Kerry's reputation as a "hard guy to interact with", Mark said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I can see what you mean for people on the outside of it. Yeah, of course. But when you're in a band with him, he's actually... He's pretty wonderful. I consider him one of my dearest friends. And he's great. He's funny. He is absolutely hilarious. And his work ethic, it's insane. So he's very prolific. He's constantly busy. But you gotta crack the exterior shell that people see from the outside. But once you get in there and you're in that inner world, he's just as social and funny as anyone you'd ever come across. It's just his approach is maybe different.

"I think, in a sense, it's always been the lore of SLAYER, even from the days of the spikes and the nails and all that," Mark explained. "It was daunting. And moving forward, it's always been that since. But, again, I'm in the band. So in the band, it's a wonderful work environment. There's never anything tense about it. It's run very well. But from an outsider's point of view, I could definitely see how people aren't… I could just see how they're leery to approach him. And I could see why they would think that way or feel that way or be made to feel that way. So there you go. I mean, we've [DEATH ANGEL] toured with him. There you go. [Laughs ] I think that's basically the nicest way I could put it. He's my fucking bro."

King's debut solo album, "From Hell I Rise", was released in May 2024 via Reigning Phoenix Music. All material for the LP was written by the now-62-year-old musician. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles in 2023 was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.

On an April 2024 episode of the "Talk Louder" podcast, Demmel stated about his working relationship with Kerry: "If there's one thing that I know with [Kerry] is exactly where he stands and exactly what he's feeling. He has his agenda, of course, but there's no meandering around with the point he's gonna try to get to, and there's no steps being set up to…"

He continued: "[Kerry] gets this stigma of being a fucking asshole or a fucking dick. And he's not. He's a nice dude. And he's an empathetic dude. He's a caring guy about stuff. It's not like he's this hardened dick and blah, blah, blah. There's just not a filter there where [he just says], 'No, I don't like that, or 'I can't do this because' blah, blah, blah. And it's just straight-forward, man. And I wish people would kind of understand that about other people. It's not him being a fucking… well, maybe it could be considered a dick, but that's not his intent. He's just, like, 'I'm not fucking around. I'm not gonna bullshit you.'"

In 2024, Mark told Uruguay's The Dark Melody about how he feels about being part of Kerry's band: "I'm thrilled about it. That's how I feel about it. I'm excited as hell. I worked hard to get that gig — very hard to get that gig — and since I did, I worked very hard in the studio. And then the recording experience of the record was incredible. We went to the studio with Josh Wilbur and the recording went great. It went great. And I think Kerry assembled a band of people he knew could pull off the vision and what he heard in his head… And the album, it's a beast. It's a savage. It is."

Regarding how he landed the gig in Kerry's band, Mark told El Planeta Del Rock: "It wasn't an overnight thing. It was a long process. Me and Kerry are friends, for sure, but that's not the reason I got the gig. By no means did I get the gig because we're friends; it was definitely a lot of hard work.

"He's an institution unto himself as his, as is SLAYER, and when SLAYER announced that they weren't gonna go any longer, he made it known to everyone that he was far from done," Mark continued. "And when that was announced, it was quite a few years ago. It was probably during the pandemic that I just gave him a cold call out of the blue, or a cold text rather, just saying, 'Just so you know, I heard you're doing this, and I'm just throwing my name into the hat, into the ring, or throwing my throat into the ring rather.' And he was, like, 'Hmm.' He's a very to-the-point guy, and he said, 'Okay.' And I know he's very serious about everything he does musically.

"It was a lot of hard work, I'll tell you that — a lot of going back and forth," Mark repeated. "I did quite a bit of demoing with him, and nothing was a sure thing ever. I know he had other people in mind for every for every position in the band. I think Paul was the shoo-in right off the bat, and then after that… Kerry knew his vision. He knew what he wanted. He knew what he heard in his head, and he wanted a lineup that could deliver it. And after a lot of hard work, one day me and him were out together — and it was plain simple as that. But quite some time had gone by and a lot of work was put into it, and he just said, 'If you want the gig, it's yours.' And I, of course, I just looked at him, like, 'Ah.' Pretty much, 'Fuck yeah.' And I gave him a huge hug, and from then on it was just even more hard work. As hard as I worked to get the gig, once I got the gig, it was even more hard work just concentrating on the songs and getting what I was gonna do to deliver in the studio. Once we got in the studio, we went in with Josh Wilbur, who produced it, at Henson Studios in Hollywood, and we didn't mess around. We got in — I think loaded in, two weeks later loaded out. It was work every day, but one of the most amazing studio experiences I've had and very fulfilling."

Kerry told Rolling Stone about Osegueda's addition to the band: "With Mark, he was on board early on. I just didn't pull that trigger. 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."

King also confirmed that PANTERA's Philip Anselmo was "considered" as a possible singer for his new project. "My management, my promoter, my record label all wanted Phil," Kerry said. "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 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.

"I saw Mark a few years back singing covers of MINOR THREAT and cameo in THE WEDDING BAND with members of METALLICA," King added. "It was different from what he does in DEATH ANGEL, and he sounded great. He's super versatile. He took steps to make this different than DEATH ANGEL. I don't touch on probably 50 percent of what he can do on the album.

"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.'"

In early May 2024, the KERRY KING band performed its first live show at Reggies in Chicago. In the days following, the band went from playing an intimate venue to performing at the huge U.S. festivals Welcome To Rockville (Florida) and Sonic Temple (Ohio).

Image credit: Pics from the pit