PAUL BOSTAPH: Why SLAYER Continued After JEFF HANNEMAN's Death

March 12, 2016

SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph has told Canada's GigCity.ca that there was never any doubt that the band would continue following the tragic passing of the group's co-founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman in 2013.

"When confronted with death, when your mortality is challenged, you realize how fragile life is and that it can be gone in a second," he said. "Then it becomes clear to you that the things that aren't important to you, you have a tendency to throw them out the window. When you're an artist of any kind, I think your art is part of you. It's not just a job. You're in it for years. It's your art, it's what you do, it's part of you. To have someone to take that away or to just give up, well, that's not something this band is about."

Bostaph remembered his late bandmate as a pretty mellow guy. "I think he hated being on the road," the drummer said. "Everything about being a a quote-unquote rock star he wasn't interested in. He wasn't all about people blowing sunshine up his ass. Jeff loved to play music, he loved watching hockey games, he loved to have a laugh and good time."

Hanneman died in May 2013 from alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. He is credited for writing many of SLAYER's classic songs, including "Angel Of Death" and "South Of Heaven".

Hanneman's last appearance with SLAYER was in April 2011, when he played an encore with the band at the "Big Four" concert in Indio, California.

SLAYER's latest album, "Repentless", was released on September 11, 2015 via Nuclear Blast.

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