SLAYER Frontman: 'We're Not Here To Preach, Just Trying To Inspire Some Dialogue'

Peter Chakerian of Blogcritics.org recently conducted an interview with SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Q: This last year has been big for SLAYER: the original members record the first album in 15 years together, then "Christ Illusion" debuts in the Billboard Top 5 and wins the band its first-ever Grammy for "Eyes of the Insane". Add a 25th anniversary and that huge "Unholy Alliance" tour and it adds up to perhaps your biggest year ever.

Araya: That's what people say! (laughs). I don't really see it that way, none of us do. The only thing new and different is that Number 5 on the Billboard chart and the Grammy. We got nominated with the last album. To me, this is just a normal record cycle for us. We don't really celebrate like a lot of people do.

Q: Not many bands are can keep stride after 25 years. Most of them are into their second or third "greatest hits" package, playing the sheds every summer. What is it that drives SLAYER to not just sit back and riding past accomplishments like other bands do?
Araya: It's no secret. We survive because we get along and because this is what we've always done. After all this time, we're still talking to each other, we don't have problems and egos, we acknowledge where each of us are as people. And we have been true to what we do from the very beginning. Nothing has moved or shaped that approach, and I think people *get* that! (laughs) We get a lot of the "How come you never really steer clear of the image part of what you do?" question. The mystique of the band comes with our interest in understanding where other people come from. The other one is "You all seem like you guys get along, you seem like you're good friends." Like they thought we had to stop a four-way fist fight to do a radio interview or something. Without one another, we know and accept that this would not be possible.

Q: Have you had opportunity to step back and take in all the career signposts and what has happened for the band recently?

Araya: Nah. Kinda just take it as it comes, really. Business as usual. (laughs) Whenever there's being attention paid to us, that is always news. I've never known the publications to write about us just to write about us!

Q: When SLAYER emerged, many of the punk bands of the '80s L.A. punk scene came of age. Bands like BLACK FLAG, BAD RELIGION, the MINUTEMEN, CIRCLE JERKS. Was there any personal connection between Slayer and those bands back then?

Araya: Oh yeah, man! Totally. We're not all too familiar with the East Coast thing that was happening, but the west coast stuff we felt really connected to – mostly because of Jeff. He really was the one who was into that [sound] and would bring those bands to us and play them, at the time, on a tape player (laughs). He would jam away at anything he could get a hold of that was punk. I remember when goofed and bought us MERCYFUL FATE's "Nuns Have No Fun" to listen to, and with the record cover we were thinking "This ought to be great!" We were all like, "Whoa!" Just goes to show you, that's how you discover everything.

Q: There are a lot of bands out there that wouldn't be if not for SLAYER. SLIPKNOT, SEPULTURA, KORN, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, CHIMAIRA, MASTODON, everyone on the Unholy Alliance tour, MACHINE HEAD. Even BLEEDING THROUGH — who open on your new co-headlining tour with MARILYN MANSON — owes a huge debt of gratitude to you. As I'm ticking through this list, I count dozens of bands who do.

Araya: We get a lot of that… yeah. I don't know what to say to them, you know? That's cool… ya gonna blame me for that, eh? (laughs). You almost have to make fun of it, because what else are you going to do. You get that [praise] from fans a lot too. Growing up, music was something that always made me pass my day, made me sane. It was the radio and albums friends brought over, until I started buying albums from RCA record club (laughs). I'm the proud owner of some really great records that way. And I eventually paid the bill, couldn't ruin my credit that way! (laughs) Listened to a lot of ZEPPELIN, SABBATH, JUDAS PRIEST, VAN HALEN, AC/DC. Then Kerry introduced me to modern metal heaviness. Hard not to be influenced.

Q: My first introduction to SLAYER's live show was on the Clash of the Titans tour, which was great. Regarding that tour, your feud with Dave Mustaine is legendary, almost larger than the tour you did together. Yet, SLAYER is having the last laugh as the sole survivor from the Titans tour, and has outlasted METALLICA and PANTERA as well. And MEGADETH? Well, they're sort of like a tribute band now, really. How's that for a come-uppance?

Araya: That's… in all honesty? I, myself, do not sit around thinking about all those things. Legacy and all that? They're really only thought of when they're brought up in interviews like this one. I never think about that until someone confronts me with it. I can't explain it. We've never bigger than our britches about how we felt about the band. It was never about legacy, history, or coming of age… we just laid the foundation for our sound and just kept doing it, or wonder why we did it, in some cases! (laughs) We just kept doing it, put together another tour… earn a gold record…. It's all just great, then you do it again and just keep going. Day by day. You just speak up and show up or shut up! (laughs) That's our attitude.

Q: What predicates the tone and direction of your work together? Is it really as simple as 24-hour news channel sound-byte bombardment a lot of the time?

Araya: We told ourselves after "God Hates Us All" and with what happened on 9/11, everyone was going to be writing songs about [that] so we were gonna steer clear. But you can't help but be interested in the perspective of the other side, like there is on "Jihad". [Kerry] was looking at the perspectives of the terrorist and said, "Hey I've got some ideas." When we heard it, we were like, "Awesome! You know were gonna get shit for that!" But then we all shrugged our shoulders. (laughs) It's going to happen anyway. We just go for a different type of song that nobody else would write. That's why we write that way we do. We're not here to preach, just trying to inspire some dialogue. We read a book, or see something that makes us think and we just present those ideas, saying "What do you think?" No one needs to be told how to run their life. People can do that on their own.

Q: The themes of holy wars permeate "Christ Illusion". I would think that because of this, a huge outpouring of response from members of the armed forces came with this new record. There's a lot of relevant material to them in it. Have you had any regular correspondence with vets of this current Gulf War? Or the former one? And if so, what do you tell them?

Araya: We did an appearance at military bases in Germany and France — both of which were on standby, so while we were there they had drills. They were always on alert. Anyway, you hear the stories that are coming back from the battlefields and some of it, they may not have experienced firsthand, but they tell the stories from other people's experiences too. Like, they're listening to SLAYER as they were bombing or during air raids. It's cool to know that they're listening to metal of the time and to know that the mighty four horsemen rode in with the military troops. It's great that music does that and is strong enough force to pull them through what they're doing. The fact that we inspire them, to me, that is awesome. That we can do that for people in general, in an odd way, is a source of inspiration.

Read the entire interview at Blogcritics.org.