SLAYER Guitarist Talks Organized Religion

ARTISTdirect recently conducted an interview with SLAYER guitarist Kerry King. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

ARTISTdirect: You've never shied away from attacking organized religion in your songs — directly and unapologetically — and "Christ Illusion" cranks up the heat. But then we often arrive at a "Hail Satan" conclusion, which seems a little strange. Are you talking about the Christian devil?

Kerry: Actually on "Cult" ["Beware the cult of purity / Infectious imbecility / I've made my choice / 666"] the line "666" was going to be "Atheist," to get that point across about how I really feel. But it doesn't make for a good song. Kids love screaming "666." [laughs]

ARTISTdirect: SLAYER has traveled the world and met fans from across the globe. What makes America so uniquely susceptible to organized religion?

Kerry: Power. No free thinking; everywhere else in the world, people make their own opinions. There's religion everywhere, but you go anywhere else in the world and people say "You Americans are really fucking tweaked on your religion." Hey, not me! [laughs] I'm trying to clean that out.

ARTISTdirect: And America is so vast that it's easy to be in one pocket and lose sight of how extremely different other pockets may be. Los Angeles, for instance, is probably a more atheistic city than Topeka.

Kerry: Yeah, but as soon as you get 60-75 miles out of L.A., like where I live, it's like a mini-Bible Belt. Everybody's got their Not of This World stickers and Jesus Freak stickers. Where do these people come from? That's kind of where "Cult" came from, just observing all of that. When you get down to the bottom line, say I'm a Satanist and I'm going to paint 666 on my window or Satan Freak on my window, a bunch of Christians are going to key your car and rip your stickers off. That's how infatuated they are. That's what bothers me. But I can't go rip their stickers off because of the brotherhood — they'll fucking turn my ass in.

ARTISTdirect: Do you write songs immediately in reaction to things you see or experience?

Kerry: What I do is, if I see a religious phrase, if I can flip-flop it, I'll jot it down. That's pretty much how I got the "God Hates Us All" lyric. I saw a billboard driving, it said something like "Remember, God loves all of us." I said, "No, he doesn't. He fucking hates my ass. I'm sitting in traffic." It instantly became "God hates us all" and I saved it until I had the right spot for it.

ARTISTdirect: Then the concentrated songwriting sessions come later?

Kerry: Yeah, and we usually do the music first. I'd say 95% of the time the songs are 95% done before we even consider writing lyrics to it. Then I'll lock myself in a room and think brutal thoughts and get to where I need to be. When I get the title or the line that gives me incentive to go in some direction, then I go from there.

ARTISTdirect: Does the heavy music offer an exorcism or something?

Kerry: Well, I'm just a normal fucking dude — the only thing that separates me from the kids watching me is that I found three dudes who liked the same thing I liked musically and we make each other better. I still go to the shows when I'm at home. I go to House of Blues — I probably could just walk in and not be on the guest list, like "Hey guys, I'm back." [laughs]

ARTISTdirect: Is there anyone who would still make you geek out and revert to being a fanboy?

Kerry: Yeah, up until recently. We were in Holland doing a festival and HEAVEN AND HELL was on the bill with us — they were in front of us, actually, which just blew me away. Tony Iommi — it used to be that I couldn't fucking talk to the dude. This time, I'm in the dressing room by myself and he knocks on my door and I'm like "Tony, don't you fucking knock on my door — get your ass in here!" I understand the respect thing but, hey, do what you want!

ARTISTdirect: SLAYER fans are very loyal and after all the years and albums and tours and message boards and behind-the-scenes footage, some of them come to identify with you guys on a very personal level. What percentage of the real picture are they getting?

Kerry: I'm sure there's a bunch of horseshit, but there's also access to so much information. In the midst of all that, there is the fucking thread that's totally out of the blue and just fucking wrong — but you read ninety percent of it and it's "How do they fucking know that?" It's flattering — and disturbing when you get a stalker kind of dude. But they're in touch with what they like; I didn't have access to that when I was a kid. I had to find magazines that were few and far between and go to shows and see for myself.

Read the entire interview at www.artistdirect.com.