SLAYER's KERRY KING: 'Everybody Hates DAVE MUSTAINE'

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King recently spoke to KNAC.com about on the group's upcoming studio album, a blood-drenched stage show and MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine, among other topics. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

KNAC.com: Dave Mustaine, who's become this big born-again media whore crybaby…

Kerry King: "Born-again idiot…" [Laughs]

KNAC.com: "Yeah, it's sick. I found this ridiculous quote I wanna run by you. He was asked what he thought about your playing, and said, 'Well, before I started showing him my guitar style, he was pretty good. Afterward, he was really good! I showed him a lot of different tricks he had never seen before. I think I helped him more than he's willing to acknowledge, but as you probably know, Kerry now hates my guts…'

Kerry King: "[Laughs] Everybody hates him!"

KNAC.com: [Laughs] "…I don’t know why. I don't dislike the guy. But Kerry has a problem, because he hates everybody."

Kerry King: "Yeah, that was in Guitar World. We were on Ozzfest and I was hanging with Zakk [Wylde] all the time, because me, Zakk and Dime are like the same person. [Laughs] I go on Zakk's bus and Zakk says, 'DID YOU SEE THIS FUCKIN' SHIT?!?! THIS FUCKER'S TALKING ABOUT YOU!' And I'm like, 'I don’t care, man — I'm fuckin' above that, it's fuckin’ stupid.' Anybody that knows anything knows [SLAYER's debut album] 'Show No Mercy' came out before I ever played with MEGADETH. So apparently I could play the fuckin' guitar. [Laughs]"

KNAC.com: That's what’s so sickening — he got brought into that whole… METALLICA with their fuckin' touring psychologist and their movies and their books and whatever bullshit they're doing; it’s obvious he saw this as a chance to steal some limelight, rejuvenate his band….

Kerry King: "The whole thing I think about that, you know, to me whatever happened to him was convenient timing because he had to reinvent himself. Nobody gave a fuck about MEGADETH, and he put this record out and the only good thing about it to me is the leads that Chris Poland is playing. I mean, I used to love Mustaine's playing myself; I looked up to him big time. But the only reason to even listen to that record is Chris Poland. I mean the songs are fuckin' garbage! And you know, you listen… 'Kerry hates everybody' — yeah, I hate a lot of people, but you ask anybody in the industry that knows me and knows Mustaine, I'm the one hanging out and having a good time; Mustaine's the one suing his fucking bass player! [Laughs] The ONLY guy that stood by him from day one, and they're in a lawsuit. So that lets you know what kind of a guy he is."

KNAC.com: How do you find the time to do your stuff with the clothing line (KFK Industries)?

Kerry King: "I got that together when I had some down time. As anybody can see who's been there recently, I’ve been neglecting the hell out of it! [Laughs] You know, I've got some things coming down the pipe — I wanna get a work shirt in there, skull caps… I wanna keep it on a swag level, you know, like concert swag. I'm not gonna make up pants or do anything like that. If I did make up pants, they'd be really cool — it'd be versions of camouflage you've never seen, stuff like that. I'm not gonna go into making slacks or anything stupid like that. But if it's something that I might wear, my door is open, but I'm definitely gonna focus on concert-type stuff."

KNAC.com: So are you hoping to bring more commercial access to your line?

Kerry King: "Well, I know Hot Topic is. They'd like to have our stuff, but I'm not gonna change any of my existing styles to accommodate them because the people that got the original ones are gonna say, 'Well that’s gay!' So if I make up a shirt that they're into without me having to change it, sure. You know, I mean the kids dig it, and it’s stuff that I make up and has nothing to do with SLAYER, so if I have a shirt idea and I think, 'That would make a good SLAYER shirt, but I'm gonna keep that for myself…' that don't happen. SLAYER comes first, and I don't like to use any of their ideas for mine either. But the same company that makes the band shirts makes my shirts — it's the same art department. So a lot of the times there's a gray area where they'll use the same font on one of mine as one of SLAYER's or vice versa and I'm like, 'Listen guys, this ain't gonna fly because I'm doing my best to keep this its own entity.' I don't bring them on tour, I don't compete with SLAYER on tour. I mean I might hand out flyers when I sign autographs, but that's it."

Read Kerry King's entire interview with KNAC.com at this location.