SLAYER's KERRY KING: 'Touring And The Stage Time Keep Me In Shape'

ARTISTdirect.com editor Rick Florino recently conducted an interview with SLAYER guitarist Kerry King. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

ARTISTdirect.com: What does the "Big Four" mean to you?

Kerry: It means, "I wish there were more!" [Laughs] I would love for it to pick up and be a touring entity and not just do a week in Europe. Obviously, one show in the United States is far from enough. That's my take on it. I'd even take two weeks in a row!

ARTISTdirect.com: What was it about Southern California that fostered this type of heavy metal in the '80s?

Kerry: It's hard to say because a lot of people think that the Bay Area is where it was at. That area had a great scene as well, but METALLICA definitely imported themselves there. For us and MEGADETH, you have the METALLICA connection there. We all liked the European stuff. To this day, I'm a huge fan of early VENOM. I think they probably shaped us more than anybody — except for maybe JUDAS PRIEST or IRON MAIDEN. We were all into the same thing. It was a little nucleus of people with the same ideas trying to get the same info because back then we were far from Internet [Laughs]. It was about going to a mom and pop store and seeing what kind of imported magazines or imported vinyl they had.

ARTISTdirect.com: Did you share many of the same influences?

Kerry: I knew METALLICA and, of course, I played the first five MEGADETH shows. METALLICA and SLAYER never really talked much though. We weren't buddies; we were acquaintances. Since the "Big Four" shows last summer, I consider them friends now because we actually got time to hang out, have food, have drinks, just be dudes, and not be talking about each other in the press. That was really cool. That was the biggest thing that I got from Europe. It was fun for me. Up until then, we did a show with METALLICA back in the day at The Woodstock in Orange County. They might've been signed already, but we weren't. We've done a random festival here or there over thirty years. We finally got to do a proper "tour" with them, and it's really cool.

ARTISTdirect.com: When did it you realize you'd be in SLAYER as your career?

Kerry: When I was 25-years-old, I didn't think I'd be doing it when I was 40. As your heroes get older and you see other people do it, you're like, "Man, I don't feel old." You get a different perspective on age when you get there, at least I do. I don't feel like I did when I was 20, but I certainly don't feel 46 either. Touring and the stage time keep me in shape. If I didn't drink, I'd be a little skinny bastard, but that's self-medicating to get you through the tour.

Read the entire interview at ARTISTdirect.com.

(Thanks: NJthrasher)