SLAYER's TOM ARAYA Keeps His Singing Chops Up By Singing Country Songs

David Glessner of the San Antonio Express-News recently conducted an interview with SLAYER frontman Tom Araya. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On SLAYER fans:

"Some of (our fans) can make you a little nervous. I think the craziest (request) would have to be this kid who wanted one of us to carve SLAYER into his back. We looked at him and said, 'You're crazy.' So his friend did it. They took a picture of it and I'm almost positive we used that picture in a tour program. We asked the kid if we could use it and he said, 'Hell yeah!'"

On chilling with the wife and kids at his East Texas ranch:

"I have five cows. I have a bull and four heifers that are due to have babies so I'm hopefully going to increase my herd. I also have chickens. My wife does a lot of the work, but when I get home (from tours),I help out. She's the supervisor, though (laughs). I also have an acoustic guitar and I sing various country songs from songbooks. That's how I keep my singing chops up and my fingers at the ready."

On the long-awaited recorded return of drummer Dave Lombardo, who had been at odds with his bandmates:

"The issue (with Lombardo) was we would all hang out and meet at this place, and then head off to rehearsal. A lot of times, we never made it to rehearsal (laughs) and he didn't like that. He was ready to take care of business and we were, too, but a lot of times we never made it out of the bar (laughs). That was then, and now it's different. It's like he never left. It's like a comfort feeling knowing he's back there."

On SLAYER fans' uncommon loyalty:

"We see (fans) from 40 to 12. To me that's great because a lot of that is kids going, 'Dude, my Dad turned me on to you guys.' That's great to hear, because at my age, I'm not too old to listen to metal. When I hear people say, 'Oh, I used to listen to you guys,' I say, 'What do you mean used to?'"