SLAYER's KERRY KING Says TOM ARAYA Didn't Tell PAUL BOSTAPH And GARY HOLT He Was 'Done' For Four To Six Months

In a new interview with Francisco Zamudio of KNAC.COM, SLAYER guitarist Kerry King was asked if putting out a solo album has been on his mind for a while prior to last month's arrival of "From Hell I Rise". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It never occurred to me until Tom [Araya, SLAYER bassist/vocalist] said he was done touring. And when he was done touring, I'm, like, 'Well, I'm not gonna try to talk you out of it because it's not cool to talk somebody into it when their heart's not into it.' So I said, 'Well, now I've gotta put my band together and continue.'"

Asked if the riffs and musical ideas on "From Hell I Rise" were things that he came up with specifically for this project or if they were something that he had been playing around for a long time, Kerry said: "There's a little bit of everything. Like [the song] 'Residue', for instance, I think I had the body of that song the last time Paul [Bostaph, SLAYER and KERRY KING drummer] was in [SLAYER]. And it just never had a beginning or an end — it just never had all the parts it needed — but I knew I liked the song. So I just kept it. And then this time, during the pandemic, I made up the intro and the outro and put a little glue in it. And I'm, like, 'That's what I was looking for.' So you've got stuff like that. You've got stuff left over from [SLAYER's final album, 2015's] 'Repentless'. You've got a lot of stuff I wrote during the pandemic. And now, for instance, record two still has stuff from 'Repentless', has leftover stuff from 'From Hell I Rise' and stuff I've written since then. So there's tons of stuff I've gotta get to."

King confirmed that he has already started work on his second solo album. "I've got demos of a lot of songs," he explained. "I don't have any lyrics yet. I've got some titles, but I've got a lot of music."

Asked how the conversation with Paul went when he asked the longtime SLAYER drummer to join him in his solo project, Kerry said: "It was super easy. I knew that Tom was done probably four to six months before the other guys [Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt] did. 'Cause, for whatever reason, he just never told them. And we were getting ready to go do a photo session with the guys. And I said, 'Listen…' I told my manager, I said, 'I'm not going unless Tom tells these poor guys what's up, 'cause they deserve to know.' So he did. And the next day, we do the photos and I went right to Paul and said, 'Dude, don't worry for a second because I'm continuing. And I assume you wanna continue with me.'"

"From Hell I Rise" was released on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music.

Joining Kerry in his new band are Mark Osegueda (vocals; DEATH ANGEL),Phil Demmel (guitar; MACHINE HEAD, VIO-LENCE),Kyle Sanders (bass; HELLYEAH) and drummer Paul Bostaph (SLAYER, TESTAMENT, EXODUS).

Last month, the KERRY KING band performed its first live show at Reggies in Chicago. In the days that followed, the band went from playing an intimate venue to performing at the huge U.S. festivals Welcome To Rockville (Florida) and Sonic Temple (Ohio).

Now the KERRY KING band is ready to embark on a European tour that will start on June 3 — on King's 60th birthday. The trek will combine headline shows in the U.K., The Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain but also festival appearances such as Rock Am Ring, Hellfest, Tuska, Download, Sweden Rock Festival and many more.

All material for "From Hell I Rise" was written by the 59-year-old SLAYER guitarist. Helming the sessions at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles last year was producer Josh Wilbur, who has previously worked with KORN, LAMB OF GOD, AVENGED SEVENFOLD and BAD RELIGION, among others.

KERRY KING will be special guest on the upcoming LAMB OF GOD/MASTODON North American "Ashes Of Leviathan" co-headline tour. The six-week run will launch on July 19 in Grand Prairie, Texas and will wrap on August 31 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Five years after SLAYER played the last concert of what was being billed as the band's farewell tour and just days after the SLAYER guitarist unveiled the details of his solo project, Kerry and his longtime bandmates announced that they will reunite to play at the Aftershock, Riot Fest and Louder Than Life festivals in September and October.