SLAYER's KING On HANNEMAN's Passing: 'It's A Horrible Thing, But We've Gotta Trudge Forward'

November 15, 2013

Metal Chris of DCHeavyMetal.com recently conducted an interview with SLAYER guitarist Kerry King. You can now listen to the entire chat using the SoundCloud widget below. A couple of excerpts follow.

DCHeavyMetal.com: Now, you've said [in previous interviews] you were talking about going back to the studio, I guess, with this lineup [featuring drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt]. When exactly are you planning on starting the recording process?

Kerry: Well, you know, if you ever read my interviews, I'm always the optimist. It just never always pans out, but my plan is to be in [the studio] in January. That's what I want to do. Me and Paul have, I think we've demoed like eleven songs and I think there's parts of fourteen, fifteen that are just mine. We just gotta get a plan set and follow it. But we've got way ahead of the game. I've got seven songs done lyrically and I've never had that many before we hit the studio so it should be, whenever we get in, it should be a quick process.

DCHeavyMetal.com: Unfortunately, Jeff Hanneman, who was the other original guitar player for SLAYER, he passed away in May of this year. This was a big blow to the metal community as a whole, but I'd actually like to know how this affected you personally.

Kerry: Ummm… Well, you know, it just… Untimely death just sucks. And it's the guy that I made music up with for thirty years. That super sucks. He went early. It sucks. That's all I can say, it sucks. My guitar tech died the year prior, so death has become no stranger to me and you've just gotta deal with it. You know, I'm not set up to where I can just go away and live in my house and not work ever again. You've just pretty much gotta tighten your belt a little bit and get on with life. It's a horrible thing, but we've gotta trudge forward.

DCHeavyMetal.com: I was wondering are you ever going to do "South Of Heaven" straight through?

Kerry: I don't think so. "South Of Heaven"'s got great songs on it, but it's also got a cover on it, and even though we sometimes do covers… doing a whole tour… I just don't think that's as strong a record as "Reign In Blood" and "Seasons In The Abyss". I think we picked the right two to play. I don't like "Cleanse The Soul". I think that's one of the worst songs we ever made up.

DCHeavyMetal.com: Another thing I was wondering is, I know last year SLAYER put out those Christmas sweaters that were so popular. Do you have any other ideas for off-the-wall SLAYER merch coming up?

Kerry: It always comes up, man, and I know they've got new ones this year because they just made a limited amount last year and they were gone before you could blink an eye, which I thought was ironic, because I vetoed that to start with. But yeah, they're going to have more this year. They planned on making more so people would be able to get them, I know that. They're always coming out with different shit that we've gotta approve. I just approved a coffee mug. I don't even know where they sell those things, but you know, the ones you put in your little cup [holder] in the car so they don't tip over.

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