TOM ARAYA On 'World Painted Blood': 'This Is A SLAYER Record For SLAYER Fans'

Mick Stingley of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

KNAC.COM: Please discuss the new album: what makes it so exciting for you? Speaking as a SLAYER fan, what can you say to other SLAYER fans about it?

Tom Araya: It's awesome! I really love it. It's all there. As a SLAYER fan, I can say that everything they want from SLAYER is there. "Pschopathy Red", "Hate Worldwide", "Beauty Through Order"… I love this record, you know what I mean? This is a SLAYER record for SLAYER fans… yeah. (Laughs)

KNAC.COM: What was the songwriting process like?

Tom Araya: On this one, it was pretty cool, we had maybe, we had three songs initially recorded from the year before, in October. Jeff [Hanneman, guitar] and Kerry [King, guitar] had, initially, five or six songs that were together. And those songs and the rest of the songs kinda came together in the studio. And it was still done the way we've always done it, it's just that instead of learning them and practicing them, we learned them and recorded them. You know what I mean? It was, uh, 'cuz that was the one thing that was different. 'Cuz Jeff came and he would go in, and we would all work, and it was kinda like an assembly line. Jeff would come in and then he'd take a day off or two. I would work and then Kerry would come in and each of us would have some time alone away from the studio for a few days. In that time-frame, Jeff would come up with some songs — he'd have all the parts and he'd put them on disc — bass, guitar, drums… he'd hand everybody copies and we'd all listen to it. And then we'd listen to them and arrange them, or re-arrange them.. and that was a first for us. So Jeff came in with his stuff and Kerry came in with his stuff, and that was what was different for us. And that allowed everybody to give input.

KNAC.COM: What was your contribution?

Tom Araya: My contribution? My contribution was trying to make the songs sound good! I made them all sound great! (laughs) I made them sound like SLAYER! (laughs) But… actually, I contributed to three of Jeff's songs — just helping the songs come together. I kinda did that with Kerry's too, you know what I mean? It was… all of us.

KNAC.COM: Do you feel that SLAYER has been marginalized by the mainstream media as being "too dark" (or "controversial") to gain acceptance in spite of your Grammys?

Tom Araya: No… with so many people listening to satellite radio and internet radio… digital… and even though there's a lot of listeners that can't afford satellite — but the music's out there. And the listeners are there. They come out to the shows, so they must be getting it from somewhere. But that never mattered to us. We just wanted to make music… as SLAYER. It doesn't bother us if we're not… whatever the mainstream perception is, the fans know who we are. And what we do. (laughs)

KNAC.COM: Do you think that there would ever be a revival of the Clash of the Titans (METALLICA, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX) and would you be willing to do it? (If the money was right maybe?)

Tom Araya: (laughs) You know… that was something that was brought up. But that was a while ago, though. And I remember our manager bringing that up. But I don't think so… but if they want to watch us together… (SLAYER and MEGADETH) they can watch us on YouTube. I'm sure somebody filmed the Canadian dates with them (MEGADETH). When we do those dates in Australia, I'm sure those will be popping up. Maybe Kerry will get up on stage and play with Dave Mustaine… (mutters) I doubt that… (laughs)

KNAC.COM: Can you tell us a little about your time before SLAYER as a respiratory therapist?

Tom Araya: Huh…. wow. Yeah, that was… I don't know… yeah, I'd get up in the morning and deal with traffic; and then leave at three and deal with traffic. Uh… some days were pretty hectic and some days were easy. I always wanted to make sure that people that were getting treatments and didn't need 'em — there was no sense in billing them. So… if I felt the patients were healthy enough, not to…

KNAC.COM: Was this at a hospital or a medical center?

Tom Araya: Hospital, yeah; a hospital. I worked in the pulmonary department. But, yeah.. and sometimes I'd work in with the ER. I had an ER buzzer… so I'd have to go to ER. I was working at the hospital when Michael Jackson… came in… with his Pepsi… when he did the Pepsi thing... the Pepsi commercial where he burned the back of his head.

KNAC.COM: Wow. Really?

Tom Araya: Yeah… he was at that hospital. In the burn unit. They were, uh… no one was allowed to go on that burn floor — only one person was allowed to work with him. As far as from my department; though I never got to see him. It's like a major burn center. It was Brotman Medical Center. Major burn center in Culver City. (The Burn Ward is now known as the Michael Jackson Burn Center at Brotman Medical Center)

Read the entire interview from KNAC.COM.