TOM ARAYA Says There Is A Feel-Good, Family Side To SLAYER's Heavy Metal Assault

January 26, 2007

SLAYER frontman Tom Araya recently told Dan Nailen of The Salt Lake Tribune that his two kids ages 7 and 10, both veterans of SLAYER tours, love videos with lots of music, so Araya and his wife Sandra have a collection that includes the best-selling tween flick and other movies that are pretty much the polar opposite of where SLAYER's fans reside.

"You know that movie 'Footloose'?" Araya asked in an interview from his Texas home. "My wife played them the movie because they like the singing and dancing. So we bought the movie and we hit it. They like the dancing. They like the guy. They sit and sing the songs. They do that with 'High School Musical', too."

A pause in the conversation follows while Araya's son bends his ear.

"I was just informed that Tommy, my son, doesn't like that one," Araya added. "That makes me feel a little better."

Considering SLAYER has been around more than two decades now, it's no surprise its fan base is multigenerational. Araya loves seeing fathers with their kids at SLAYER shows, and he can relate since his own kids have been catching metal shows for nearly as long as they've been alive.

"Our kids enjoy all kinds of music, and they enjoy all kinds of live music," Araya said. "I think it's kind of cool to expose them at such a young age. My first concert, I was, like, 17."

Last year, Araya's kids joined the band on the "Unholy Alliance" tour after the new album's release, and he said the experience is something they won't soon forget. Besides crisscrossing the country, they got to hang with the other bands on the tour.

"They dug it, it was a good experience for them," Araya said. "Tommy hung out with the LAMB OF GOD guys. It was really neat to see how some of these other people were relating to our kids.

"[Touring] makes them more well-rounded. We live in a small town, and now when they go to school, to know the experiences they've had compared to the other kids, they really had their eyes opened."

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