Kerry King recently sat down with Metal Injection for an extensive interview covering everything to do with his solo band and yes, the surprise Slayer reunion shows.
On the later, King said he turned down Slayer reunion show offers for the longest time until finally giving in now that it's been five years since the band's final tour. It also probably helped that Tom Araya's wife wanted Tom out of the house.
"I turned it down for the longest time," said King. "You can imagine we've been turning down offers since December 1st, 2019. And at that point, I thought, 'No, we're never gonna play again.' Tom retired. So it's written. And then offers keep coming, offers keep coming, the money goes up. And this one came around and it was when we were booking shows from my band, and I go to my manager.
"I'm, like, 'Are we talking about my band or Slayer? What are we talking about here?' He's, like, 'Slayer.' And I'm, like, 'Yeah, but that's done. We hung that shit up. I dropped the chains. Done.' But then it started getting to where this is really gonna be the five-year anniversary of our last tour and I went, 'That's kind of cool. Three shows, five-year anniversary. Okay.' That's about all I thought about it."
"The funny thing about this story is I didn't tell anybody in my band. I'd never been in that situation. And the news dropped that we were doing three shows and everybody blows me up. I'm, like, 'Goddammit.' 'It never occurred to me to tell you guys.' Never fucking occurred to me. It wasn't a secret. They can keep secrets. I know that. And I felt so bad.
"It never occurred to me. Paul [Bostaph, Slayer and King's solo drummer] knew, of course. But [the rest of the band], they all texted me and blew me up. I'm, like, 'I'm so sorry, man. It never occurred to me. This is what's up. This is what's gonna happen. If it happens again, it's gonna be the same thing. We're never gonna fucking make a record. We're never gonna fucking tour. This is my band.'"
On more Slayer shows, King has been adamant that they're largely not happening – though there could be a European show, just to be fair.
"It's hard not to. I'm trying to be real and definitely say, hey, we're not gonna tour again. And we're certainly not gonna record again, 'cause I have a means of doing that now with my band. [We're doing] three shows for now. And I say 'for now' because I know Europe's gonna come knocking, 'Hey, man, you guys played America. Come see us.' So it wouldn't surprise me if something like that happened, but it's certainly not on my books right now."
Kerry King will be out on tour with Lamb Of God, Mastodon, and Malevolence starting today! Get your tickets here.
7/19 Grand Prairie, TX Texas Trust CU Theatre
7/20 Austin, TX Germania Insurance Amphitheater
7/21 Houston, TX 713 Music Hall
7/23 Jacksonville, FL Daily’s Place
7/24 Orlando, FL Orlando Amphitheater
7/25 Alpharetta, GA Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
7/27 Raleigh, NC Red Hat Amphitheater
7/28 Richmond, VA Virginia Credit Union LIVE!
7/30 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
7/31 London, ON Budweiser Gardens
8/1 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
8/3 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
8/4 Manchester, NH SNHU Arena
8/6 Bangor, ME Maine Savings Amphitheatre
8/8 Reading, PA Santander Arena (w/ Unearth, no Malevolence)
8/9 Cleveland, OH Jacobs Pavilion (w/ Unearth, no Malevolence)
8/10 Sterling Heights, MI Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre @ Freedom Hill (w/ Unearth, no Malevolence)
8/13 Moorhead, MN Bluestem Center For The Arts Amphitheater
8/15 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
8/16 Penticton, BC South Okanagan Events Centre
8/17 Kent, WA accesso ShoWare Center
8/18 Portland, OR Theater of the Clouds
8/21 Los Angeles, CA The Kia Forum
8/23 Phoenix, AZ Arizona Financial Theatre
8/24 Rio Rancho, NM Rio Rancho Events Center
8/25 El Paso, TX El Paso County Coliseum
8/27 Magna, UT The Great Saltair
8/29 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
8/31 Omaha, NE The Astro Amphitheater
