KERRY KING speaks on how TOM ARAYA “was dragging his feet to tell people” about SLAYER's retirement
13-05-2025
Kerry King said that Tom Araya was “dragging his feet to tell people” about his decision to retire, recalling how the contours of his solo band began to emerge just as Slayer was preparing to retire.
SLAYER‘s retirement was a sore point for Kerry King, as the guitarist himself admitted. While quitting in 2019 meant that the thrash giants were going out in top shape and with heads held high, King said in 2023 that he felt “anger” that the band was no longer playing. As the guitarist opined at the time, the decision was “premature”, as many of his “childhood heroes are still playing.”
Nevertheless, King got to experience a triumphant return to the scene last year with his solo band, even though fate would ironically have it coincide with Slayer’s temporary return from retirement. Interestingly, as the guitarist told Sweetwater’s Nick Bowcott in a recent interview, the seeds for King’s solo band were being sown just as Slayer was preparing to make the big announcement, with Tom Araya reportedly hesitating to do so:
“At the end of Slayer, when Tom finally told everybody… I knew probably six months before anybody else, and he was just dragging his feet to tell people. We had this photo session coming up. I said, ‘Listen, this isn’t an argument.’ But I said, ‘Listen, you’ve got to tell these guys, and if you don’t tell them, I’m not coming to the photoshoot, because what are we taking photos of, if nobody knows what’s happening?'”
“So, when he finally told ’em, I told Paul (Bostaph, Slayer & Kerry King drummer) on the spot, ‘I’ve got something for you. I’m not finishing; I’ve got tons of stuff. I’ve got plenty of records’ worth of stuff we could put out.’ I mentioned that to Gary (Holt, guitarist) too.”
Gary Holt never became a part of King’s new band, and the role eventually went to the former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel. While King was debating with himself about whether he should bring Holt into his new band, the solution presented itself when Demmel came to fill in for the guitarist during a European tour:
“But as time moved on, I thought people are going to tear this band apart anyway. ‘Sounds like Slayer,’ which it’s supposed to sound like. I realized that the more pieces I took from Slayer, they’d be right. When we actually did the European tour in 2018, Phil came out and filled in for Gary for four shows. And all Phil would talk about is wanting to be a part of my future. And I’m like, ‘Well, the answer presented itself.’ I don’t think we ever even talked about it. It was just a given thing. Phil’s my dude.”
Last month, King suggested that the loss of Jeff Hanneman contributed to Araya’s decision to retire. The guitarist also added that he didn’t expect the singer would want to come out of retirement for the handful of one-off performances:
“I think Jeff’s passing weighed harder on Tom than it did on me. And I don’t mean that from any kind of friendship perspective. It’s just…my taking wasn’t as bad as Tom took it. Of course, it was horrible, and no one ever wanted that to happen, but it really weighed on Tom, and I think that’s what led to him wanting to retire earlier than me because I think he felt the band was different.”
“But then out of nowhere, Tom decided he wanted to play some shows last year, and I went, ‘Well, I never wanted to stop playing shows. So, yeah, let’s try it out.’ But it’s just like it was [before] in Slayer, you know. We don’t talk on the phone. We rarely text each other.”
Earlier this year, in an interview with SPIN, Kerry King revealed that SLAYER will perform a BLACK SABBATH cover at Ozzy Osbourne and SABBATH‘s final concert on July 5 in Birmingham, England.
“That’s an important day,” King said, adding that he and SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph have already been rehearsing the SABBATH tune SLAYER will perform. “I think that’s going to be a huge moment for the fans, but it’s going to be a huge moment for me. It’s a huge moment in rock history.”
Kerry King and his new band will hit the road in Europe next summer. The trek will launch on July 29 in Frankfurt, Germany and will include appearances at Czech Republic’s Brutal Assault festival, France’s Motocultor festival and The Netherlands’ Dynamo festival.
Kerry King 2025 European dates:
Jul. 29 – Zoom Saal – Frankfurt, DE &
Jul. 30 – Simm City – Wien, AU &
Aug. 1 – Rockstadt Extreme – Transylvania, RO &
Aug. 4 – Komplex 457 – Zürich, CH &
Aug. 6-9 – Brutal Assault Festival – Jaromer, CZ
Aug. 7 – FZW – Dortmund, DE &
Aug. 8-10 – Alcatraz Festival – Kortrijk, BE
Aug. 12 – Academy 2 – Manchester, UK &
Aug. 13 – SWX – Bristol, UK &
Aug. 14-17 – Motocultor Festival – Carhaix, FR
Aug. 17 – Dynamo Festival – Eindhoven, NL
Aug. 19 – Tauron Arena – Krakow, PL *&
& Newly announced shows
* Supporting GOJIRA
King‘s debut solo album, “From Hell I Rise”, was released in May. All material for the LP was written by the 60-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.
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).
“From Hell I Rise” contains 13 tracks that were recorded with longtime LAMB OF GOD producer Josh Wilbur.
King told Rolling Stone that the title track, “From Hell I Rise”, is one of two songs — along with “Rage” — on the album that he has carried over from SLAYER‘s “Repentless” sessions. “It was finished, we recorded it,” he says. “I wasn’t happy with the performance part of it, so I was like, ‘All right, I’ll put this in my back pocket until the next SLAYER record.’ And that didn’t happen, so it’s now on my record.”
Asked why he decided to call his band KERRY KING, the guitarist said: “I didn’t. It was going to be KING’S REIGN for a long time, which is really cool. But even with that one, I went to the guys, like, ‘I’m not a vain dude. I don’t want my name to be a part of it.’ We talked about BLOOD REIGN for a while, but it didn’t work. Every time I came up with anything remotely cool, it was taken by some obscure band in Eastern Europe. It became KERRY KING because I love that logo.”
Regarding how he put together his solo band, Kerry said: “I knew Paul was going to be with me. My original intent was to have (SLAYER guitarist) Gary Holt but the farther I got away from SLAYER, the more I thought people would call this band “SLAYER Light” or “Baby SLAYER.” They’re going to say that anyway, so I didn’t need to fuel that fire. There was no falling out between me and Gary.
“Demmel came out with SLAYER at the end of 2018 to fill in for Gary for four shows,” he continued. “What he did for us, I don’t think I could do for any band on the planet. He had basically two days to watch (SLAYER) play so he could know where the pyro was and the tempo of our set. I couldn’t do that for JUDAS PRIEST, and I’m a giant PRIEST guy. With this, Bostaph said, ‘Hey, what about Demmel (for the new band)?’ I texted him. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I just got done with MACHINE HEAD the day before yesterday.’ I went, ‘Well, that’s kind of perfect.’
As for Osegueda‘s addition to the band, Kerry said: “With Mark, he was on board early on. I just didn’t pull that trigger. I was like, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ Say for instance, (JUDAS PRIEST‘s) Rob Halford calls me and says, ‘Hey, I would love to be your singer,’ I’d have to go that way.”
King also confirmed that PANTERA‘s Philip Anselmo was “considered” as a possible singer for his new project. “My management, my promoter, my record label all wanted Phil,” Kerry said. “Phil‘s a good friend of mine, but I always thought he’s not the right guy. That has nothing to do with his ability; I just knew he wasn’t the right guy. When you hear Mark on this record, you know that’s the guy.
“I had to do due diligence, because at the end of the day, had Philip been the guy, we’d be in arenas immediately because we could play new stuff, we could play PANTERA, we could play SLAYER, and fans would’ve been happy. It ended when the PANTERA thing came up.
“I saw Mark a few years back singing covers of MINOR THREAT and cameo in THE WEDDING BAND with members of METALLICA. It was different from what he does in DEATH ANGEL, and he sounded great. He’s super versatile. He took steps to make this different than DEATH ANGEL. I don’t touch on probably 50 percent of what he can do on the album.
“Mark knew how I expected the songs to be performed. On my demos, I sing with very good conviction, but I don’t have pipes; that’s why I don’t sing. With ‘Residue’, he sounded so good I had to ask him, ‘Is this sustainable? I don’t want you to blow your load on this record and then blow your voice out every third show.’ And he swore up and down he could do it. He went on to some of the harder ones and did the same thing on those, so I went, ‘Okay.'”
“From Hell I Rise” track listing:
01. Diablo
02. Where I Reign
03. Residue
04. Idle Hands
05. Trophies Of The Tyrant
06. Crucifixation
07. Tension
08. Everything I Hate About You
09. Toxic
10. Two Fists
11. Rage
12. Shrapnel
13. From Hell I Rise
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