In a recent interview with Brian Aberback of The Aquarian, Kerry King discussed his comeback to the live stage, marking five years since SLAYER‘s last performance, initially promoted as the band’s farewell show.
“I’m very into playing,” Kerry said. “It’s not the travel. I love going to cities, of course, but getting to cities is a pain in the a*s. I would love if I never traveled again; I’m cool with that, but I’m put here to perform and I enjoy performing. I’m looking forward to performing and the more we rehearsed and the more polished we got this stuff, and the more songs we have for the future, so I’m just getting stoked.”
Speaking about his solo band, which beside King features DEATH ANGEL vocalist Mark Osegueda, longtime SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph, former HELLYEAH bassist Kyle Sanders, and ex–MACHINE HEAD and ex-VIO-LENCE guitarist Phil Demmel, he said: “I said to Paul, ‘I want to go immediately into the studio and bang out record two afterward.’ When you’re fresh off the tour and sharp, you can do a super quick performance because we’ll all be rehearsed on it. That’s the plan. I’ve got everything in place to make that happen now. We’re going to be on tour and I can work on lyrics for pieces that aren’t finished yet. Hopefully everything will be done by the time the tour’s done.”
Concerning his decision to hold his debut solo concert at a cozy venue, Reggies in Chicago, on May 7th, Kerry explained: “It was just so we could get in a performance scenario without being thrust into it with everything out of your own hand [at this month’s Welcome To Rockville and Sonic Temple festivals]. We want to prepare. We don’t want to be onstage bumping into each other. Kyle‘s a lefty so there’s going to be a new thing that we’ve got to look out for. It’s a warm-up; that’s why it’s got to be small. It is just to get your sea legs going, but it’s going to be intense and it’s probably going to be a sweatbox.”
King‘s debut solo album, From Hell I Rise, will be released on May 17 via Reigning Phoenix Music.
According to King, the new music consists of “various religious topics, some war entries, heavy stuff, punky stuff, doomy stuff, and spooky stuff, with Herculean speeds achieved. If you’ve ever liked any SLAYER throughout any part of our history,” he adds, “there’s something on this record that you’ll get into, be it classic punk, fast punk, thrash, or just plain heavy metal!”
As King admits, “Even with a record in the can, I’ve still got so many songs that need to be finished. This is what I know how to do…number one being music, number two being metal. It’s been a part of my life for 40 years, and I’m nowhere near being done.”
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