PAUL BOSTAPH On SLAYER Reunion Shows: ‘I Never Saw That Coming’

In a recent interview with Niclas Müller-Hansen from RockSverige, SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph was asked if he was as surprised as Kerry King seemed to be about the announcement of three SLAYER reunion shows scheduled for later this summer and early fall.

“Yeah. I mean, Kerry knew it before I did, but yeah. I got the phone call and I never saw that coming,” Paul responded. “Really, when it was done in 2019, I went, ‘That’s all. That’s it.’ I’m not going to sit there and go, ‘I hope it happens again.; I’m, like, ‘It’s done. Time to move on.’ It was a fun ride while I was there and a great band, but then, all of a sudden, I get that phone call and I was, like, ‘Huh?'”

“It’ll be great,” he continued. “It will be great to jam with Tom [Araya, SLAYER bassist/vocalist] and Gary [Holt, SLAYER guitarist] and Kerry, which I’m doing anyway [in Kerry‘s solo band], but just playing SLAYER songs. It’s SLAYER, so what’s not to really like about it, unless you don’t like SLAYER. [Laughs] But yeah, I was surprised about it.”

In a recent interview with Metal Injection, Kerry King discussed the irony of SLAYER announcing upcoming reunion shows just weeks after he had told Rolling Stone magazine that a SLAYER comeback was unlikely.

“I turned [SLAYER reunion offers] down for the longest time,” Kerry said. “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 [Araya] 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 [solo] 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 s**t up. I dropped the chains. Done.’ But then it started getting to where this is really gonna be the five-year anniversary of [SLAYER‘s] 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 [solo] band [that the SLAYER reunion shows were happening],” he continued. “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, ‘Goddamn it.’ ‘It never occurred to me to tell you guys.’ Never f**king 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 drummer, who also plays in Kerry‘s solo band] knew, of course. But poor Phil [Demmel, guitarist in Kerry‘s solo band] and Kyle [Sanders, bassist in Kerry‘s solo band] and Mark [Osegueda, vocalist in Kerry‘s solo 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 f**king make a record. We’re never gonna f**king tour. This is my band.’”

Kerry added that he doesn’t rule out the possibility of more SLAYER shows in the future beyond the three festival appearances scheduled for this summer and fall.

“I’m trying to be real and definitely say, hey, we’re not gonna tour again,” he said. “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.”

After concluding their last world tour in November 2019, SLAYER, featuring Tom Araya (bass, vocals), Kerry King (guitar), Gary Holt (guitar), and Paul Bostaph (drums), will headline three prominent festivals, Riot Fest, Louder Than Life and Aftershock Festival, marking their first live appearances since then.