Katherine Turman of The Village Voice spoke with Slayer guitarist Kerry King. Quotes from the interview appear below.
On whether or not he feels the spirit of long-time friend and band co-founder guiding the band:
“Jeff is worm food,” King states in his blunt-yet-likable fashion. “When you die you go in the dirt. There is no doubt. Doubt’s called agnostic. I’m not agnostic.”
Discussing Hanneman’s song, Piano Wire, which appears on the band’s forthcoming new album, Repentless:
“I didn’t know this until Tom [Araya, singer/bassist] told me recently. I didn’t talk to Jeff about that song, because I didn’t really have to police Jeff. If he wrote it, I was pretty sure it was all right. It was about sometime in World War II, because he was a big World War II history buff. I don’t know the exact instance, but apparently the Germans would hang people from buildings by piano wire as a warning to people not to go against them. That’s a very general description.”
Speaking about Exodus guitarist Gary Holt:
“Holt being in the band has changed my playing, absolutely. Before he was even in my band, I would praise Gary to the guitar press, because I felt it was the Glenn Tipton of our era, meaning that he was overlooked. Even though everyone knew Judas Priest, nobody really talked about Tipton. I thought that was a tragedy, because he was responsible for so many innovations and awesome heavy metal songs and riffs. Now that Holt gets to play with us it keeps me on my toes, because I’m not going to let the new guy kick the old Slayer dude’s ass.”
Discussing whether Slayer should have carried on after the passing of guitarist Hanneman:
“I’m not a social media guy, because I don’t have time for that nonsense; I mean the people who speak nonsense on social media, I’m sure, that when the record comes out, someone will say, ‘Oh, it’s only half of Slayer. They should have hung it up when Jeff died.’ My answer to them is, ‘What if AC/DC had hung it up when Bon Scott died?’ How much awesomeness would we have missed out on?”
Read Kerry King’s entire interview with the Village Voice, here.
Slayer’s Repentless is due September 11th. Read more about it here.
4 Responses
Yeah, that’s pretty blunt of Kerry saying Jeff is wormfood. I’m not going to get into that statement because that’s the kind of crap Kerry says all the time, so we’re all used to it. I do, however, feel bad for Jeff’s wife and family having to hear or read about a guy Jeff was friends with most of his life say something like that.
He mentioned how everyone knows about Priest but that Glenn is overlooked. I agree with that. I’ve been singing the praises to Glenn Tipton’s playing since I started playing guitar when I was a kid. Glenn’s phrasing in his guitar solos, the notes he selects, the attack he puts into it, the tastefulness and almost vocal-like approach he has is brilliant. He makes great songs even better. For example, as great as songs like “Electric Eye” or “Beyond The Realms Of Death” are, they wouldn’t be complete without Glenn’s solos exactly the way they are on record. That’s another thing I love about Glenn’s playing, and KK to for that matter, is that the recorded solos are pretty much played the same live. That’s how it should be because those parts are songs within songs that are just as important as the rest of the music and lyrics. And also, when you compare the guitar playing from earlier Priest albums like SAD WINGS OF DESTINY (one of my all time favorites ) to PAINKILLER, the progression is massive. In the 80’s, Glenn and KK upped the ante considerably in sheer speed and aggression, incorporating techniques like sweep picking into the arsenal of chops. Maybe it’s personal for me that I want Glenn’s brilliance acknowledged more because Judas Priest is my favorite band of all time. But brilliant work deserves praise, not to mention acknowledging the legion of guitarists like me it has inspired.
KK is free to speak his mind and have his views on religion. However, I find his “worm food” comment to be very insensitive and disrespectful to Jeff and his family.
I’m of the solid belief that the less some musicians talk, the better.
Wow, big surprise Kerry King is less than tactful and pretty insensitive but, poignant and very funny. Nobody listens to Slayer cause’ they’re happy and spreading the word of love, right?! I’m sure Hanneman is laughing his balls off whilst drinking a Heineken smoking a spliff with Lucifer at Kerry’s remark.