Culture
Kerry King talks about assembling his thrash metal ‘A Team,’ getting back into the groove of live performance, and never getting sick of his new album
By: Nicholas Kobe
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CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOUB) – Kerry King, guitarist of the legendary thrash metal band Slayer, wasn’t exactly ready to hang up the hat after Slayer’s final album, 2015’s Repentless, and farewell tour in 2019.
Since the end of Slayer, King has been working to assemble an all-star lineup of metal musicians to return in spectacular fashion. These include singer Mike Osegueda (Death Angel), drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer), bassist Kyle Sanders (HELLYEAH), and drummer Phil Demmel (Machine Head).
In 2024, we’ve finally received the fruits of all that labor: From Hell I Rise. Kerry King has embarked on his first US tour, supporting Mastodon and Lamb of God on their Ashes of Leviathan Tour.
WOUB’s Nicholas Kobe spoke with Kerry King ahead of his performance at Jacob’s Pavilion (2014 Sycamore Street) Friday. Find a transcript of their conversation below, edited for length and clarity.
Nicholas Kobe: If you had to sum up Kerry King in one sentence, what would you say?
Kerry King: That’s a difficult one because there’s so much of a wrecking ball of metal coming at you,
What makes you say that?
King: Because when this record was done – and recording it only took two weeks, which is pretty unheard of – I would play it and I never got tired of it. Sometimes by the end of recording, you’re just so over it going, “Oh, it’s such a relief. I’m done with this.” But I would go to the gym and I would play the songs because I’m listening for mistakes, listening for things I can make better and I could do it now. I could just go in and play the whole thing and I’m like, man, I’m so happy with this. It sounds so furious. It sounds so devastating even on the thousandth to listen. It’s got teeth.
What do you think made it so furious?
King: I think it was having time to polish it, and I live on the East Coast now, so it’s not like we can go rehearse every week and sit on things.
What about the circumstances surrounding you, your headspace, and just the world in which this record was made, do you think made it so fierce?
King: I mean, honestly, that’s basically my writing style anyway. But there were a lot of bumps in the road on this one, not just for me, but for life on the planet. Pandemics, coming back from the pandemics, waiting for all the tours that were booked to get rebooked because they didn’t just go away. They waited until the pandemic was over. So all these people had to fulfill their tour obligations and I didn’t want to compete with that. So I drug my feet a little bit, but worked pretty unstoppable during the pandemic because I didn’t want to waste this time. I don’t know how much time I have left in the music business, so I wanted to make sure I had as much material as I can pump out to move forward. So knowing this one was our first album, the intent is to get it right or as right as can be. So put a lot of time into that.
Absolutely. Now that the record’s out, what’s it been like to come together as a group and tour together?
King: It’s everything I wanted it to be. I got my A team because these are all the guys that I hit up first in some cases. In some cases the only guys I hit up. So to get out there with most importantly to me, my friends who are excellent musicians as well. And then to get out there and finally gel and come together as a band was super rad for all of us, I think.
Yeah. Was there anything about the record or the songs on it that felt different or kind of surprised you when you brought them to that live environment?
King: So, one in particular that everyone likes to play is Trophies of the Tyrant because it’s not a fast one, it’s easy to get behind the lyrics, and it’s got recurring leads. So I think it’s easy as a fan to get into that one. So that one really, I dunno, kind of got feet, grew legs live.
Now that you guys have been out on the road, I guess for you personally, what’s it like being back to touring after such a long break?
King: I got to give the break more credit than I gave it before I went back, because I’d been doing it all my life, so I thought it was going to be like riding a bike, and it kind of is. But there’s never been a four-and-a-half-year period in my life where I haven’t played. And during those four years I sat down and played guitar. I wasn’t engaging foot pedal work as I do on stage. The first couple weeks it was certainly a kind of “fish out of water” feeling for me. Just getting my stage savvy back, I guess.
You and your bandmates are all veterans of thrash metal. What do you think it is about the genre that still resonates with people in 2024?
King: I think it is a kind of music that people can relate to. Thrash metal is a little more extreme than just regular metal, but it’s got a very strong nucleus of band to fan interaction. I think the fans feel like they’re like us. They have the same likes of music, they have the same opinions in politics and religion, especially if you like what I do because mine’s super extreme. I think there’s just a comradery between what I do, what people do in this kind of music and the fans. I think it’s more, I don’t want to say “mi familia,” but I think it’s more family oriented. Everybody feels like they’re a part of the same thing.
Looking to the future of this project: where do you want to take this in the future?
King: Well, my opinion is that we tour for album one until that goes to its finality, whatever that is. I know we’re going to be doing a headline States tour after New Year’s. We’re going to be doing a headline European show after New Year’s and then maybe back for more festivals in Europe this coming summer. But when tour cycle one is done, Paul and I want to go back immediately and record record two. We got tons of stuff and we want to record, and we want to record it when we’re sharp from being on tour. So it’s easier to get to the finish line rather than practice to get your chops up. We already got our chops up, so we want to go in and record immediately. Finish it whenever the record company wants to put it out, they can put it out and then start touring cycle two.
Just keep on rolling with it.
King: Yeah man, keep pushing it out. Don’t take a bunch of breaks. I think I’m the oldest one and I’m certainly no spring chicken, so I don’t know how long I’m going to want to do this. I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to do this. So yeah, keep going forward.