Kerry King has told Metal Hammer that he won’t be “dragging my feet much longer” when it comes to his new post-Slayer project, adding that fans of the now-defunct thrash metal juggernaut won’t be disappointed with his new material.
The guitarist revealed back in 2020 that he has “more than two records’ worth of new music” for the yet-to-be-named project.
“You know me, so you know what it’s going to sound like,” King says. “I played this new song for a buddy, and I said to him, ‘If there’s anything I’ve written in the last few years that sounds like Slayer, it’s this.’ And he said, ‘That sounds like you could have pulled it off of any Slayer record.’ I actually made that riff up backstage at a Slayer show. We were walking to the stage and I got my phone out and recorded it so I wouldn’t forget it.”
He continues: “That actually ended up being one of the last songs that I finished for the sessions, so when that hits the air, or stores, or Apple, or wherever it is that people buy music from these days, you can all play the guessing game discussion about which one it is.”
The rest of the personnel for King’s new project remains a mystery, expect for the drummer, who the guitarist now reveals to be former Slayer sticksman Paul Bostaph.
“We just started rehearsing and the only person I can give away is Paul because I took him from Slayer and we work very well together,” King explains. “We didn’t start rehearsing until the end of March, and that was the first time since that last Slayer show at the end of 2019 that me and Paul finally got into a room together.”
King goes on to say how he’s been waiting for the pandemic to “run its course” before thinking about touring with the new outfit, and now that – knock on wood – live music is back, he’s eyeing up “much smaller” venues than he was paying toward the tail end of Slayer’s career.
“Had it been up to me then I’d have been out in 2020,” he continues. “But that thing called the pandemic fucked everything up for everyone. You know, I waited on that, because it had to run its course. I didn’t want to be the guinea pig; I didn’t want to learn how to tour again. I already did my dues; I don’t want to have to prove myself again.
“Have I been dragging my feet? Yeah, because I wanted this [pandemic] shit to get sorted. I won’t be dragging my feet much longer.”
Slayer played their final show in November 2019 at the Forum in LA. A day later, King’s wife Ayesha said that there was “not a chance in hell” that the band would reunite for more live appearances in the future. But last year, Kerry King said that he feels the thrash metallers “quit too early”.
King hinted at post-Slayer music back in a March 2020 interview with Guitar World, shortly after the announcement that he’d signed with Dean Guitars. “Let’s just say Dean didn’t sign me for nothing!” he said, before waxing lyrical on his departure from B.C. Rich.
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