Lamb of God's Mark Morton Interviews Slayer's Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King

Originally printed in Guitar World, September 2006.

In the midst of 2006's Unholy Alliance tour, Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton took a few minutes to interview Slayer's Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King.

MARK MORTON What was your collective mindset going in to make the new record [Christ Illusion]? Were there concepts that you wanted to see come to fruition, or was it more about letting the songs come out in the moment?

KING We don’t do concepts. We don’t have band meetings. The only time we made a collective decision to do something different was with South of Heaven. We had done Reign in Blood, and we said, “Let’s give them something they won’t expect.” And it was also to make the live sets more interesting, because to go up there and just play fast, it’s a barrage that people can’t take. We wanted to mix it up and make our show more of a rollercoaster ride.

MORTON How has studio technology changed the way you write and record?

HANNEMAN Pro Tools rules. You get the opportunity to try more things because you don’t waste so much time trying to get the perfect take.

MORTON What do you do when you’re at home? Do you have any hobbies? Do you cut your own grass?

HANNEMAN I pay somebody to do that! It’s just hockey and video games for me.

KING I breed snakes. I got out of it for a while because it was taking too much time away from Slayer. When I got remarried, my wife had a snake and I got back into it. I’ve got about 50 now, and I’m starting to breed again.

MORTON What’s in your stage monitor mix?

KING My guitar and Dave’s drums.

HANNEMAN Mostly kick drum.

MORTON What’s left to do with heavy metal music that hasn’t been done? Where can we, as musicians, break new ground?

HANNEMAN Don’t overthink things. Make the next record, and keep rolling with it.

KING Just have fun. It ain’t about analyzing it. Instead of wondering, “Where do we go from here?” just fucking go. Let the Jäger lead you. [laughs]