In a new interview with Loudwire Nights, Slayer guitarist Gary Holt looked back on the band’s two reunion shows held earlier this fall in two different festivals.
“We were nervous,” the guitarist revealed. “Tom [Araya] was nervous, and he sounded amazing. Sometimes you’ve just gotta forget about the time and how long it’s been and just let muscle memory kick in and just do it. I mean, I only played one song I’d never played, and that was ‘213’. And ‘Reborn’ I’d only played, I think, once, so that was almost a new song — once or twice. Everything else was just refreshers.”
The rocker also gave the green light to ‘hopefully’ extend the shows. “But it was amazing. It was surreal. It was like this moment. The crowd was just very happy. And we were happy, and everything was good. And hopefully we’ll do some more.”
Drummer Paul Bostaph also weighed in about the band’s latest shows in a different interview, saying they played their ‘last one.’ “If everybody’s asking that question [about the possibility of more Slayer gigs], I am too, but I don’t have the answer to that question. So, yeah, Aftershock was the last one. And we all hope that there will be more,” he added.
Five years after Slayer played the last concert of what was called the band’s farewell tour, and just weeks after guitarist Kerry King revealed details about his solo project, Slayer announced that they would be playing at Aftershock, and Riot Fest.
Slayer was also set to perform at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, Kentucky, on September 27, but that show was canceled because of severe weather.
The band doesn’t have any other scheduled shows for now.