In a new chat with Guitar World, Kerry King said he was surprised about Slayer’s reunion shows.
The guitarist talked about Slayer’s reunion shows being announced shortly after he said a comeback was unlikely in Rolling Stone:
“I was very surprised. I made my comments [about Slayer being finished] based on [Slayer bassist/vocalist Tom Araya] not wanting to play anymore. As far as I was concerned, we were done and never going to play again. To be honest, I don’t know what switched.”
King Doesn’t Know What Convinced Tom Araya
He revealed that they received offers before, too:
“We’ve been turning down offers to play shows for at least three years. So, one came up that, I guess, enticed Tom to the point where he wanted to roll the dice and try a couple. I don’t know, but that’s all it is.”
Kerry also said he’s open to more Slayer gigs down the road:
“There could be an instance where there’s another one-off. It just has to be the right offer at the right time, maybe someplace everybody loves to go. But touring, no, I don’t see touring. But, you know, who’s to say a one-off can’t happen again?”
King Speaks About The Reason Behind The Upcoming Shows
In a talk with Q104.3, King was again asked about Slayer’s upcoming reunion gigs, which are happening five years after their farewell tour. He explained why the reunion is happening now:
“I’ll put it in the perspective everybody can understand. We’ve been turning down offers since beginning of 2020, pandemic and all. And then it started getting near the five-year anniversary of us stopping playing, so I’m, like, ‘You know what? This is a three-show package. I think it would be fun to do.’ It’s kind of a five-year anniversary of our last tour.”
He then went on to say something that might upset Slayer fans:
“We’re never gonna tour again — it ain’t gonna happen. We’re never gonna record again; that’s not gonna happen either. But to do commemorative shows, I think that’s kind of fun. I don’t have to be married to it for a long time. Kids don’t have to worry about it coming around on tour because we said we wouldn’t. There’s not a whole lot of weird diabolical sh*t going on here. I think people have just gotta say, ‘Hey, it’s anniversary celebration shows.’ That’s gonna be the end of it.”
Slayer’ll perform their first show since breaking up at Riot Fest on September 22, followed by another five days later at Louder Than Life. The lineup will include King, Tom Araya, Gary Holt, and Paul Bostaph.