Kerry King has drawn a very definitive line when it comes to the upcoming Slayer festival shows. King made it clear that Slayer will not tour or put out new music, and that there probably won’t be too many Slayer shows – so y’know, nobody get their hopes up for a big ol’ Slayer revival.
Now in a new interview with Total Guitar, King said the few Slayer headlining shows do not mean that Slayer is reunited, and that fans shouldn’t expect much more.
“Everyone thinks Slayer are getting back together, but that couldn’t be further from the truth,” said King. “We’ve been turning down gigs ever since we stopped. This one came and I thought, ‘If we’re ever going to do one, this could be cool because it’s the five-year anniversary of our final tour.’
“We’re not going to record anymore. That final tour was definitely our final tour. This is just a reason to have some fun the guys, play a few shows and then jump back in the coffin…”
King also touched on the fact that the Slayer shows were announced only days after he unveiled his new solo band and album, saying: “It caught me off guard too. Do I wish the timing was different? Absolutely, but that’s completely out of my hands.”
The one big piece missing here in terms of contextualizing the Slayer shows is any comment from frontman Tom Araya. The closest we got were some comments from Tom‘s wife Sandra Araya, who said she was the one that pushed Tom to get outta the house and go do some Slayer shows.
And just to play devil’s advocate for a second here, how many times have we heard “it’s only gonna be a few shows and then we’re done!” Two turns into four, turns into ten… etc. Though King (and by extension, Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph) has a solo career now, and Gary Holt is revving up Exodus big time. So Slayer being done after those few shows does feel realistic.
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