Fans lamented when Slayer called it quits in 2019, but no one seemed more pissed off about it than former guitarist Kerry King, who publicly announced that he thought the band ended too soon. But now, Kerry has given an update about his new post-Slayer project — including who’s playing drums on it.
Speaking to Metal Hammer, Kerry revealed the following:
“We just started rehearsing and the only person I can give away is Paul [Bostaph, drums] because I took him from Slayer and we work very well together. 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.
“You know me, so you know what it’s going to sound like. 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.
“Had it have been up to me then I’d have been out in 2020,” he says. “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.”
None of us are particularly surprised that Kerry’s new music still sounds like Slayer, but still, this is useful information.
Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for Kerry’s new project in the near future!