Slayer’s Kerry King Offers an Update on His New Project
Given his recent assertion that Slayer “quit too early,” one might wonder what the heck is going on with guitarist Kerry King’s new project.
The yet-to-be-publicly-christened outfit is heavily rumored to also include Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo and Exodus guitarist Gary Holt. Former Testament/Exodus drummer Paul Bostaph — who, like Holt, was a member of Slayer’s final line-up — has already confirmed his involvement. Gossip about the project first began to circulate almost two years ago, and King has said he has two albums’ worth of material ready to go. So what’s the hold up?
According to King, the cause of the delay in unveiling Slanselxoderusa or whatever they end up being called is the same cause of the delay of everything else… the pandemic.
The guitarist tells Metal Hammer:
“I had picks that I threw out at those [last Slayer] shows — The Final Campaign — at the end of the show. And in every city, I threw out two that said, ‘Reborn in 2020,’ because that was my plan — I planned on touring in 2020.”
Which is true! Although the news seems to have somehow failed to make headlines, Slayer fans have been talking about the picks on Reddit for two years, and a few have popped up for sale on eBay — you can see photos below.
(This makes me wonder if King is planning on calling the new project Reborn. According to Metal Archives, there are already thirteen metal bands called Reborn, which means there are probably at least forty metal bands called Reborn and a few dozen non-metal bands called Reborn, plus a Christian middle-aged boy band. But I don’t think any of them are famous enough to really be an issue. Also, having King’s first band be called ‘Slayer’ and his second band be called ‘Reborn’ would have a nice balance to it.)
So given that the pandemic derailed King’s plans to tour in 2020, when does he think we can expect new music now? Uh… it might be a sec:
“Then the pandemic came up and we were into 2021 because I want everybody to get the bumps out of the road before I go out. Here we are at the end of 2021 and I’m looking at the end of 2022 now. And we’ll see what happens next year because it’s evolving. I don’t want to go out and feel stuff out, I want to go out and have a good time. I’m not being selfish, I don’t mean it like that. I mean that whatever the new rules are, I want them to be smooth before I go out.”
On the other hand, it might only be half a sec!
“I’m dragging my feet on letting the world know what I’m doing because there’s no rush. I have a tour that I’m considering doing, but I’m not going to announce a band, I’m not going to announce a record, I’m not going to announce anything. But you will see me in the future — it will be fucking good.”
If King is only “considering” doing a tour then I suspect it’s either not a no-brainer (e.g., opening for Metallica) or he’s currently holding out for better terms and can’t say he’s definitely doing it because that would be a lousy negotiating tactic. Regardless, if he can stand staying home for another year, it’s not an unwise move to hold off on debuting new shit. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression!
