Kerry King Knew about the Slayer Reunion but Didn’t Tell His Solo Band

If you’ve ever known something was going to happen but worried that the people around you wouldn’t be too thrilled about it, then you probably know how Slayer guitarist Kerry King felt in this story. Apparently, he knew Slayer was going to announce a limited “reunion” run but decided not to tell the other guys in his solo outfit because he “didn’t want anybody to start getting cold feet.”

That little nugget of clarity came from an interview with Revolver, where he admitted to purposefully keeping the news away from his new bandmates. Well, other than Paul Bostaph since he’s already in Slayer…

“The funny thing is, it never occurred to me until the day the Slayer announcement came, but [Phil] Demmel said, ‘Dude, is this thing real?’

“And I’m, like, ‘It’s just a few weekends and that’s it.’

“Of course, Paul knew. But I didn’t tell Phil, I didn’t tell Kyle and didn’t tell Mark – and I said to the guys, ‘There’s no master plan here.’ I didn’t want anybody to start getting cold feet.

“I said, ‘This is a little moment in time, and yeah, Kerry King is going to be touring, you know, hopefully later in the year, as well. But Slayer is an entity and I’m just a person.’ But hopefully, we drive on with the solo project.”

King also revealed in his Revolver interview that Slayer had been receiving offers to reunite “probably every month of every year” since 2019.

Slayer is scheduled to play Chicago’s Riot Fest on September 22, Louisville’s Louder Than Life on September 27, and Aftershock 2024 in Sacramento, California on October 10. Conversely, King is planning on taking his solo act out on the road in support of its debut album From Hell I Rise.