*This originally appeared on Buddyhead in June 2002
Fucking Slayer. What else really needs to be said other than this is probably one of the 3 or 4 defining metal bands in the history of music. While every other metal band from that famed early 80’s class has withered away into “hard rock” lame asses or just burned out and died, Slayer has survived and thrived in an industry that rides heavy on trends. We sat down with Tom Araya after the Beast Feast in Yokahama, Japan and talked about the past, present, and future of “everyone’s” favorite metal band. Tom is pretty old and done lots of drugs, but was surprisingly very coherent during the interview. He did say something about Mudvayne being cool or something, but we’ll let that slide seeing as how if it weren’t for these guys “slayering” wouldn’t exist, and if that was the case, what would we do with our free time?
Interview by Ben Weinman & Tom Apostolopoulos
Buddyhead: Is there any band that Slayer can’t kick the shit out of?
Tom: No. None. We could kick everyone’s ass.
Buddyhead: Who would be the first band that you’d kick the shit out of?
Tom: It started with Clash of the Titans, we kicked everyone’s ass there. In one swoop, we had 4 bands out of the way.
Buddyhead: Out of the bands you haven’t toured with, who would you like to kick the shit out of?
Tom: The ultimate is Metallica.
Buddyhead: How about Slipknot?
Tom: We already kicked the shit out of them at the Tattoo the Earth tour. We kicked Venom’s ass at Studio 54, that was a long time ago, like 1984 or 1985.
Buddyhead: Why are you so angry?
Tom: I’m angry for the same reasons anyone is angry. Things just piss me off.
Buddyhead: Things like Limp Bizkit? (everyone kind of laughs at the Bizkit)
Tom: How does that guy manage to get himself on everyone’s album? He’s a studio whore.
Buddyhead: What do your parents think about Slayer? Like when they see pentagrams and goats and shit on your records.
Tom: They’re supportive.
Buddyhead: Sure, once the checks started rolling in.
Tom: They might not like it, but they aren’t going to disown me.
Buddyhead: Isn’t that what your parents said when you told them you were gay, Tom? (strange awkward silence)
Tom: Oh man, I’m talking to a bunch of fags.
Buddyhead: Uh huh.
Tom: Sometimes at our early shows, our parents were the only ones in the audience. It was my parents, Kerry’s mother and sisters, and Dave’s parents. They came to every show which was kind of cool.
Buddyhead: How old were you guys when you started?
Tom: When the band got together, it was 1981, so I was 20, and now it’s 20 years later.
Buddyhead: Why is Kerry angry all the time? He looks like Jeff Wood’s dad, who would obviously be pretty angry. I saw him walking around and every time someone would say something to him, he would respond by giving this Skeletor laugh… you know like from He-man.
Tom: I don’t know man, you’d have to ask him.
Buddyhead: Does he just get in bar fights at biker bars like the Rest-a-bit? He looks like he just scares chicks, and the only thing cooler than a dude who gets chicks, is a dude who scares chicks.
Tom: We don’t ever get in fights, we don’t even fight amongst ourselves. I always hear about bands that get into fistfights with each other, and I don’t understand that. There’s only one time that I felt like ripping someone’s throat out in my band.
Buddyhead: What’s your secret for going on tour, being in a band with these same people, and keeping your sanity?
Tom: This is going to sound lame, and I know it’s not the answer that you’re looking for, but it’s the music. It’s the driving force. Like, last night, we went out and opened with Raining Blood, and we started playing at one speed, and by the end of the song we were flying.
Buddyhead: That means you’re still excited about playing music, and those songs.
Tom: It’s like a spacecraft. It just goes up and Wooooo (makes hand motion). We played the whole set in 75 minutes.
Buddyhead: Does your success ever startle you? Does it ever amaze you how quintessential your band has become? And I mean real metal, not this new version Metallica bullshit. Slayer has kind of never strayed and been consistent from point A to point B.
Tom: It amazes me when someone says to me, “This is your tenth album”. And I say “I don’t know let me see (starts counting on his fingers)” I don’t really pay attention. I wear my Slayer hat when it comes to creativity, but I really try not to think of who I am, when I’m with the wife and kids. It’s really weird because people come up to me in odd places, like when we played in Korea and some guy came up to me in a restaurant. He said that he had seen our show in Virginia, and I was like, “What are you doing here?”, and he’s like, “I work for the telephone company, awesome show dude.” He was just really happy that I was cool to him and signed things for him.
Buddyhead: It’s funny, but we’ve met bands half the size of Slayer, and they’re so stuck up because they’re always wearing this band facade even when they’re sitting in front of the T.V.
Tom: That always trips me out, I don’t understand it. They’re usually gone tomorrow too. When we were in the studio, interns would come in and we would offer them food, and they would get surprised because most of the bands were such dicks to them. All these bands are so about rock n roll, but it’s not about rock n roll. Like last night a lot of the bands were trying to stir up the crowd, saying things like “Show me your hands Tokyo”. We just want to play the songs, and the connection with the crowd will be if they’re into the music.
Buddyhead: Do you ever see the end of Slayer in sight?
Tom: I’m sure there will be one. I don’t know when. Honestly, doing what I do at fifty or sixty would look a little ridiculous. Right now, I’m forty and I still can do it, but there’s a longevity and it gets to a point where you should stop because then, it’s legendary. Beyond a certain point it becomes has-been kind of stuff.
Buddyhead: Talking about the new record, the reviews have been really good, people are saying it’s the best album since Reign in Blood, tell us a little about it.
Tom: I don’t get it, I feel like we just put out a record, just like we did the last one. No different. I don’t really know exactly, but if anything it’s Kerry’s lyrics. Kerry wrote all the songs except for 2 and there are 15 songs. When I read Kerry’s lyrics, I was like, “Wow, he’s really pissed off”, but I can identify, because there are times throughout the day where I feel like I could really kill someone. It’s like you want to shoot yourself so you don’t have to live on the same planet as these people. Sometimes you can tell in the vocals that I was real pissed. It took me so long to get the vocals down, because the producer wasn’t telling me exactly how to sing them. I’m the type of guy who likes to try and get the singing in one take. I would go in early, and running my own takes of the songs, but no one liked my interpretations so that kind of pissed me off.
Buddyhead: Does the current state of music depress you at all?
Tom: It’s pretty depressing when you hear the term Nu-metal.
Buddyhead: What does Nu-metal mean to you?
Tom: Well, none of that stuff is really metal to me. Metal to me is what came out of the start between 1980 and 1985. Like all those bands were doing something awesome, and then they started doing something different.
Buddyhead: Like Exodus.
Tom: Oh yeah, they were awesome, and then they started doing something different. I don’t know what it is.
Buddyhead: Like when they started writing songs like “Toxic Waltz”.
Tom: They were awesome though, the first shows we played outside of L.A. were with Exodus in San Francisco. Then there was Metallica and Anthrax. Anthrax kind of always stuck to what they did, even on their newer albums.
Buddyhead: Are there any current bands that you like?
Tom: I don’t get a chance to listen to much. The only bands that I listen to are when people say, “You should really check out this band”. When I hear it from like four or five people, than I’ll listen to it. Disturbed isn’t bad. Mudvayne.
Buddyhead: Uh… hmm… uh… hmm… on that note, let’s move on. I know this question may be a little touchy, but why isn’t Dave Lombardo in the band anymore? Some people still regard him as the best Slayer drummer to date.
Tom: Everyone has their own personalities, and there was a personality clash. In the course of the ten years, he did something that wouldn’t have bothered me in the early years of Slayer, but I thought was real fucked up. Then later on, we’re getting ready to play a show at Donnington and his wife at the time was pregnant and he didn’t want to go to the show. Pregnancy is a nine month thing, he could have at least done that show. So before we could let this happen again, we said we needed to find someone who would just be able to play. He’s a great drummer, I’m not knocking his drumming. I wouldn’t personally do that to these guys. Like when we did the Ozzfest and my wife was pregnant I would fly in for the show and then fly home to be with my wife. I made the shows and was there for the birth of my child. It was a 48-hour day but I made it and when I went back I had my babies feet imprints on my shirt which I wore all day long.
Buddyhead: Bro’s before ho’s dude.
Tom: Well it’s not even a question of that, because I wouldn’t want you saying that about my wife.
Buddyhead: Uh… hmmm… uh… hmm… well on that note, we’ve got to go… thanks.
end