According to ex Slayer guitarist Kerry King, The band retired “too early.” The 57-year-old guitar legend let his feelings be known during a short video message to congratulating Machine Head on their 30 year run.
“So, I hear congratulations are in order for my friends in Machine Head,” King said, “Apparently, it’s 30 years, which is quite an achievement. Not a lot of bands get there. We did, and then we quit too early. Fuck us. Fuck me. I hate fucking not playing.”
November 2019 saw the final Slayer show ever at the Forum in Los Angeles.
King is working on a brand new project with drummer Paul Bostaph. The duo spent much of the last year and a half working on music with the hopes of recording it properly once the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.
Kerry told Dean Guitars,
“I’ve been very, very lucky with riffs in 2020,” he said. “Maybe because I can’t go anywhere — I don’t know — but riffs have certainly not been a problem. And looking forward into the future, what that means for me is I’m gonna be able to cherry pick the best stuff. And it’s good stuff. I’ve got more than two records’ worth of music, but to be able to go through that and cherry pick the best 11 or 12 [songs]… That first record should be smoking.”
Ex Slayer bassist and vocalist Tom Araya talked about his possible retirement in a 2016 interview with Loudwire. He said:
“At 35 years, it’s time to collect my pension. [Laughs] This is a career move.” He continued: “I’m grateful that we’ve been around for 35 years; that’s a really long time. So, yeah, to me, it is. Because when we started off, everything was great, because you’re young and invincible. And then there came a time where I became a family man, and I had a tough time flying back and forth. And now, at this stage, at the level we’re at now, I can do that; I can fly home when I want to, on days off, and spend some time with my family, which is something I wasn’t able to do when [my kids] were growing up. Now they’re both older and mature. So now I take advantage of that.” Araya added: “Yeah, it just gets harder and harder to come back out on the road. 35 years is a long time.”
