Metal Anarchy

During an interview with Cucamonga, Slayer’s Kerry King opened up about his current relationship with Tom Araya. The guitarist says things are “cool” between him and the frontman, but he is “not the guy [he] started the band with.”

King said the following after being asked how guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s death impacted his relationship with Araya:

“I think Jeff’s passing weighed harder on Tom than it did me. And I don’t mean that from any kind of friendship perspective. It’s just my taking wasn’t as bad as Tom took it. Of course it was horrible, and no one ever wanted that to happen, but it really weighed on Tom. I think that’s what led to him wanting to retire earlier than me, because I think he felt the band was different. But then, out of nowhere, Tom decided he wanted to play some [SLAYER] shows last year, and I went, ‘Well, I never wanted to stop playing shows. So, yeah, let’s try it out.’

Just like it was in [the earlier years of] SLAYER, [Tom and I] don’t talk on the phone. We rarely text each other. And that’s just because when you’re together for 40 years — he became a very different person. He’s not the guy I started the band with. Not personally — just him; he’s a different person. I basically stayed very similar to who I’ve been in my twenties. And I like Tom. We’re cool. We got together [last year to rehearse for the SLAYER reunion concerts]. It wasn’t weird. We did those two shows [at Riot Fest in Chicago and Aftershock festival in Sacramento]. He was super happy. We got together after the second one, had a shot after the show. He’ll drink tequila and I love tequila, so that’s what we had. And I think the first idea to play [with SLAYER again] this year was for the [Louder Than Life festival] show we missed last year ’cause of the hurricane. So we rebooked that and [I] said, ‘If we never play another show, I wanna make that right with the promoter,’ because it wasn’t our fault. But he wanted us to play. So we’re playing there this year. And this year we get to play that BLACK SABBATH show [in early July in Birmingham, United Kingdom]. I can’t fucking wait.”

[via Blabbermouth]