that the band's upcoming 30th anniversary album will feature a plethora of special guests, including
passed away on July 15, 2007 after a six-year battle with cancer of the spine. Along with
(drums). The band was an integral and major force in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement, beginning with the release of its debut album,
UK's
Terrorizer magazine recently conducted a short interview with
SLAYER guitarist
Kerry King. A few excerpts from the chat follow.
Terrorizer: This is the third leg of the
Unholy Alliance tour. Will this package just run and run?
King: "It could keep coming as long as there are interesting bills to put together. I think there will be a time when it keeps coming and we're not a part of it. If it becomes a yearly thing we won't do it anymore because then you become married to it, and we don't want to have to make time for anything like that."
Terrorizer: You've been touring on and off for almost twenty years. How long have you got before you throw in the towel?
King: "On the last run
Tom [
Araya, bass/vocals] said we might be coming to the end sooner rather than later. I wasn't tired in the first place. I'm ready to go. Seeing people like
Dio and
Halford that are much older than me just go out there and rip shit up. I don't think I'll be playing as long or until as old as they are, because our show is more physical but inspiring to see people like that just kick your arse.
Terrorizer: Other than the
Unholy Alliance tour, what new music do you recommend thrash fans to go and see live?
King: "
MUNICIPAL WASTE, you can't go wrong with them if you like thrash! I wish I could have seen
AIRBOURNE yesterday. They're supposed to be like
AC/DC, and I love
AC/DC. I haven't heard anything but good things about them."
Terrorizer: What are you most looking forward to about the tour?
King: "I'm looking forward to anything, I've been home for ten months. For the first time in twenty years. The weird thing is I didn't talk to the guys in nine months. We got home and we scattered. There wasn't like a big fight or anything, we just got home. The other guys get burned out more than I do, probably because I work out more."
Terrorizer: There were rumours of a feud between
SLAYER and
MARILYN MANSON when you toured together last summer. Are they true?
King: "I was the only guy who hung out with him! I'm sure
Tom had his issues. When we do a tour like that with two big established bands, we don't throw our dick around, so to speak. He's got his own personal body guard and stuff. The second and third day of the tour he did a sticker on the laminates thing so you couldn't go certain places. And I threw a fucking fit. Not to him, not to any of his staff. I went to my manager and asked why I couldn't go through that door. That shit didn't come from
Manson, and that was their fucking security guards. A lot of times we'll play with
MAIDEN and I'll finally get through to
Nicko [
McBrain, drums] or somebody and he'll be like, 'Where you been?' and I'll be like, 'I couldn't get to you!'"
Terrorizer: Do you any plans to work with anyone outside of
SLAYER? Any side-projects?
King: "If anyone is going to work with anybody it is going to be me I think. I've got more outlets. I mean I've got so many friends in the biz and I hang with people. Everyone else is kind of to themselves. But I wouldn't want to take time away from
SLAYER because it takes us so long to put a record together. If I had the opportunity to play a song with
Zakk Wylde, I'd be all over it."
Terrorizer: Would you ever consider straying away from thrash?
King: "I'm just a metal kid. So I wouldn't know where else to go. Or how to do it."
For more information, visit
www.terrorizer.com.
WAR Released
MTV2's
Headbanger's Blog is hosting the premiere of
JUDAS PRIEST's new video,
"War". According to a posting on the site, the clip "features witches practicing magic then being burned at the stake, a tyrannical ruler exerting fascist control, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse storming through the sky, fire spreading across the earth, winged beasts reigning destruction and lots more imagery that would have make Hieronymus Bosch giddy with delight."
According to
Hits Daily Double (the companion web site of music industry tip sheet
HITS),
JUDAS PRIEST's new double-disc concept album,
"Nostradamus", is poised to sell around 50,000 copies in the United States during its first week of release for a likely Top 10 debut on The Billboard 200 chart. If
"Nostradamus" does in fact crack the Top 10, it will give the band its highest-ever career chart position in the U.S.
JUDAS PRIEST's last CD,
"Angel of Retribution", opened with 58,000 copies back in March 2005 to debut at No. 13.
25 Who Made Heavy Metal (Pssst, I think this guy is retarded
Yahoo! Music writer
Rob O'Connor has
compiled a list of what he claims are "the 25 performing outfits who have made heavy metal what it is." His pick for the top spot,
BLACK SABBATH, "mastered the art of the powerchord and the downward spiral . . by keeping it simple and focusing on the most elemental elements," he writes. Meanwhile,
METALLICA, which comes in at No. 6, was "once the lord of a new generation" whose "
'Master Of Puppets' [LP] remains one of the sacred treaties and the self-titled black album is that one metal album that non-metal people own and pull out to prove they 'like' heavy metal," according to
Rob.
The 25 performing outfits "who have made heavy metal what it is," according to
Yahoo! Music's
Rob O'Connor:
01.
BLACK SABBATH
02.
LED ZEPPELIN
03.
AC/DC
04.
VAN HALEN
05.
JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE
06.
METALLICA
07.
JUDAS PRIEST
08.
AEROSMITH
09.
MOTÖRHEAD
10.
IRON MAIDEN
11.
SLAYER
12.
DEEP PURPLE
13.
SPINAL TAP
14.
RUSH
15.
ROBIN TROWER
16.
DIO
17.
KISS
18.
GUNS N' ROSES
19.
KYUSS
20.
THIN LIZZY
21.
PANTERA
22.
URIAH HEEP
23.
ALICE IN CHAINS
24.
MERCYFUL FATE
25.
MESHUGGAH
Read
O'Connor's explanations for each pick at
this location. '
Neil Peart Update
RUSH drummer
Neil Peart has posted a lengthy update on his official web site. An excerpt follows.
"People often ask, 'What's next for the band?' but we learned long ago that when you're in the middle of a big job, you don't need to talk about another one. So, in the middle of a tour, we never talk about making another album, and in the middle of recording, we never talk about another tour. One job at a time, even in your own head, is easier to deal with — you don't need another burden if you can keep it 'in storage' for a while.
"For fifteen years people have been saying to me, 'I hear this is your last tour' (I've been saying it myself since 1989), but subjects like that don't even get raised among the three of us. Certainly after the last two summers of heavy touring, which will eventually add up to well over a hundred shows, there will be no more of that for a while.
"(I adopted my current motto, 'What cannot be altered, must be endured,' around New Year's, and actually found it useful in such occasions as, say, flight delays. Only much later did I realize that the reverse was equally true, in a less passive way: 'What cannot be endured, must be altered.')
"Some fresh challenges await me, no doubt. Later this year, I have agreed to take part in another big-band project, a Buddy Rich tribute concert in October, and that will be a huge occasion to try to rise to. I'm thinking a lot about that these days."
Read Neil's entire message at
this location.
