Kerry King Fumes About Slayer’s Dissolution While His Heroes Are On Stage
In 2015, Slayer released their final album, ‘Repentless,’ and three years later, they embarked on a farewell world tour. Though it was referred to as a farewell tour, the band’s manager Rick Sales noted at the time that Slayer wasn’t breaking up; they were only ending their live performances. Still, the band called it quits after the tour. In a new conversation with Metal Hammer, Kerry King expressed his anger over their disbandment decision.
“Anger… what else? It was premature,” said King when asked about his reaction to Slayer’s break-up. “The reason I say ‘premature’ is because my heroes from my childhood are still playing! I can still play, I still want to play, but that livelihood got taken away from me.”
The guitarist admitted that Slayer was at its height when the band left the music scene, which wasn’t the worst way to go. Still, King would’ve preferred to continue since he admitted missing playing with the band. He noted, “But, anyway, on to the next chapter, I guess. We were on top of the world, and there’s nothing wrong with going out on top of the world; it’s a good way to go out. So, bravo for that. But do I miss playing? Yeah, absolutely.”
Their farewell tour began in May 2018, with supporting acts by Lamb of God, Anthrax, Behemoth, and Testament. Slayer performed their final concert in November 2019 and parted ways after that. When asked about his emotional state during the tour, King said, “Every one of those shows was a bummer!”
The musician added, “We were going to all these places and all these cities where we have all this history. It’s a bummer to think, ‘I’m not gonna see my friends there again.’ You’d get to that country and know you were going to see these people, and you’d see them yearly. I haven’t seen them now in three years. That sucks. And the fans, too. Slayer means a lot to our fans, and they mean a lot to us. I know I will see these people again, but no Slayer leaves a big hole for a lot of people.”
Elsewhere during the interview, Kerry King stepped outside of Slayer and talked about his upcoming solo project. His new musical effort is still unnamed, but those who missed Slayer’s music are waiting impatiently for King to release his materials.