SLAYER guitarist Kerry King has hinted at new music, saying that he's not quite ready to hang it up.
The legendary California thrashers played the final show of their farewell tour last November at the Forum in Los Angeles. One day later, Kerry's wife, Ayesha King, said that there is "not a chance in hell" that the thrash metal icons will reunite for more shows.
Kerry, who recently partnered with Dean Guitars as a signature artist, addressed his future plans during a recent interview with Guitar World.
Asked if it's safe to say fans can expect to hear some new music from Kerry King and the new signature Dean guitar in the future. The guitarist responded: "Let's just say… Dean didn't sign me for nothing."
Back in April 2018, SLAYER bassist/vocalist Tom Araya's wife said that he had not questioned his decision to embark on one final SLAYER tour before the band called it quits.
Sandra Araya, who has been married to the SLAYER frontman for more than 20 years, told the Metal Pulp And Paper web site that the announcement that the band was pulling the plug on its nearly four-decade-long career didn't come as a surprise to her. "Not to me," she said. "I can't comfortably go into too much detail. I'll just leave it with a no."
Asked if the decision to end SLAYER was a difficult one for Tom and Kerry to make, Sandra said: "Tom never second-guesses any decision he makes. I have no idea about Kerry."
When SLAYER first announced that it was embarking on its final tour back in January 2018, Ayesha assured fans that they would "always get music" from her husband.
King has said in previous interviews that his post-SLAYER musical efforts would not be much different from the sound fans have grown accustomed to hearing from him.
"If someone quit, I'm not going to go around with a made-up SLAYER," he told AZCentral.com back in 2010. "But my next band would sound like SLAYER, that's all I know."
King told Rolling Stone in 2015 that he had entertained the idea of working on a solo project. "There's plenty of people that I considered doing [one] with ... but I have to have SLAYER covered before I consider anything like that," he said at the time.
Also in 2015, a short time before Lemmy passed away, King told a Danish radio station that he hoped SLAYER would follow MOTÖRHEAD's lead of continuing to perform as long as they're capable of playing live. But, he added, "there's a physicality in what we do that's never been MOTÖRHEAD. When you see them, they play their instruments and they're awesome. That's what you've gotten from day one. Ours has been more of an event — there's stuff going on."
Although Araya had neck surgery in 2010 and had to give up his trademark headbanging, King said "We've picked up the slack. Me and Gary Holt [guitar] put on a show. Paul Bostaph [drums] puts on a show. Tom has actually gotten better at singing and playing bass since he's not throwing his head every which direction. So I think, at a time if we couldn't put on a show, I hope I'm smart enough to say, 'Let's do a farewell tour right now and chop it.' Don't give anybody that view of seeing you in a way that you shouldn't be seen."
Tom had been vocal in recent years about his growing distaste for the touring lifestyle and his desire to spend more time with his wife and kids at home. "There came a time where I became a family man, and I had a tough time flying back and forth," he said in a 2016 interview. "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."
Original SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo left the band on at least three different occasions, including in 2013, when he was once again replaced by former FORBIDDEN drummer Paul Bostaph.
