Slayer's 'Premature' Retirement Angered Kerry King - Audio Ink Radio Audio Ink Radio

Slayer’s ‘Premature’ Retirement Angered Kerry King

2023-01-27

Slayer’s Kerry King – Story and photo by Anne Erickson

Kerry King of Slayer says he thinks it was “premature” for Slayer to retire when they did

Slayer played their final show back in 2019, and the band officially retired from the heavy metal world. But, not everyone in the band was super happy about the decision.

Guitarist Kerry King now says he was angry about the decision to pull the plug on Slayer. In a new interview with Metal Hammer, King said that he believes it was “premature” to have the legendary thrash band retire when they did.

In the interview, King was asked about his initial thoughts when told about Slayer’s retirement. King explaimed, “Anger… what else? It was premature. 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.”

He continued, “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.”

Slayer performed their final show on November 30th, 2019, in Los Angeles. King said the farewell show and entire tour were incredible emotional.

“Every one of those shows was a bummer!” he said. “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.”

He added, “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.”

Meanwhile, King is working on a new solo project, which is set to arrive this year. Rumors imply that the project will feature Slayer band mates Gary Holt and Paul Bostaph. Time will tell if that’s the case.

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Anne Erickson

Meet the expert - Author, writer and editor Anne Erickson is a Detroit-based music reporter and radio host. She has written for the USA Today Network, Consequence.net, Blabbermouth.net, Loudwire.com and many more. Anne holds a master's degree from Michigan State University. Contact Anne at anne@audioinkradio.com.