Would Slayer’s Kerry King Let Fans Hear His Lead Vocals?
Kerry King – Author: Cat Badra, Photo via Anne Erickson
Kerry King of Slayer is used to playing guitar for one of the biggest metal bands in the world. But, would he ever release demos or songs that feature his lead vocals? I say, why not. You only live once, so why not go for it, King? Now, in a new interview, King talks about the possibility of singing leads on his solo music and letting the world hear it.
Slayer’s Kerry King on His Lead Vocals
King has sung backing vocals in his projects, including Slayer. When he’s writing music, he demos songs and lays down his own vocals before he hands it off to someone else to sing. For his solo album debut, “From Hell I Rise,” King enlisted Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda to do lead vocals. Osegueda is also the frontman of King’s solo band.
Speaking with The SDR Show, King talked about those solo demos. So, what does he sound like when he sings leads?
“I just sound like an angry white punk kid… I think it sounds kind of adolescent,” King said, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. He added that the majority of the demos were first takes.
He added, “I just put it on there so we had something existing. I knew I didn’t wanna sing, because I can’t sing and play that much. The easy parts, yeah, but not like Zakk [Wylde] or James [Hetfield] does. They’re crazy vocalists that play crazy riffs underneath what they’re singing. I don’t know how they do it.”
The good news for fans who want to hear King in all his glory is that he says he’s opening to releasing these demos. When asked if he would ever release those demos with scratch vocals, he said, “I’m not against it.”
He added, “If you ask me, like, what if Glenn Tipton sang all the [Judas] Priest songs…Would you wanna hear it? I’m, like, that’s a weird scenario, ’cause it’s f***ing Rob Halford. But I’d be curious. It’s intriguing.”
King and his solo band are currently on tour with Lamb of God and Mastodon. The trek recently rolled through the Detroit area, and Audio Ink Radio was there to cover the show with an exclusive review and photos.
King also recently spoke with Audio Ink Radio about his solo project, touring with Lamb of God and Mastodon and the Slayer reunion. When asked about the Slayer reunion, he said, “Yeah, you know, at the end of the day, it wasn’t bad blood. Tom (Araya) was just done. And, when Tom told me he was done, I went, okay. Well, I’m not going to try to talk you into it, because if you’re if you’re trying to talk somebody into it, their hearts are not in it.”
He added, “So, it was over for me, and, of course, a month after we were done, offers came in, because people think you’re done. What we retired from was touring. We never said we were done playing. We said it was our final tour, and I don’t think three shows constitute a tour, so if you want to get technical, I think we’re in the ballpark of being truthful.”
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