Slayer

Interview - Kerry King and Paul Bostaph

11/14/01

Sam and Dawn ponder why God hates us all...

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Sam: Why did you guys pick 'God Hates Us All' as an album title?
Kerry: "'Cause it's cool."
Sam: Did you have any other titles in mind before you settled on that one?
Kerry: "We had one, our manger decided it sounded like a box set, so once he conveyed that to everybody it just like blew it. So we had to come up with something else and that's the first chorus in 'Disciple' which I thought was cool because it's not the name of the song but the first chorus you really hear."
Sam: Did you guys ever think about playing some of the 'Undisputed Attitude' covers live again?
Kerry: "Not really, I mean we did on that record but since then now, to me it's just like putting money into other people's pockets because it's their songs."
Sam: You guys still gonna do 'Witching Hour'?
Kerry: "We did that once, one time things are cool."
Sam: You guys went on with the Tattoo The Planet tour in Europe even when Pantera pulled out, what do you think of all the bullshit going on right now?
Kerry: "There's alot of bullshit goin' on (laughs) um, we were supposed to fly the day everything went down and it held us up like 10 days so we had to move dates around and all kinds of shit. Pantera was actually over there and when all that went down they decided to come back home. I think they should've stayed but...I can't tell 'um what to do.
Dawn: There's no fear at all about going over to Europe or the whole flying thing, especially since the 2nd incident?
Paul: "No, you mean you wreck in New York? No, I'll still fly. I had reservations about it right after the 11th of course, I mean alot of Americans did, alot of people did. After I made the decision to go, you know, that was it, I packed my bag and I was like I'm not going to be scared because what's the point of worrying about it anymore, I'm getting on a plane. You know at that particluar point it's just whatever happens, happens. No matter how much I worry about it, that won't change the outcome. Whatever happened there (In NY on flight 587) you know, they'll determine whether it was an accident or not, and accidents do happen. No matter what I do to worry about that kind of thing I can't change the fact that I might get hit by a car tomorrow, so why worry about it."
Dawn: It would almost be like giving in to the terrorism, a little bit, if you have to change your lifestyle...not lifestyle but everything about..
Paul: "Absolutly, that's exactly...idealy that's what it is, you're giving into terror. And where before, you know if you think you really live in a free society then you have to...to maintain that way of life you have to keep living that way. There is, to a certain extent..you have to be wise about the choices you make, but don't stop living because somebody else wants you to."
Kerry: "Oh, they want us to do 'Bloodline'... FUUUCK...sorry."
Sam: What do you guys think of the current music scene with all the crap on the radio right now?
Kerry: "I don't listen to the radio so...(laughs)
Sam: That's an easy solution
Kerry: "That's right"
Paul: "It's all about choices isn't it?"
Kerry: "That's what the radio dial, and cds, and tapes are for"
Paul: "And the on/off button"
Kerry: "You suck, later!" (laughs)
Dawn: What are you currently spinning right now?
Kerry: "Slipknot. For me it's been Slipknot for a long time, I was looking real forward to getting the new one and it's not as good as I thought it was gonna be, but I still, I think Corey is probably the best singer out there."
Dawn: Very true, I thought the drums weren't as kickass as the first album.
Kerry: "Well, the first one, see that's weird, 'cause the first one production is so bad the drums just sound different. now they've got production on it.
Sam: (laughing) Ross...
Kerry: "Well, that's not his fault, they probably didn't have the budget to work with, but you can definately see on the new one they've spent some time making the drum sounds you know?"
Dawn: Now is that a trade off? The Ross sound vs. a crisp studio sound in any... even in your own recordings?
Paul: "It's only a trade off if you let it be. I like listening to raw records, always have, you know. There's a point where you can listen to a song and go man, it just sounds artificial when you hear it. It doesn't sound like a band playing it anymore, it sounds like a bunch of reverb and a bunch of crap. Although I like big sounding things, it doesn't work with this style of music, everything gets muddy and it just doesn't sound good. Especially with fast music you have to work with drier tones, and I think the best way to describe it is, you can't polish a turd. In other words if you go into the studio with a bad sound, you can't do anything do anything to make it sound better. They don't make an effect that makes something that sounds like crap sound good. Good microphones, good amplifiers, tuning your drums right, choosing good drums...you know practice will get a good sound."
Sam: Did you try out a bunch of different kits this time around?
Paul: "Um, I tried a couple different kits, this time around I used a kit that..the kit I used in the studio I actually used in pre-production for about a month. So that made a big difference, I was used to playing it by the time I got into the studio, instead of getting used to playing it in the studio."
Sam: Did you go through any different cabs or heads?
Kerry: "No, I've used the same rig for probably 15 years. Marshall JCM 800's, piece of shit 10 band Boss EQ that I've had since 'Hell Awaits' probably, um...my guitars, one of my guitars has a sustainer that Fernandes puts in, coolest toy I got, I fuckin' love that thing."
Sam: The sustainer is in the guitar?
Kerry: "Yep"
Sam: Where'd they put that in?
Kerry: "It's a pickup, it takes your rhythm pickup out and it goes in there and it's got a 3 position switch for screaming, feedback, warm feedback and just a note. Badass."
Sam: I heard that the court case was ruled in your favor again...
Kerry: "Yeah, that's twice, see how many more times we can keep winning."
Sam: Yeah, I heard they might be appealing it.
Kerry: "I'm sure, you know in this fuckin' day and age with all the fuckin' stupid shit going on in the world, isn't getting shot down twice enough? I mean aren't there bigger fish to fry? It's ridiculous."
Sam: But now you guys are up there in the hall of fame with Ozzy and Judas Priest
Kerry: "Yeah, the fuckin' courtroom hall of fame."
Sam: Anything new coming out you guys wanna throw in?
Kerry: "Well, we should be doing a video here pretty soon."
Sam: A live video or a promo video?
Kerry: "It's just gonna be a like, MTV style video."
Sam: For which song?
Kerry: "Looks like they're working on 'Bloodline', I thought it was gonna be 'God Send Death'...hum... time will tell."
Dawn: Now do you think it's you know, worth it, to do something like that when you know maybe it's not going to get airplay? Is it more for like...
Kerry: "Well, it'll get played everywhere but America, once you get over that, I mean being American it's hard to think, well what's the point of doing a video you know? But then when you go overseas and everybody is playing heavy shit, it's like, well the rest of the world doesn't suck." (laughter) So you know, we'll get put out that way, and then when we put out a video of our own, you know to buy, people can at least purchase it."
Dawn: Yeah, to see it, 'cause I know now they have the 5 zillion MTV's but not everyone has it.
Kerry: "MTV2 will probably play a new video if we put one out, probably not often, but..."