Last night in Las Vegas during Wrestlemania 41, Kerry King of Slayer, solo'd over the entrance music of WWE superstar Damien Priest. Social media was abuzz about a possible Slayer appearance during night one of Wrestlemani 41. Wrestlemania is a two night extravaganza of pro wrestling action. Damien Priest, a former world champion is also a heavy metal fan. You can clearly see that Priest was in his glory as he threw up the horns while King did his signature riffs and squeals. Priest would lose in night two's SIN CITY STREET FIGHT match against Drew McIntyre. I must mention that Living Color also appeared the previous night playing their hit Cult of Personality during WWE superstar CM Punk's entrance. WWE has embraced heavy metal over the years especially in their promo packages and entrance music. Great to see this during the most watched wrestling event of the year.
So it's no secret I'm pretty disgusted with Kerry King's comments on his band, bandmates and other bands. It's become too common that blabbermouth and various other Metal sites will quote King's passive aggressive tirades about the industry and anything that seems to cross his mind at any given time. Am I a Slayer Fan? Yes, but it's become much more difficult to enjoy their music and separate the characters in the band. Yes, characters. It's hard to believe that a band that good could be run by two guys who seem to have nothing in common with any other band or musician. I don't even know what these guys are about. First, you downgrade the contributions of your primary songwriter Jeff Hanneman after he passes away and then you dump one of the best metal drummers of all time because you don't value his contributions enough to pay him a fair wage. Come on now.
So recently Slayer has been headlining this year's Mayhem fest along side King Diamond. The tour has been a subject of controversy since the promoter was quoted as saying he was holding out on a Pantera reunion for his fest. Also with costs of musical festivals soaring each year, Mayhem had to narrow down it's scale from four to two stages. I recently spoke with some fans who attended the New England tour stop for the fest and they conveyed dismay over the lack of stages/diversity. So there is that. No fest is gonna be perfect. I look fondly on the Ozzfests I attended back in the day. That was a properly run fest and boy were there some stinkers on both the main and second stages. You can't please everyone every time. But what if you are musician in a band headlining a tour and you decide to spout off on how it's run? What do you think the other musicians should feel about your thoughts mid tour?
“I’m gonna be truthful—I take it very personal. I’m a longtime Slayer
fan, and I hate to say it, but now I’m gonna change my thoughts about
Slayer over this. It’s because of the simple fact that there’s a lot of
people, including myself, and a lot of bands here that have a lot of
money invested in this tour, and we’re trying to make our money back
,and we’re trying to keep this thing rolling. And here’s this guy,
and he opens his mouth and sabotages the tour, in my opinion. And then
he talks shit about Victory (Records) and that’s are label as well, and
calls it a “shit stage.” Well, if it wasn’t for Victory probably getting
this stage, this tour would’ve never even happened.
“That’s just my opinion, and if he would get off the bus once in a
while instead of charging $20 for a picture or a signing or whatever the
hell he does, he’d probably see that there’s some really good talent
out there, man. So yeah, I take it very personal, I think he stuck his
foot in his mouth and I hope this turns on him and I hope for the worst.
I have had enough, the guy’s been runnin’ his mouth enough and this is
the final draw.”
BRAVO! Dave Matrise, I always have been a Jungle Rot fan and this quote makes me proud to be a supporter. Finally, a musician finally stands up for himself against Kerry King. I normally try to stay out of controversy....unless it has something to do with Geoff Tate...that said Kerry King has become the spokesman for all things Slayer over the years and it carries weight in the media unfortunately. What he does say about his band and tours he is on affect the rest of the touring roster. Sure, he has the right to say anything he wants but when it comes at the detriment to those sharing the workload to make his band a success, I think he needs to take a look in the mirror. Slayer's last good album was "God Hates Us All" and they are about to drop their new album this year.....Kings quotes have done a disservice to the band so far this year....If the new album sucks, they are gonna have a lot of fans/bands
/labels/promoters hating them also.
