Kerry King Talks SLAYER Reunion, Relationship with Tom Araya – “We’re Cool, But We’re Different”

Slayer guitarist Kerry King has once again opened up about his distant relationship with longtime bandmate, Tom Araya. When Slayer officially retired in 2019, the two largely went their separate ways, having already drifted apart personally after decades spent touring and recording together.

Tensions between King and Araya had surfaced during Slayer’s final years, with a notable strain emerging in 2017 when Araya brought political controversy onto the band’s public platforms.

At the time, King addressed the situation with a relatively diplomatic statement. However, during a 2024 interview with Rolling Stone, he revealed that the situation angered him far more than he let on publicly:

“I was super pissed off at that — but not enough to fucking quit my band. I was like, ‘Dude, that’s what your personal social media is for. You’re the only one in this band that gives a shit about this idiot, and when you put it up there, we’re all backing him.’ And I am not [backing Trump], Gary’s not, Paul is not. That’s your opinion, not ours. I would never do that to you.”

Adding to the divide, King revealed that he first heard about Araya‘s desire to end Slayer through media reports, rather than a direct conversation. Speaking to Metal Hammer in May of last year, he discussed how their relationship shifted over time:

“It’s not like I’m angry with him or anything. We’re very different people, and we evolved into business partners at the end of the day. He has very different interests from me, and very different outlooks. Does that make me hate him? No. But I don’t need to talk to him every day… We just don’t have much in common. When it comes time to rehearse, I’ll have no problem showing up. We’re professionals, and that’s what we do.”

Despite reuniting for a handful of performances — with more planned — the emotional gap between the two remains, although it appears it was always there to some extent.

In a recent conversation with Cucamonga (as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net), King expanded on their distant dynamic, noting how the loss of guitarist Jeff Hanneman in 2011 deeply affected Araya and played a role in the band’s initial breakup:

“I think Jeff‘s passing weighed harder on Tom than it did me. And I don’t mean that from any kind of friendship perspective. It’s just my taking wasn’t as bad as Tom took it. Of course it was horrible, and no one ever wanted that to happen, but it really weighed on Tom. I think that’s what led to him wanting to retire earlier than me, because I think he felt the band was different. But then, out of nowhere, Tom decided he wanted to play some [Slayer] shows last year, and I went, ‘Well, I never wanted to stop playing shows. So, yeah, let’s try it out.’”

King further reflected on their present-day relationship:

“Just like it was in [the earlier years of] Slayer, [Tom and I] don’t talk on the phone. We rarely text each other. And that’s just because when you’re together for 40 years — he became a very different person. He’s not the guy I started the band with. Not personally — just him; he’s a different person. I basically stayed very similar to who I’ve been in my twenties. And I like Tom. We’re cool. We got together [last year to rehearse for the Slayer reunion concerts]. It wasn’t weird. We did those two shows [at Riot Fest in Chicago and Aftershock festival in Sacramento]. He was super happy.

We got together after the second one, had a shot after the show. He’ll drink tequila and I love tequila, so that’s what we had. And I think the first idea to play [with Slayer again] this year was for the [Louder Than Life festival] show we missed last year ’cause of the hurricane. So we rebooked that and [I] said, ‘If we never play another show, I wanna make that right with the promoter,’ because it wasn’t our fault. But he wanted us to play. So we’re playing there this year. And this year we get to play that Black Sabbath show. I can’t fucking wait.”

Slayer has the following shows lined up for 2025:

With Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Mastodon, Hatebreed and Neckbreakker:

07/03 Cardiff, UK – Blackweir Fields
07/06 London, UK – Finsbury Park

With Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Metallica, etc.:

07/05 Birmingham, UK – Villa Park

Slayer:

07/11 Quebec City, QC – Festival d’été de Québec (Feat. Mastodon, etc.)
09/18 Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life Festival

With Knocked Loose, Suicidal Tendencies, Power Trip, Cavalera (performing Sepultura‘s Chaos A.D.) & Exodus (performing Bonded By Blood):

09/20 Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium

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