Slayer’s Kerry King Wasn’t Surprised By Paris Rock Concert Attack

Kerry King, the outspoken guitarist for the heavy metal group Slayer, recently gave an interview in which he effectively said he wasn’t surprised by the Paris attacks on a rock concert venue on November 13. In fact, the Slayer founder said that he was surprised it took this long for ISIS to attack a rock concert.

The Slayer guitarist has never been one to mince words, and he didn’t when he was recently interviewed by music journalist Tom De Smet. De Smet writes for Het Nieuwsblad, Gazet van Antwerpen, and Rock Tribune magazine, and he is based in Belgium — a hotspot for ISIS activity as of late.

Slayer played on November 17 in Brussels, Belgium, and De Smet spoke with Slayer’s Kerry King shortly before the show. Of course, the Paris Attacks came up in the interview, having happened less than a week earlier. The faction of ISIS that put the attacks together were believed to have hatched their nefarious plot from the Belgian capital. The Eagles of Death Metal, an American metal band, were playing at the Bataclan, a mid-sized music venue in Paris, on the night of the attacks. By the time all the attacks were over, more than 129 people were murdered, and many more were injured.

The Slayer guitarist was blunt when asked about the attacks in Paris.

“I am surprised that it took the terrorists this long to target a rock concert. Because they hate rock music. They hate our lifestyle. They hate our freedom and they hate that we enjoy ourselves. And, of course, it sucks. What happened makes everybody think twice about risking their lives to see a band play. But if you stop going to concerts or stop playing at them, you just do what the terrorists want you to do. It is very important to carry on and to do what you do, what you love doing. And, you know, I am not the kind of guy that goes through life worrying all the time. We took airplanes right after 9-11. We played shows right after Dimebag [late PANTERA guitarist] was shot. Sure, things can go wrong. But you might also step out this building here and get run over by a car. Just do what you love doing and stop worrying.”

Slayer has never shied away from the topic of religion and its negative influences. In fact, Slayer has made a 30-year-long career out of denouncing war, organized religion and the status-quo. In the interview, Kerry King said that the attacks in Paris were a “shining example” of the negative influence of organized religion. The Slayer guitarist pointed out that the members of ISIS — “or ISIL, or whatever you have to call them these days” — believe that those who don’t believe in their God must perish, and the result is terrorism.

Slayer could still be seen to be recovering from the death of one of their founding members, guitarist Jeff Hanneman. In 2011, Hanneman contracted necrotizing fasciitis from a spider bite. The Slayer guitarist fought the illness for the next two years, often missing out on gigs and entire tours because of the disease. In 2013, he was said to be suffering from a number of health issues in conjunction with the necrotizing fasciitis, and on May 2 of that year, Hanneman was pronounced dead, officially of liver failure.

But Slayer pressed on. Lead singer and bassist Tom Araya and Kerry King are now the foundation of Slayer, as well as the band’s remaining founders. Earlier this year, the band released Repentless, their 12th album. So how much longer will Slayer be around? King commented on that.

“Tom and I have an agreement: if one of us wants to stop, that will be the end of the band… But I don’t see the end of Slayer happening soon… I feel good, the shows are good, Tom sounds good, so until that changes, we will continue.”

It sounds like, in spite of ISIS, Slayer will be around for a long time.

[Photo by Sebastian Reuter/Getty Images]