SLAYER's KERRY KING: If My Career Ended Tomorrow, I'd Be Like, 'I Did Some Good S**t'

Keith N. Dusenberry of Metromix Denver recently conducted an interview with SLAYER guitarist Kerry King. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metromix Denver: It's somewhat unusual how much you dislike recording.

Kerry: Yeah, I'd rather tour. It's weird, because in the beginning, I'd rather record, because I hated to tour. But as you progress through your career, it gets easier to tour because you're in nicer hotels, better buses, and just better situations. But recording, I think, is a necessary thing because fans always want to hear new music, and you've got to incorporate it into the set — but the perfection of it, it's not fun. For me, anyway.

Metromix Denver: Do you think it's particularly hard to age in metal?

Kerry: Nah, I think metal keeps me young, man! [Laughs] If you saw my iPod, it's 95 percent metal, just as it would have been if we'd had iPods when I was 20. The funny thing is, there's comedy in there, there's "South Park" in there, there's stupid shit — but there's tons of metal.

Metromix Denver: Someone asked you not too long ago if you had any musical goals left and you — unusually for this business — said no.

Kerry: I'm fucking content, man. If my career ended tomorrow, I'd be like, "I did some good shit."

Metromix Denver: Does any part of you think it would have been interesting to have had METALLICA's career instead of yours?

Kerry: Not really, because I wouldn't have wanted to make up those records in the '90s. But, you know, METALLICA still plays some of that stuff. They played "Fuel" when we played with them like a month ago, and it fits right into the set, but that's just not stuff I would have liked to have written.

Metromix Denver: We just did a feature on bands — such as the current touring version of FOREIGNER — where it's, like, only one guy left from the original lineup. Is there any chance SLAYER would go on even one man down?

Kerry: No, I've discussed that a lot, and I think it's pretty much an unspoken thing amongst us that if any of us left, SLAYER's done, because we've all been a part of it for so long (except that we had a musical drummer-chair for a while). I think it would dilute what fans have come to expect. I don't fear that day because I've got so many friends in the business that I could do all kinds of projects with. So, when it's done, it's done. The next day, I move on and find the next band that's going to sound, musically, a lot like SLAYER. [Laughs]

Read the entire interview from Metromix Denver.