Blood, Sweat and Tears

I really don’t have to introduce Slayer, do I? Kerry King, Jeff Hanneman, Tom Araya and Dave Lombardo never benefited from radio or television exposure; but anybody who knows anything about metal knows who they are and what they’ve accomplished: millions of albums sold, thousands of tour stops destroyed and one of the most loyal fan bases in the world amassed. Hanneman took some time off from their latest stint on the Jägermeister tour to speak with the Synthesis about their newest concert DVD. Released on Nov. 2nd, Still Reigning features a live performance of their classic Reign in Blood album, plus additional live tracks and bonus interviews.

What inspired you guys to do Reign in Blood as a live DVD?
It’s something we wanted to do for years, but never did; and once Dave was back in the band, it seemed like the perfect time. Since we were already playing it live, we all thought, “Why not film it?”

It must be nice to have an album that holds up so well. It’s almost 20 years old, but it doesn’t sound dated at all. Did you know it would be such a long-lived album when you recorded it?
Not at all. We put together those 10 songs, and we thought they were pretty fucking hot, but we weren’t thinking about any kind of “classic” album or anything like that. At the time, we just knew it was good.

Do you see your influence in a lot of contemporary groups?
Over the years, we’ve definitely seen bands that were influenced by us — you can hear it in their music — but I’ve always told bands to take the best part of us and grow from there, do something different, not be exactly like us. You’re not going to get anywhere doing that.

Is that how you guys got started? In the special features on the DVD, you guys discuss how the band came together and how you all brought something different to it.
Yeah, that’s really what makes an original band. You take things you like from somebody else, but you don’t try to copy them. You also consider what you don’t like about that band, what you think could be better, and then you grow as different personalities bring different things to the group.

I was kind of surprised to hear you discussing the songwriting process, and how it seemed that everybody contributes. There’s no one dominant personality in the band?
It’s pretty much open-ended. Kerry and I write all the music, because we’re the guitar players, but everybody has something to say.

Has that helped you guys stay together for so long? A lot of the bands that started up at the same time as you have broken up, or changed members or directions; but you’ve been pretty consistent.
I don’t know how we lasted, but we’ve seemed to stick together, apart from Dave coming and going. We’ve managed to get over all the little problems everyone else blows out of proportion, I think. If you go on tour with a bunch of guys, there’s going to be differences, there’s going to be tension; but you have to move past it or ignore it and just go, “Well, that’s the way shit is.” The big thing is the band, not the individual interests.

How’s your tour going so far?
Good. Actually, we just got back from Europe. We were home for about six days, and we started touring right away.

Is being on tour now different than when you started?
Actually, now that Dave’s back in the band and we’re all getting along, it’s kind of like when we first started; except that we’re on a tour bus and we’re not running around in vans. But the fun we’re having is like it was in the beginning.

The sets seem pretty intense. Are you guys sore the next day?
Only at the beginning of the tour. You know, we don’t really headbang at home, so a couple days into the tour your neck’s a little stiff, but it loosens up after a while

The fans beat the hell out of each other, too.
[The fans] are great. We love it.

What is it that makes Slayer fans so fanatical? A lot of groups have loyal followings, but you guys have people literally carving the band name into their arms, among other things.
For one thing, our music’s pretty dark, and a lot of people can identify with the darkness inside them. And the other thing is that we really haven’t changed. We didn’t go off in some weird direction or another to sell more records and we didn’t mellow out as we got older. I always hated it when I was a kid and I’d get into some band, and the next thing you know, you’re listening to their new album and saying, “What’s this? What approach is this? What are they doing?” I think our fans appreciate that we haven’t changed that much.

Are you getting more MTV and radio exposure now, or is it about the same?
It’s pretty much the same. We gave up on the whole radio bit years ago. It’s not going to happen.

Does that affect your success, though? You guys don’t have to sweat about meeting a certain level of sales, right?
Not at all. We never really worried about it. Management worried years ago about whether we were going to turn over the new kids, but then we were playing shows and there were all these 15, 16-year-old kids in the audience, so no problem there.

You might have made some of your fans nervous by talking about retirement on the DVD. How long can you guys keep this up?
I would say we’ve got at least 10 years. I can’t see us being 50-something and headbanging up on stage. It’d be kind of ridiculous with our kind of music. It just doesn’t seem right, but who knows? Physically, maybe we could do it, but the idea seems weird to me.

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