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Kerry King confirms Paul Bostaph as Drummer in post-Slayer band, says new music is coming very soon: “I won’t be dragging my feet much longer”
The man who “hate[s] fucking not playing” will soon be playing again.
Image: J. Dennis Thomas / Alamy
Kerry King has revealed that Paul Bostaph will be coming on board as drummer in his soon-to-launch post-Slayer band. The guitarist also reassured fans that they won’t have to wait much longer to hear his new music.
Speaking to Metal Hammer, King confirmed the involvement of former Slayer drummer Bostaph in his new project, though the guitarist remained pretty tight-lipped about the rest of the band’s lineup: “We just started rehearsing and the only person I can give away is Paul [Bostaph, drums] because I took him from Slayer and we work very well together. We didn’t start rehearsing until the end of March, and that was the first time since that last Slayer show at the end of 2019 that me and Paul finally got into a room together.”
King revealed that the initial plan was to tour with the new project in 2020, saying “Had it have been up to me then I’d have been out in 2020.”
“But that thing called the pandemic fucked everything up for everyone. You know, I waited on that, because it had to run its course. I didn’t want to be the guinea pig, I didn’t want to learn how to tour again. I already did my dues; I don’t want to have to prove myself again.”
“Have I been dragging my feet? Yeah, because I wanted this shit to get sorted. I won’t be dragging my feet much longer,” he said.
As for the direction that the new project is headed, fans of Kerry’s old band should be pleased to learn that his new music will still sound like Slayer: “You know me, so you know what it’s going to sound like.”
“I played this new song for a buddy, and I said to him, ‘If there’s anything I’ve written in the last few years that sounds like Slayer, it’s this.’ And he said, ‘That sounds like you could have pulled it off of any Slayer record.’ I actually made that riff up backstage at a Slayer show. We were walking to the stage and I got my phone out and recorded it so I wouldn’t forget it.”
Despite his excitement with getting back on the road, Kerry also made sure to keep things real as he reminded everyone to temper their expectations when it comes to the size of the new band’s shows.
“I’d like nothing more than to bring out a huge production, but like I’ve told everybody, ‘Don’t expect Slayer [sized] venues’”, he said. “Unless people grasp onto it immediately, we’re gonna start in a much smaller scenario. But if I could keep anything from Slayer, it’s the fire. That’s the one thing that’s moved with me.”