At the end, after many rumours, Slayer have made an announcement that will surely sadden lots of fans. Through a video on their YouTube channel, the American thrashers have announced that this they will make an “exit tour”, that is one final world tour before exiting the scene; in other words, Slayer will split. We can console ourselves with the thought that it will be a great tour: at least in North America Slayer will be supported next summer by bands like Lamb of God, Anthrax, Testament and Behemoth.
There had already been rumours about this possible decision of the band, and in fact Tom Araya himself in 2016 prefigured that the time were ripe enough to retire: “At 35 years, it's time to collect my pension. [Laughs] This is a career move." He continued: "I'm grateful that we've been around for 35 years; that's a really long time. So, yeah, to me, it is. Because when we started off, everything was great, because you're young and invincible. And then there came a time where I became a family man, and I had a tough time flying back and forth. And now, at this stage, at the level we're at now, I can do that; I can fly home when I want to, on days off, and spend some time with my family, which is something I wasn't able to do when [my kids] were growing up. Now they're both older and mature. So now I take advantage of that." Araya added: "Yeah, it just gets harder and harder to come back out on the road. 35 years is a long time.” (source Blabbermouth)
Interesting is also that this decision is partly due to his incapability of headbanging, which deprived him of all the enjoyment of playing live: “There's things that have gone on in my life that have made me change how I play as a bass player. I had neck surgery, so I can't headbang anymore. And that was a big part of what I enjoyed doing what I do — singing and headbanging. I liked knowing that I was one of the fucking badass headbangers. That played a big part. Now I just groove with the music, which is cool, because I'm grooving with the music and the feel of the songs, so that's changed a little for me.” (source Blabbermouth)
We can always hope that Slayer will tack back this decision; history gives us hope, since we have examples of many bands that have continued playing after announcing retirement; one random name At the Gates. Here below the video with the announcement.
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com
There had already been rumours about this possible decision of the band, and in fact Tom Araya himself in 2016 prefigured that the time were ripe enough to retire: “At 35 years, it's time to collect my pension. [Laughs] This is a career move." He continued: "I'm grateful that we've been around for 35 years; that's a really long time. So, yeah, to me, it is. Because when we started off, everything was great, because you're young and invincible. And then there came a time where I became a family man, and I had a tough time flying back and forth. And now, at this stage, at the level we're at now, I can do that; I can fly home when I want to, on days off, and spend some time with my family, which is something I wasn't able to do when [my kids] were growing up. Now they're both older and mature. So now I take advantage of that." Araya added: "Yeah, it just gets harder and harder to come back out on the road. 35 years is a long time.” (source Blabbermouth)
Interesting is also that this decision is partly due to his incapability of headbanging, which deprived him of all the enjoyment of playing live: “There's things that have gone on in my life that have made me change how I play as a bass player. I had neck surgery, so I can't headbang anymore. And that was a big part of what I enjoyed doing what I do — singing and headbanging. I liked knowing that I was one of the fucking badass headbangers. That played a big part. Now I just groove with the music, which is cool, because I'm grooving with the music and the feel of the songs, so that's changed a little for me.” (source Blabbermouth)
We can always hope that Slayer will tack back this decision; history gives us hope, since we have examples of many bands that have continued playing after announcing retirement; one random name At the Gates. Here below the video with the announcement.
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com