Interview с Slayer : DARKSIDE.ru

I heard that recording the latest Slayer album World Painted Blood you pretty much worked without any homework: you just entered the studio and started making stuff.

No, actually we had like 5 songs and some ideas. But for the most part, yeah; we had to write like five or six more songs in the studio.

So how did it feel?

It felt different. I think it improved the creativity of the band. It felt like we were under a ‘good’ pressure. You know, it was something like ‘We have to work hard’. We couldn’t relax. Before we used to go to the studio after the songs were finished so that we could go and relax there. This time we couldn’t. It just made us work harder and together, instead of arguing and you know, breaking down things musically. But it didn’t happen this time, this time we all worked together.

So you did not have any arguments creating the songs, did you? Was it easy to find compromises creating songs all together?

Yeah something like that. It was more

like playing baseball. There was no fighting.

What about the visual concept of the album? When I saw the first promo video about the guy killing women to create a copy of his mother from their parts, I was kinda shocked.

I don’t like it at all. But that is the part of the arts of Slayer. But it is not something I would like too much. I think it could have been done in a different way.

So the visual concept wasn’t fully coordinated with you.

No, I thought it wasn’t. I think it could be better.

In the 80’s Slayer became outstanding band because of its technical novelties: speed etc. If you think about the new bands, can you name any of them that would be doing something new technically nowadays?

Oh… Jesus. Yeah there is one band I’ve been listening to a lot, it is Jucifer. There is a girl singer and she plays guitar, really heavy. I mean this style has been around but just recently I’ve taken that and I’ve been really enjoying it a lot. And I

feel like it is something new.

How do you think say in 10 years will anyone be listening to any of metal bands highly popular nowadays? You became popular 20 years ago, as well as Megadeth, Metallica and you are still able to collect the crowds. Do you think any of young bands will manage to do the same in the future?

Wow, it’s hard to say. I mean I wish I knew the future. Yeah, there have to be…But they have to learn how to learn how to…. I am optimistic about the situation. It’s hard to say but I feel there could be. You know, someone might surprise us and that something might even not be metal.

Yeah other genres still have a lot of chances for development, but what about metal? Don’t you think that everything unique that might have been said in metal has been said by you and the bands of the same level?

Yeah, you have a point here. ‘Cause you know I haven’t heard anything fresh and new. I know what you mean. I think they all start to sound the same. So when you play a CD it sounds lik

e you have heard the band already. But I am optimistic; I think there has to be something …

You have had your two lives in Slayer: one in the 1980’s and the second – after 2000. Comparing them, is there a big difference in your feeling on stage and in your attitude to what you are doing?

Wow. I feel like you know … Maybe in the 80’s I didn’t really know what I was doing. And now after 2000 you know I feel like I know more. I’m wiser. I know more about music I know more about life … I just became more intelligent.

And perhaps those huge arenas and festivals you play nowadays produce a great difference when we compare them with very intense gigs in small clubs Slayer was making in the 80’s?

Sure they do. It’s really a very very big difference. I like playing small venues. But I also like playing festivals, I think it’s fun: there are many different bands, a lot of your friends around You know let’s say there is Motley Crue, there are Iron Maiden – all the guys we have known from the 80’s. I know exact

ly what you mean by asking about smaller venues, ‘cause they are so much more intimate. Also when we played Wacken Open Air and the stage was … I don’t know perhaps 40 meters from the crowd and the people were just so far away … It was a very disappointing experience.

A lot of drummers constantly practice to progress professionally. I’ve heard that you don’t practice at home and you also don’t warm up before the shows. How do you manage to stay on such a high level?

Well, I have a different kind of philosophy. I go to practice with the band, let’s say a week before we go on tour. So if I played yesterday, why do I need to warm up today, when I’m already strung out from the day before. I think sometimes you tire yourself out. I tire myself out, why would I do this? I’ll sit like this before I go on stage, maybe I’ll stretch a little bit, but just stretching, not doing any kind of drumming.

In all time metal classics Spinal Tap the guys had amplifiers going up to 11. Did you try to invent anything like that?
Sound-wise?

Yes and anything technically.
No. We just had our own special light show. We had our pyros – we made our special pyro technique and the explosions. And the raining blood. That’s it. We invented a lot musically; we created a Slayer-style in music, but nothing visually or anything like guitar amplifiers.

Metallica vs. Slayer ‘opposition’ started years ago. What’s the feeling between the two bands nowadays?

Oh we are like one, we are not two anymore. We are more friends now than we have ever been. Me and Lars we text each other: ‘What are you doing?’ or ‘Let’s hang out’ and stuff like that you know. We have a very good relationship now. We have all been a part of it and we are still a part of it all together (meaning The Big 4-auth.)

What about your life outside the band? You live in California, don’t you?

Yeah, in the North Hollywood. Recently I got divorced from a very long marriage so my only concern now is just my kids. And making music and cont

inuing working. Of course on daily basis I do simple things like watching TV, watching news, going out for dinners, going out for dates, things like that.

Do you have any major hobbies?

I have another band that I perform with in California locally, in Los Angeles. So when I’m not working with Slayer, I play with that band. It’s just music. I live and breathe music.

Well, that’s understandable. I’ve heard that you were doing a solo percussion album, so how is that going now?

Slow. (laughs) I can’t finish it. It’s like I want to finish it so bad, but I can’t for some reason. I have all my stuff with me, my little studio travels with me, but I just can’t. When I’m flying almost every other day, I’m playing a show every day; it’s very difficult to get into that mood.

Is it just the drums and nothing else? Or is there some accompanying music?

I call it drum music; to me it’s like almost world music, a little bit like that. A little bit strange

, it’s more ambient, it’s more soundtrack kind of music.

Is there any work that you have done in the past which you could redo if you had a chance?

Yeah, the Dj Spooky album, that rap-record I did. I wasn’t satisfied with it then. Maybe some of the playing could’ve been better.

What are your kids listening to?

The Muse, Circa Survive, The Fall of Troy, and more of modern metal.

Are they into the music you are doing to any point?

I don’t know. I played our CDs for them. But they are more into newer stuff that is coming out. And they introduced me to an awesome band by the way. You probably gonna laugh, but do you know that Black Parade album?

The one by My Chemical Romance?

Yes. But it is fantastic album! Ok the band … It is not really metal. But the album is really good. American Idiot by Green Day – this one is also a fantastic album. My kids all love their music. So I really got into some

of those albums. To me they were really good because of their structure, their songs and their music of course.

Is there any kind of music you couldn’t ever listen to?

In all kinds of music there is good stuff and stuff that is ok. I like good-structured stuff. Good stuff that is not boring.

What is your motto in your artistic life?

Never stop learning, listen to all kinds of music and absorb the best from all of them. Just enjoy all styles of music. When you listen to different kinds of music you familiarize yourself with different rhythms and it becomes easier for you to play.

Viktorija Maksimovic
Tatiana Caciur

Pictures: Jana B., Darkside archives
1 окт 2010 the End


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