Livedaily.com recently conducted an interview with slayer's Tom Araya.
Is it fair to say that Slayer has become a lot more political in recent years?
Tom Araya: It comes across that way, but it's not. There are more social commentaries, and more of, "This is what I see, so I'm going to write it." But we really don't like to state our views. We just like to write what we see and see what your opinion is, and what you think of what we're seeing. Maybe you're seeing something different...
But it's not unfair to say that your inspirations have changed a lot over the years?
Yeah, you've got different things that inspire you. It's your surroundings, and it's maturity. You grow up and you start seeing things differently, and you start writing differently. It doesn't mean you're going to change the imagery and the ideas behind Slayer, you're just going to change the pictures you're painting. Where before it was demons and devils, now you're writing songs about humanity's demons and humanity's devils.
It's a testament to Slayer that you've been able to make that progression, because a lot of bands that used to be your peers haven't been able to do that.
It's just maturity. It's just coming to grips and understanding the subject matter. When we first got together, Dave, Jeff and Kerry were still in high school! We were going to call ourselves Slayer and be everything that's not Hollywood: We're not going be pretty boys, we're going to be ugly boys, and we're not going to write about parties, we're going to write about Satan. You know what I mean? [Laughing] We were young, Kerry liked the whole satanic thing, Venom was a huge influence, and we started working on our own songs and developed it. By the time we did "Show No Mercy," we had all that?I was 22, they were 19, and we were young kids.
So the evolution started then, and hasn't stopped.
Yeah. You're young, but as you grow up you have to evolve and you have to make a change. That's what we did. We grew, and "Reign in Blood" was the turning point. We had just got through doing "Hell Awaits," which was a very dark, hell-and-Satan album. Then the subject matter changed on "Reign in Blood." It was less Satan and more on a social level... But every now and then you make sure you mention "Satan!" [Laughing]
So you end up hearing about Justin Timberlake, but not necessarily some of the up-and-coming bands in your genre.
Yeah... Like that [Timberlake] song "Sexyback." I get exposed to those songs through my kids and through my wife. When I heard that song I thought it wasn't really that bad a song, then I saw the video and listened to the words and realized that he's poking fun at all the other guys that haven't done s---, so now he's got to bring sexy back because nobody else can do it! [Laughing] The song is good, even if he didn't have anything to do with writing it, and there are a lot of one-off songs like that... Like the 50 Cent song "Just a Lil Bit," I like the music and thought the Middle Eastern vibe was clever. There's that "Gold Digger" song [by Kanye West], I think that's f---ing great! I go out on the road, come back, and that's what my wife and kids are listening to. It may not be my taste, but I can still enjoy it.
So, you're going to bring the sexy back to Satan?
[Laughing] Yeah, we're bringing Satan back! [Laughing]
[Laughing] Before we scare the Slayer fans with too much "sexy" talk, what can people expect from the upcoming tour?
We've got what we call the A markets, the B markets, and then the C markets, and this tour is a lot of the B markets, a lot of the more intimate places that hold 2-3,000 people. To me, experiencing one of those shows, the smaller the better. Those are the shows people need to experience, because it's more intense. I use the word "intimate," because I can see every person all the way to the back, I can make eye contact, and they can see what we're doing and really feel the music in tight quarters.
|
