by Christine Natanael
LINKS:
Well, here it is, 2006, and it’s time for the new Slayer “Unholy Alliance Tour: Preaching To The Perverted” with Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, Mastodon, and Thine Eyes Bleed Thinking about that got me thinking back to a couple years ago when Slayer was doing the Ozzfest tour. When they hit the NY area, they headlined the Aggressive Music Festival on one of the Ozzfest off dates. It was at this show that I got a chance to sit down and have a chat with Tom Araya about the then, about-to-be-released Still Reigning DVD. Remembering that this interview had Tom talking about some things that readers have probably never heard him talk about before, I figured I’d dust it off and put it up. So here, in all it's moldy glory, is the old q&a with Mr. Araya. Enjoy.
TOM ARAYA: Yeah, Reign in Blood… it’s gonna include other stuff, too. Actually, we’re filming interviews with a lot of people, like the crew and stuff, so we’re going to throw in a lot of extra stuff. We did an entire fucking hour and a half, well, an hour and fifteen and then we did the set with the entire album.
CN: And blood…
TA: Yeah…I didn’t think that anybody knew about that.
CN: Ah, but see, I’ve got connections….haha. I also have friends who are special effects people. I know that shit is made out of Karo syrup. Did it mess up your equipment?
TA: No.
CN: Did you put plastic sheets on it?
TA: No, no, we had it all…we had like a, like a fan box they built so that the water would go and collect and they protected everything. They had everything covered in plastic. Kerry’s pedal things were covered in plastic. Like, the only thing that wasn’t protected was the bass or the guitars that they had on. But my bass tech…
CN: Did he take them apart and clean them?
TA: Yeah, he said he rinsed it out. The first thing they did was just take the hose with water and just got it all wet and let it dry out and plugged it in and…
CN: As long as it doesn’t warp the wood, you’re good.
TA: Yeah, it worked, so, he’s like, "Yeah, you know I just rinsed it out and let it dry out and it worked fine.” And I’m like, “Cool.”
CN: Great.
TA: Yeah, but the drums were, um….
CN: (laughs)
TA: (Smiles) Yeah, the drum tech, Norm, said that he squeegeed with a shovel that he had and tried different things to get all that stuff off the carpet and said that there were just layers of just thick blood on the entire thing. He did the same thing. He took everything out and hosed everything off, which is what I did, too. When we were done, I went and just got in the shower with all my stage gear and just rinsed all that shit off.
CN: That would have been interesting just videotaping you trying to get it all off of you.
TA: Yeah, there’s pictures of blood running down the sink. I thought it would look cool.
CN: Oh, yeah. Blood is always good.
TA: Yeah, it marks, I guess, uh, kind of our reunion thing with Dave (Lombardo.) It kind of marks that, the DVD does. That and 20 years, it’s gonna be called…20 years and still Reigning…that’s the title I think it’s gonna be.
TA: in every city?
CN: ...and sell online a whole booklet of tickets where the fans can go from show to show to show…
TA: Really? That’s what they used to do? The Dead?
CN: They did lots of stuff like that. That’s why the fans would follow them around like that. They would buy a whole booklet like at Disney World.
TA: (Laughs)
CN: I’d see them (the Dead fans) in the city here in NY and they’d say, "Yeah, we’re on tour with the Dead," and as I’d start to talk to them about it, I’d realize that their version of "on tour" was very different than mine.
TA: (Laughs)
CN: I would love to see classic guys like you and people who have been around as long as me and who are as old as dirt and dinosaurs do something like that, Like get three or four bands together and have them each do, chronologically, albums from their career. It hasn’t been done.
TA: Yeah, but I think the Dead are the only band who could do something like that.
CN: Why? You have fanatical fans.
TA: Yeah, but for some reason, everybody in the Dead could do that…they could go on tour with the Dead.
CN: It’s funny how they could do it, because they would go to stores and get food and cook it and sell it to other people who would come, undercut the vendors, little hustlers and stuff…
TA: (Laughs)
CN: Maybe you’re right. I don’t know if metal people have that much gumption.
TA: Yeah, well, all the stuff they were doing was like you were saying, was like, yeah, I guess that if some of these people out here were thinking that way... What I’ve come across with people like that, is that if the shows are within a 50 mile radius, and they can make it to all of it, they will sit there and they’ll buy like 5 or 6 shows. I’ve come across a few people…(turns to comment to wife) that tall skinny blonde dude that I said "hi" to, he was one of them…I remember at one time, we played, and we did like, 7 shows in this little area and this guy was in every pit at every show. I just kept seeing him. And one day I was walking out and I saw him and I said, "Dude, you’re at every show." And he said, "Yeah, I saved up." That was his summer vacation. He found out that the band was touring in this area so he saved up his money for his summer vacation to do that. Kids do that in Europe more than here.
CN: Well, because it’s smaller than the US, and they have Eurail passes and stuff.
TA: I was just gonna say, their transportation is easy access and they can go wherever they want with no problem.
CN: I grew up in, not really rural, but in the Southern…North Carolina/South Carolina area, and when I lived in Myrtle Beach…this is pre-House of Blues, etc…if we wanted to go to a concert, we had to go to Columbia, SC or Charlotte, NC, both of which are about a 4 hour drive, just to see a major concert. So, friendships were formed around the music and the roadtrips to the shows. Of course, the girls didn’t like the fact that I was into all the thrash. They thought I was demented.
TA: Well, there’s gotta be one in the crowd.
CN: Yeah, but look what came out of it…
TA: (Laughs)
CN: I’ve been polling people, because at first when your publicist asked me if I’d like to interview you, I thought, shit, what the fuck would I ask you that you haven’t been asked before a million times. So I took a poll, and one of the ones that came up is, I asked Matt from Hatebreed if he were to interview you what he would ask you, and he said, "Get him to tell you about the time he almost drowned when he was a kid."
TA: When I was a kid. Yeah. I was told this. I don’t remember it. I was told this.
CN: How old were you?
TA: I was two or three.
CN: Oh, a baby, baby.
TA: Yeah. I was told this. I was, you know, where we lived, in the little town that we lived, my mother had a galvanized wash tub.
CN: Was this here?
TA: No, this was in Chile—in South America. And she was, obviously, doing laundry, cleaning, and I was playing with a little car around it and it fell in, and I went in after it. And the tub sat high. It was taller than me, so I tipped in, and that’s where I stayed until my brother told somebody that I was "asleep" in the water.
CN: Wow.
TA: My father ran out and dragged me out. He did the whole Heimlich kind of thing to get the water out and started the mouth to mouth/CPR. They had paramedics come. I was about 2 or 3 years old, yeah. That’s what they tell me. Matt came up with that?
CN: Matt came up with that one. A lot of the other ones were just like, stupid. And I was like, "I’m not gonna ask him that." I did come up with one that is probably gonna annoy you. So, let’s see…all right? If the Tom Araya of your childhood met the Tom Araya you were at the time you started Slayer, and they both met the Tom Araya you are today, what would each think of the other?
TA: Oh, wow. (Laughs…)
CN: Let me just freeze up your brain there for a minute. Damn, why did she have to ask that! (Laughs)
TA: Wow, if my childhood met Tom Araya before I started Slayer???
CN: Yeah, like right about the time you started Slayer
and who you are today, if they all three got together, what would they
each think of the other one?
CN: I remember those very well.
TA: You know, those kind of things kind of really made an impression on me as far as being in a band or doing something in a band. And I think that’s where that stems from. If I was that age, and then I met myself right as the band was starting, and then met me and where we’re at now, you know, I think I would probably be a lot like some of these kids are.
CN: The fans?
TA: Not the more fanatical ones, but the more subtle ones, the ones who are just kind of like, who just stay in the background and go, "Look, there he is."
CN: Yeah, the shy ones?
TA: ‘Cause that’s me now. I even do that now with Ozzy, even with the Priest guys…"There goes Priest." I do that even now.
CN: I don’t really do that with the people of our age that I’ve met, but the only person who ever stumped me and flabbergasted me like that, that I was in awe of was John Entwistle.
TA: Oh, really.
CN: Yeah. I couldn’t even speak. Nice guy, though.
TA: I would be like that, because I’m like that now, even when we were recording, (turns to wife and says, "honey, what album was that?") and The Rolling Stones were in the same recording studio we were, and this guy…I say this guy because it didn’t even dawn on me who it was, walked by, looked right at me and goes, "How’s it goin’?" And I look and say, "Hey, how’s it goin’?" And he walked on by and it didn’t hit me. It was Mick Jagger. He was right there, and I could have been…but I didn’t. I just watched from a distance.
CN: I think a lot of the young bands are like that with you now, too.
TA: I think I’d be the same way even if I was in one of these start-up bands.
CN: Jamey’s very much like that with you…Jamey Jasta.
TA: Really?
CN: It totally came across on Headbanger’s Ball when you guys were on there. He’s such a big fan. It’s so cute.
TA: I guess I’d be the same way with Sabbath. I guess I’d be the same way that I am. I’d be shy and timid, but at the younger age. But at the start of the band, I’d be excited, because I’m playing with my idols and that kind of thing, meeting up with my idols. And then, me looking back…looking back at all of that…it’s kind of neat to have bands that look up to what we did, I guess. It’s kind of very flattering. It’s kind of embarrassing for me, sometimes, because I don’t know how to respond to people who are like that, or when they say things like…or do this (making the bowing "We’re not worthy motion") I just think, "No, stand up. Don’t kneel. Please don’t kneel. I don’t know why you’re doing that. Stop."
CN: I guess it would make you feel strange, especially at a big show where you have kids going, "You’re the greatest. You’re God. You rule." Some people let that really go to their head, and then some people are really humble. I would be embarrassed if somebody would follow me around saying that all day. It’s like you’re saying, "Stop. Stop."
TA: "Shut up. Shut up."
CN: "I didn’t pay you to say that, now, shut up."
TA: (Laughs) "I paid you to do this…"
CN: (Laughs) When did you realize that playing music wasn’t just going to be a hobby, it was going to be your career, and that you could actually make money at it?
TA: That’s not something that really dawned on me. That’s not something that I really thought about until recent events—recent events in the structure of Slayer. Recent events that kind of opened my eyes to some things that I was kind of, obviously blind to—so it was a realization of like, "Okay, I really need to figure things out here."
CN: Well, some people are musicians and just do it because they can’t help themselves and they can’t do anything else, and then there are people that are totally calculating that do it only for the money.
TA: I’m, you know, things…there are things that have gone on that have kind of led me to, and I hate to say that, I hate to say that…there’s just things that I’ve had to think about lately, which is a family thing. I really like what I have.
CN: I’ve got a kid. I know all about that.
TA: Yeah, so, I’m hoping that, uh, you know, I’ve come to that realization, and…but it’s got to stop somewhere. So, it just makes it easier to do that, I guess, when it’s gotten to a point where you literally know that, you could do this if you wanted to, but it’s not the idea.
CN: You hopefully, do it as long as it makes you happy.
TA: Yeah, but then there’s also, you can also stop it, and just get off. (Laughs.)
CN: Get off the merry-go-round and just watch it for a little while?
TA: Yeah, get off and watch it for a while.
CN: And you can always come back. You can always get back on.
TA: Yeah, but see, they’ll have to slow it down.
CN: Ah, naw….
TA: You can’t just jump right back in. You have
to slow that thing down first. (Laughs)
TA: Is this the guy right here?
CN: Yeah.
TA: His face looks familiar.
CN: He was a Mormon preacher.
TA: And they were together, right?
CN: Yeah.
TA: They look familiar.
CN: I’ve had these for a while. I collect the stuff, too. I’ve even got the Jeffrey Dahmer serial killer comic book. Have you seen that one?
TA: Comic book?
CN: Yeah, did you ever see that one?
TA: No, I’ve see the serial killer cards. They were just about different serial killers.
CN: This was just all about him, and it was the entire story done in comic book format and style.
TA: That’s kinda sick, man.
CN: Isn’t it great? But it’s a good sick.
TA: Yeah, it’s a good sick, but the shit that people do, it’s just…
CN: Sometimes that’s more fun, is just finding where it goes….
TA: Well, it’s just where it comes from…a whole comic book on his story. Have you seen the movie? Dahmer: The Movie?
CN: No, I haven’t seen that yet.
TA: (Turns to wife: Where was that, honey, was it on Starz or Showtime?) I think it was a Showtime movie. They have one on Dahmer and one on Bundy, and they’re updated movies. And the Dahmer one, when I watched it, I had read a lot about Dahmer, so it kind of covered the bases on Dahmer. It made a really good story. And then the Bundy one was pretty brutal. That one was pretty accurate, just the way they put the film together.
CN: I watched one recently, one of the HBO documentaries on the guy in Poland or Russia, the one who ate the sexual organs of his victims. You know who I’m talking about?
TA: Yeah, he was a Russian guy. Some old man. He had kids of his own, right?
CN: Yeah. It showed him in the cage in the court and the families of the victims going nuts.
TA: Yeah, they killed him. They just took him in the back and shot him. And they charged his family for that bullet that they used to kill him.
CN: They ought to. You know, had they just used a condom…damn!
TA: (Laughs)
CN: It’s about the same price…bullet, condom…deferred payment.
TA: We saw the movie. It was the HBO movie based on that story.
CN: Yeah?
TA: Yeah. And I have a book that’s called Hunting The Devil and it’s got that guy’s face on the front. That guy’s pretty wicked.
CN: I have collected this stuff for years, and most of my friends think I’m tweaked and there’s something wrong with me.
TA: Yeah, yeah.
CN: Because, I have the serial killer section, the vampire section, the cannibal section, the religious ritual slayings section…
TA: Yeah, yeah…do a lot of people consider themselves real vampires?
CN: There’s a lot of people in New York that are into the goth scene who consider themselves vampires and all that, but who are really blood fetishists…but the ones in my library are more along the lines of the Countess of Bathory and those kinds of people.
TA: Okay.
CN: You know, more the bathing and drinking sort. I don’t know. I just think it’s freakish and I can’t figure out why, but I like to read about it. Then there’s the whole S&M pantheon with the Marquis de Sade and all of that, which I have to keep locked away because of my son. Then there’s the horror, science fiction… How vast is your library? Is it that bad?
TA: No, it’s not as vast as yours. I have the serial killer books. I have a group of books that are fresh that I keep. Then once I read them I put them away. But that kind of stuff we kind of keep away. We don’t keep horror movies from the kids. We have two kids, 5 and 8, [at the time this interview was done--ed.] and they love horror movies. They love to play chainsaws. They do the Chainsaw Massacre bit chasing each other around the house. (Makes the whirring chainsaw sound effect imitating his kids playing…)
CN: That’s funny.
TA: Yeah, they love that stuff. We watch it together and we try and scare them while they’re watching it. Like there’ll be this scene and then we’ll go “Boo!” and they’ll go “Wwwaaaaahhhh!!!” (Laughs)
(About this time the tour manager comes and interrupts because the band
has to get ready for their set…so I quickly got to snap a photo
of Tom and his wife…and he decided to also hold up the books I had
given him…Thanks Tom for the fun interview…and don’t
scare the kids too bad with the horror films, okay???)
