Kerry King Reveals Why Tom Araya Didn’t Play Bass On Several Slayer Records

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Slayer guitarist Kerry King said that he played bass on every Slayer record since the ’90s. “I have (played the bass),” he said. “Since the early nineties I’ve done all the rhythm guitars and all the bass. I’ve always done bass because my guy (Araya) really didn’t.”

In a new interview with Guitar World, King elaborated on why he held down the bottom end for Slayer records instead of the band’s frontman. “We would always let Tom play bass until he got tired of not being good at it,” King said. “In Tom’s defense, up to that point, he had never played the songs. It was always just me and Paul going through ’em. And then we get in the studio, it’s time to record. I think Tom’s got it in his head that he’s gonna be able to pull it off. But for anybody that’s never played a song before, to come in without knowing the music and get it up to recording level is not realistic.”

King continued: “So, if I’ve already done my guitar tracks, Jeff’s done his guitar tracks, and Tom doesn’t know the bass parts, I can pick up a bass and get it done in less than a day ’cause I already know the songs. It got to where he’d mess around and play one song for eight hours before he got frustrated and just said, ‘Here, you do it!’ I don’t want anybody to think for a second that he couldn’t do it if he had the time to learn it.”

King talked about the bassist in his solo band, Kyle Sanders, and how he liked that he didn’t have to play bass on his recent debut solo record, “From Hell I Rise.” “It’s refreshing,” King said. “I never wanted it. It’s not something I needed musically. It’s not something I needed personally. Having it was super cool and super fun, and working with new people was super fun. This is the first record I haven’t played bass on, probably, since the nineties.”