Slayer 66 2/3: The Jeff & Dave Years. A Metal Band Biography.

by Ferris, D. X.

  Slayer Inc. could 1) fill a 1000-gallon tank with crimson goo, and use a pool pump to push it through a rain rig.

  Or they could 2) fill a truck with water and attach a mixing manifold to add in red coloring before the liquid hit the rig.

  They decided to go with option no. 2. Berve shipped the rig materials to Maine, along with 20 gallons of blood concentrate. (Just add water.)

  In summer 2004, the band co-headlined Ozzfest. King was honored to be a marquee band beside two of his heroes: the reunited Black Sabbath and Judas Priest. True to character, King didn’t have much to say about what a monumental achievement of a lifelong dream it was.

  “That was really cool for me," he said told Angela Yeager of Oregon’s Statesman Journal in 2006.

  King saw it as more of an opportunity than an accomplishment. Satan knew the younger crop of bands weren’t impressing him.

  “I'd find myself doing that [seeing younger bands] at home when we weren't touring and think, 'I'm better than that. I need to get out there and show them what s*** is all about,'" King told Yeager.38-3

  The festival shows did, however, make King re-evaluate Slayer’s career. As he watched another great band age, King realized metal might not have an expiration date — and if it did, it wouldn’t arrive as soon as he had suspected.

  “I was actually thinking a couple of years back about when I will retire,” King told Luxi Lahtinen of Metal Rules at the time. “‘Hmm... Let´s see, maybe a couple of records, six years, hanging up and....’ And then after the tour with Priest and seeing how good they were, I mean, they don´t thrash like we do, but they were the same band like they were 15 years ago. So they kind of inspired me, they just, y´know, leave it open. And when it comes to the point when you either one of us wanna do it either as physically we can do it, hopefully that´s when we know to hang it up rather than stick around too long.”38-4

  On Ozzfest’s off-dates, they opened shows for Slipknot. July 11 at the Augusta Civic Center, Slipknot let Slayer play last. That night, the band shot the Still Reigning concert video, which captures Reign in Blood live.

  Staging Hell became a civic endeavor: The Augusta Fire Department loaned the Slayer crew a 5,000 gallon pumper truck and enough fire hose to push the blood from the back of the arena, through the backstage, to the manifold on the stage, and 35 feet up the effects rig, into a giant vat above stage, which was 40 feet long and 6 feet deep. Suspended above each band member was a 20-gallon barrel of fake blood.

  Before the show, Berve and his assistant constructed a 50-foot by 10-foot tank to be brought in between Slipknot and Slayer's sets. The tank consisted of a frame of 1-inch-by-four-inch boards covered with black plastic, and then lined with carpet, so the band didn’t slip and become a real casualty.

  In the afternoon, the band worked out the timing: When Araya yelled "from the lacerated sky,” the arena would go black. The group would hit marks on stage. And Berve would open the flood gates, dumping barrels of blood on the band.

  Then the lights would go up, revealing metal kings that suddenly looked like Carrie at her prom. As Slayer finished the song, the remaining 120 gallons of blood would rain down, backlit with white light, to make the dark downpour as visible as possible.

  During the concert’s climax, as planned, the stage went black, and the group hit their marks — except for Hanneman. In two minutes, a ton – 200 gallons at nine pounds a gallon – of red liquid poured onto the band.

  Without the benefit of a dress rehearsal, Hanneman missed his mark, and was barely been splashed. Araya, however, was exactly where he should have been.

  “He looked like he just came crawling out of hell,” remembers King.

  Backstage in locker room, Slayer posed for pictures with their longtime photographer Kevin Estrada, wiping blood out of their eyes like triumphant gladiators.

  “The cleanup was the real nightmare,” notes Berve. “After the show, we began cleaning off the stage immediately, so the crew could pack up and get on the road for the next night's show,” continues Berve. “Easier said than done. I had managed to dump somewhere around 200 gallons of blood on the stage during the show, which made the carpet extremely difficult to remove.”

  The band hadn’t considered one thing: After the blood hit, they had a minute left to play. Most of it didn’t require precision – in the Reign in Blood credits, the climactic guitar shredding is credited as “noise.” But their work wasn’t over.

  “I felt the blood hit, like ‘This is probably a bad idea,’” said King. “I felt my guitar neck, and it felt like I’d sprayed WD-40 on it. It felt like I was playing all over the place, but it worked. When we listened to the tapes, I thought I was going do have to overdub a lot, but it was there.”

  Lombardo wasn’t so lucky.

  They ten-camera shoot went off without a hitch; sound was a big problem. The big red bedlam sounded and looked great in the live-in-concert chaos at the Civic Center. On tape, removed from the hall, the instruments covered with syrupy theatre blood sounded like shit. The downpour saturated the microphones, caked the drums and cymbals, and rendered some of the audio tracks unusable.

  As it stood, the sound was unreleasable.

  The band was adamantly opposed to overdubbing – 1991’s double-live album Decade of Aggression skipped the time-honored metal tradition of fixing up live flubs in the studio.

  Instead of laying down new tracks, to salvage the recording, the band leaned on Kevin Shirley — a producer-engineer who has worked with Aerosmith, Iron Maiden, and the Black Crowes.

  Fixing the fallout from the blood rain summoned a firestorm.

  On his website, Shirley would write that the blood “makes the drums sound like wet cardboard boxes, and the cymbals sound a coffee mug being tapped with a spoon! I ended up manually replacing each and every cymbal hit (and there are thousands) and every drum hit with a sample from another song from earlier in the set, so they're still the same sounds.”38-5

  “Dave Lombardo called and explained to me that the signature song, ‘Raining Blood,’ was particularly gnarly,” recalled Shirley. “I told him I could fix them, which he was really happy about — but I had no video to see exactly what he was playing. Initially I fixed the essentials and sent him a rough mix, but he called and said there was much more playing. So in a very complicated procedure, I spent days replacing each and every cymbal and drum hit.”

  Proud of his accomplishment and a little loopy from the draining task, Shirley proudly posted news about the project on his website. Basking in his achievement, he forgot one of the music industry’s cardinal rules that governs communication from the lowest unsigned bands to the bigger stars (with the exception of Kerry King): If they know what’s good for them, nobody goes on record saying anything negative about anybody or anything. And everybody pretends that everything is totally under control and going according to plan.

  About the raw tracks, Shirley wrote, "It's OK — some places it rocks hard, and others are a bit sloppy, but I'm sure they won't use the whole concert. It was tough to mix."38-6.

  The news was quickly picked up by Blabbermouth.net, and Slayer management was quickly on the phone to their audio contractor. Blabbermouth noted that the posting was quickly altered to read, "The rest of the week I finished mixing a live Slayer set for a DVD, in stereo and surround, and it's great — it rocks hard, but it was tough to mix."38-7

  Feeling the heat, Shirley issued a mea maxima culpa two days later on website, writing with the remorseful tone of whipped dog: "I am embarrassed with myself, and appalled that I let my emotions get the better of me, and my uncalled for and unprofessional comment about Slayer should not reflect on the artists, but solely on me. There is nothing I can say to exonerate my unprofessional behavior. I don't know what I was thinking — suffice to say, sometimes strong emotions cloud one's view of the rest of the world. I am blessed in my life, but very occasionally, I am subject to bouts of depression, and don't care what anyone thinks. This was an occasion of a terrible
lapse of judgment on my part. I apologize."38-8

  Shirley would later explained the aforementioned heat on his website: Feeling betrayed by the violation of mixer-mixee confidentiality, the band was disputing the fee they had agreed to pay Shirley. Shirley said he was on the hook for the studio fees, and the studio had pressed theft charges against him, prompting his arrest. Once Slayer paid, he settled up with the studio, and moved on.38-9

  The episode didn’t seem to hurt Shirley’s professional credibility: In 2007, was hired to overhaul Led Zeppelin’s tepid live double album The Song Remains the Same – a call for a miracle worker if there ever was one.

  Before the mixing storm brewed, Slayer’s management approached Reel Efx, asking the company if they could present the raining blood effect every night for the band’s upcoming European tour.

  Reel Efx’s bid was too high, and Slayer went with another company, which would provide a budget version of the effect and rig. The cheaper blood was made with a coloring agent that, unlike the show blood from the DVD, stained the band, leaving the thrash kings’ skin tinted a lovely pink.

  Released in November 2004, The Still Reigning DVD captures the blood set.

  That fall, the band were playing their second Jägermeister Music Tour in a row, as its first ever back-to-back headliner. Slayer strategized about how to make it worthwhile for fans to come see the band again so soon. With a new DVD to promote, the idea was a no-brainer: Bring the blood. Slated for theaters, the tour would do well, no doubt — but dumping a ton of gore was expensive.

  This time, Slayer didn’t play the entire album, but closed with a Reign in Blood triple-shot: “Angel of Death,” “Postmortem,” and “Raining Blood.” The rain fell from the scaled-down rig based on the European design.

  The forecast didn’t always call for blood. Some venues couldn’t accommodate a suspended swimming pool. Sometimes, the FX crew encountered some technical problems and found themselves without working pumps.

  The band had some difficulties, too: Struggling with ongoing throat problems, Araya didn’t always feel like ending every night soaked in syrup.

  “One time, Tom pulled the plug on it because it was cold inside,” said King. “Like, come on, man: This is metal. There’s no cold involved.”

  At the time, King said they wouldn’t tour another album. The other albums, he said, are all longer, and none have quite the string unbroken string of favorites. Explained the guitarist, “Everybody likes Reign in Blood.”38-10

  With around 100 concerts played — most of them between June and October — 2004 was one of Slayer’s busier years. When Slayer returned to the U.S., the band splurged for their homecoming show is Los Angeles, They ordered Reel Efx’s non-staining blood concentrate. And December 17 ended Slayer’s year with a red Christmas.

  In April 2005, the Still Reigning DVD was certified gold, signifying 50,000 copies sold (for an original long form video not released theatrically). The next month, Revolver readers named it Best DVD in the metal magazine’s readers’ poll.

  “It was fun,” said Lombardo, reflecting on the live Reign experience for the Reign in Blood book. “I think it was an affirmation that we could still do it, that we haven’t slowed down a single bit…. I think it’s an affirmation of who we are and what we’ve stood for all this time. It’s still leaving and breathing in us.”38-11

  Click here to Google search “Slayer photos 2004”

  Chapter 39:

  6/6/06

  With Lombardo officially back in the fold, Slayer soldiered on for almost another decade of aggression. With Reign in Blood out of their system — or still in it — the band returned to touring and recording.

  Offstage, the classic lineup’s chemistry was different the second time around. Lombardo and his marital status weren’t raising tempers. By now, there wasn’t a bachelor in the band. Araya and Lombardo were busy parents. Lombardo had three kids (two sons and a daughter). Araya had two (a boy and girl). The singer’s family would settle on a Texas ranch, where they raised livestock as meat, not pets. The Hannemans remained childless, but raised Rottweilers — which, in many ways, represents a more relentless commitment than kids.

  Since the reunion, King had married for a third time. Even after two divorces, as always, he was no quitter. Explained the guitarist, “It took me three tries to get it right.”

  (In 2013, music site Loudwire ranked both Mrs. Araya and Mrs. King among its Hottest Rock Star Wives, alongside Gwen Stefani39-1.)

  King has a daughter from his first marriage, but no siblings followed. The Kings are prolific snake breeders, however. Their house has been home to dozens —sometimes hundreds — of reptiles, some of them pets, some sold via their Psychotic Exotics business. For the most part, King continued to live like he did when the band was in its infancy. He played guitar when the mood struck him. He listened to metal. He collected snakes. And Slayer was better off for it.

  "I'm still 17,” King told Cincinnati City Beat’s Alan Sculley at the time. “That's probably why our music kicks so much ass, because we're still kids. You don't have to grow up."39-2

  Friends concur.

  “To this day, when I see the Slayer guys, that’s what they’re like now,” says Doug Goodman, their early tour manager. “Super-grounded. None of them have changed at all. Staying so similar to how they were is kind of rare. They’re the same guys.”

  Metal, long on the wane through the 1990s, was back now. MTV had reintroduced Headbangers Ball in 2003. Thrash reared its head again, becoming the style of choice for new groups like Toxic Holocaust and rebounding old bands like Kreator and Death Angel. Slayer’s commercial prospects had waxed and waned, but the band had stayed the path. And the group still had career highs in front of them.

  Without a true current product to promote, Slayer hit the road anyway, mounting a modest tour of around 30 shows between May and July 2005.

  In the year of 6-6-06, the dark stars aligned, and the Reign in Blood team rode again.

  In 2006, the band released its ninth original full-length studio album, Christ Illusion.

  Rubin, as always, was still on board as executive producer. By this point, Slayer had long been his sole remaining client from the Def Jam days. But their relationship was still productive. They weren’t as tight with him as they once were. Rubin didn’t have to spend all night in the studio to put his stamp on a record — even for newer high-profile recruits like Slipknot and Linkin Park.

  “Rick Rubin is a really good boss,” Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington explained to journalist Jason Bracelin in 2007. “A really good boss kind of comes in, makes sure everybody’s doing their job — if they can do it better, he gives suggestions on how they can do it. But he sits back in his office, and somehow the office runs. You don’t really see him very often, everybody’s happy, the company’s making a ton of money. That’s more of what Rick Rubin’s like. He not going to come in and do the work for you. He’s not going to come in and push the buttons and sit down and tell how to play your guitar or which guitar you should go look at.”39-3

  Still, Rubin wasn’t just a label executive or a name on the Slayer albums. He might not have been a constant presence, but he remained connected to the group in a way that few could claim.

  “To this day, Jeff is the Rubin [friend] in the band,” King told me in 2007. “I don’t talk to Rick — not ‘cuz I don’t like him, but ‘cuz I never fuckin’ see him.”

  The on-site producer for the affair was Josh Abraham, a multi-threat in the studio with plenty of underground cred. After scaling the ladder with Danzig, Coal Chamber and Limp Bizkit, he would go on to work with Pink, Shakira, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Adam Lambert.

  The band returned back to its native soil, recording in two Southern California studios: NRG Recording Studios, a North Hollywood studio that specialized in lesser albums by artists such as Bon Jovi, Helmet, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Dave Navarro, and Stone Temple Pilots — in addition to Hootie and the Blowfish’s landmark Cracked Rear View. And W
estlake in Los Angeles, a institution that had hosted work for Boston, Alanis Morissette, Rage Against the Machine, Britney Spears, Van Halen, and Michael Jackson (Thriller).

  Larry Carroll returned for cover art, bringing his style back for an image of a dismembered Christ figure in a crown of thorns, standing in a sea of blood, surrounded by dismembered heads.

  Carroll doesn’t like explaining his work, but some exposition was necessary for this piece. A dozen intriguing details are hard to notice on a CD-sized version of the artwork: Wreckage in the background includes the Capitol Building and a wrecked World Trade Center. The Christ-like figure has a chest tattoo of another Christ-like figure with “JIHAD” written above it. The band vetoed including “SLAYER” in the ink, but subtle reference to the Reign in Blood cover appear in one of the shoulder tattoos and a rising bubble.

  “If the content is strong, why not have the image just as strong?” Carroll told Stylus. “I think [Slayer] really have something interesting to say. You can try to create an image that can provoke something, get you to think about or question something. You don't get a lot of opportunity in print to do that, unfortunately. So many people shy away from it. When you have an opportunity to do an image that is able to do something, that has some weight to it, then it's interesting to me.”39-4