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Slayer’s Tom Araya Opens Up For The Austin Chronicle

Fantastic interview where Araya gives a bit about his background, his religious views, and how he views himself nearing age fifty.  Here’s a clip of him discussing living and playing in the Lone Star State:

“Austin Chronicle: Now that you’ve lived in Texas 15 years, do you feel Texan?

Tom Araya: Yeah. Yeah, I sure do. I sure do. And I understand why there’s a whole Texas mentality. It’s very different from an American mentality.

AC: How would you describe it?

TA: Very proud. A very proud mentality. It all stems from the fact that Texas was a republic. Well, it’s still its own republic [laughs].

AC: By the time you moved to Palestine, Slayer had been playing Texas for years.

TA: Oh yeah. One of our very first tours, when we were on Metal Blade with Haunting the Chapel, we did here in Texas. That was at the very beginning of Slayer’s career.

AC: San Antonio has a reputation as one of the metal capitals of the world. Slayer’s played those places. Is the Alamo City’s reputation well earned?

TA: Yeah, very. San Antonio I remember very well because there was another band from that time that was from San Antonio. They had the same name: Slayer. We did a show with them and after the show we carried the name [laughs]. That was done in San Antonio – the metal capital.”

I will agree with Araya’s “metal capital” moniker given to San Antonio as Austin venues haven’t really shown that much interest for the big names of thrash/heavy metal since the Backroom closed.  Plus, the Austin scene is seemingly more favorable towards stoner metal/sludge and metalcore as opposed to groups like Slayer.

Regardless, I’m pumped for their San Antonio show tonight (along with Megadeth and Anthrax) as I had no idea that they would be playing Seasons in the Abyss from front to back.  Dave Mustaine and his crew will also be recreating Rust in Peace live (I believe), so this show has everything going for it.