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Music Journalism
This interview with Alice in Chains drummer Sean Kinney appeared in Buzz Magazine of January 2009.
Although considered the newly resurrected gods of alternative metal and grandfathers of the noble grunge tradition, Alice In Chains are not invincible. Talking to founding member and drummer Sean Kinney, the last time he was in our fair land many years ago, he ended up in hospital, as he reluctantly revealed to me.
“Yeah, the last time I was [in Australia] I had a great time. Unfortunately I had to go to hospital. Jimmy DeGrasso [the drummer] from Suicidal Tendencies had to fill in for me when we went over to New Zealand. I can’t remember exactly what it was; it was a long time ago.
“I’m actually looking forward to getting over there [for Soundwave] and – well, you know – to not end up in hospital.” Nevertheless, it didn’t deter him from staying on, staying in Cairns for two weeks after his eventual recuperation.
Having been on hiatus for so long, Kinney remains cognizant of the weight of the expectation that he and the band must bear; he laments that his dear Alice almost disappeared completely, never to be seen again.
“Well, we sort of shut down when, back in the day, when things were really starting to blow up around us,” he caustically explains. “We made the wise career choice of never performing after releasing two number one albums back to back. So we stuck with that plan by not doing anything for ten years. Then of course Layne [Staley, singer], had passed away. This was something I didn’t foresee happening and it just naturally had taken its course.
“As long as it feels good and it’s cool and it’s genuine with us and we like it, it just kind of evolved to this point. Things are going along pretty great. It’ll be interesting too. It’s such a different world out there.”
The world he refers to is that of the music industry, which has undergone almost cataclysmic shifts since their time in the late 1990s – the age of the internet crept in and eventually exploded towards the dying years of their decade with the advent of Napster and more recently iTunes and Bit Torrents, a world Kinney has a critical eye on.
“It’s a world where people steal music and record companies can’t sell music,” he says, with a mix of excitement and disapproval. “They sort of screwed up. It’s such a different time and place; there are so many real unknowns now. It’s going to be really cool.”
When Alice in Chains were around the internet was no where near as powerful a medium
as it is today and the record companies who ignored its potential, according to Kinney, have paid the price.
“They f—ed up, man. They just didn’t pay attention.”
“The great thing is that you can get your music out to a lot of people. But on the flipside, people want it for free. Studio time isn’t free; we put a lot of money and effort into what we do. They expect us to be talking to them twenty-four hours a day on blogs and things.
It takes the mystery away, I think.
“We’re not from that ‘era.’ That was never really our ‘thing.’ It’ll be interesting to see
how we fit in, if we fit in.”
Talking from the famous Studio 606 in Los Angeles, Kinney and the band settled on
Grammy-award winner Nick Rasculinecz as producer, boasting an impressive CV having
been behind the desk for super groups such as progressive rock legends Rush, the Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver. According to Kinney, the genesis of the new Alice record was a humble process.
“Well, we had a few tunes happening and it got up to the point where we said ‘Hey, let’s
make a record.’
“So we started thinking about producers, and Nick’s the kind of guy like us; we don’t
use a lot of the stuff that people use nowadays, we’re not doing song inspections and
we’re not doing autotunes and s—t like that. We’re really old school. We actually play
everything you hear. (laughs) Sonically, he does some really great stuff. [He makes] what
you hear is what’s really going on, and we really liked that.”
According to Kinney, Nick is one of the more laid back producers in the rock scene,
content with having fun and making friends rather than pushing the band to their absolute
limits. “It wouldn’t surprise me though,” Kinney muses, “If he did something weird…but
I’ve seen a lot of weird s—t in my time and it’ll take a lot to throw me. So far it’s been
really cool.
“A few years ago Rolling Stone said that we’d never do it. Now here we are, making
music again and I’m honestly really excited about it. It’s amazing how life plays out like
that. If it feels right, and it’s for the right reasons then it happens. But you never know
where s—t is going to lead you.”
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This interview with Slayer’s Kerry King appeared at MetalAsFuck.net and TheMetalForge.com in October of 2009.
A Hulking, imposing and undisputed god of metal, Kerry King, guitarist of the fabled and celebrated Slayer talks to Metal as Fuck on their unprecedented tour of Australia in partnership with Megadeth.
While I was waiting for Slayer founding guitarist Kerry King to arrive at a conference room tucked away in a stately five-star hotel in Melbourne, Australia, a porter knocks on the door. I let him in, setting down two glasses of beer for us to enjoy. During the waiting, I thought to myself. If there was one story Aussie metal community gut-reacted to with incredulity this year, it was the teaming up of one half of America’s “big four” thrash metal bands teaming up for a tour. What seemed even more unbelievable was that they were touring Australia and New Zealand together.
Needless to say, the metal credibility of this marble floored, mahogany lined boardroom shot up a hundred-fold as the thrash superstar sat down next to a black t-shirt clad rock journalist, the stuffy hotel taking on a dark aura of down-to-earth, hard rocking metal - albeit briefly.
As for the tour, for King, he described it simply. “It’s been great.”
“I mean, I’ve been so fuckin’ busy,” he says. “I mean we’ve been so busy we haven’t even been hanging out after the shows. After we’re done, everyone [from Megadeth] has gone. I’ve never toured with them before; I’m not sure about their m.o., but yeah. They’re like ghosts to us,” he laughs.
To the dismay of many fans, Tom Araya, vocalist and bassist of the veteran quartet announced that their new record, World Painted Blood would likely be their third last album before Slayer hung up their boots and rested their necks permanently. King, however protests; “I don’t even know where that came from,” he said.
“Tom must have said something because I keep fielding questions about it. I don’t even know what that means. We don’t sit down and talk about shit like that; I hear stuff from the press, but who knows. It could be three; it could just be this one and the next one. It all depends on how long it takes between records. If it takes too long then yeah, the clock’s ticking.”
“I think it stemmed from [previous record] Christ Illusion, because it took us five years to make,” King explains. “I mean, I even said if it takes another five years to make a record it’ll probably be the last one; I mean it’ll be ten years with only two records done. But this one was done in three and the next one will be done in hopefully two or three. I’m having fun, and the live show’s awesome and we’re making up great tunes, kids are coming and having a great fuckin’ time.”
Fans would be too now that they’re touring on the back of their new album which features four different “panels” of a world map on each individual CD, each sold separately. King and the band begrudgingly consented to such packaging due to pressures from American retailers for “exclusive” content, leaving the integrity of the songwriting process intact.
He heaves a sigh. “I know fans are crazy and they’ll go out and buy them all,” he calmly explains, “but I’d be like ‘Oh, I got one, its got all the songs on it, its all I need.’
"But a lot of the retailers in America wanted exclusives on songs. Instead of wasting songs in my eyes, Dave [Lombardo, drummer] came up with this idea of why don’t we take [the artwork] and split it into four. I mean, what have we got in America; [alternative/underground store] Hot Topic wants their own version, [electronics retailer] Best Buy wants their own version; you know, I’m not going to waste songs like that.
“I mean if people are buying songs they should be able to buy the collection. I mean there are two left over though and I’m sure they’ll end up on a deluxe edition or a video game or a movie soundtrack somewhere along the line. It was a way of not wasting songs and keeping the retailers happy.”
While it upsets King and the band, it represents an “old way of thinking” on the part of retailers, much like Japan restricting foreign content by demanding bonus material in exchange for a guaranteed release.
“I know, and people used to do that because of not having simultaneous release dates,” he asserts. “I mean, I understood that; but now it’s within a day or two. There is a thing called the Internet. We folded to them this time around; we gave them a live track.
"That’s fine though; don’t think live tracks are that big a deal any more, especially when you can see us play on YouTube. They should be part of a collection.”
Just as Kerry was about to tuck into a chicken burger and fries to fuel his performance in less than an hour, I ask how he responds to the claim that they were “responsible for the creation of death metal.”
He puts his sandwich down to answer. “Well, the thing that I am more proud of than that, well, in my history anyway was bringing the metal and the punk crowd together,” he admits before taking a huge bite. “I think we were instrumental in that.
“I remember if you were at a metal show, there were no punk kids there. We were a kind of band that both ‘factions’ liked. It was trying to get them to co-exist, you know. D.R.I was a big part of that too, and I think that’s important. I mean it might be important to death metal fans and that’s great, but I’m not a huge fan of death metal. It’s just not my thing.”
Even though they’ve been at it for over 25 years, the band are still lambasted by Christian and parent’s groups for “obscene” and “controversial” lyrics – but not as much as Marilyn Manson, who has toned down his image in recent years as King recalls.
“On the last Mayhem Festival, I was hanging with Marilyn (with whom Slayer co-headlined) and we’re chilling and shit and he was telling me that he still has religious people bombarding his entrance.”
Unbelievable.
“I know! That’s what I said! Anyway, he might write an anti-Christian or anti-religion song once in a while, but we’re notorious for it. Maybe they just think we’re ‘untouchable’ now and they just want to fuck with Manson. It’s the weirdest thing.”
Australian fans are more welcoming however, although Kerry confesses that tour promoters only want Slayer once every album, he does enjoy playing here.
“I mean I’d love to come out more often,” he says. He even hates light touring schedules.
“Before we did Mayhem we used to only tour ten weeks, and that sucked. I’d say ‘We’re still popular, let’s go play!’ But then again you don’t want to over-saturate your audience too.”
Kerry King, like many other career metalheads is a “lifer”, he’s still excited to be writing, and performing and locked in the studio for the pure joy of the ride.
“Well, number one, I wouldn’t know what the hell else to do,” he jokes. “It’s cool to be who we are because credibility’s hard to come by in this business. It took a long time to get it and to keep it.
“We’re the kind of band that where if your older siblings or your parents like it, it’s not like you’re the devil, it’s like a brotherhood. It’s even in families, which is really weird; usually if the parents like it, the kids hate it. But in Slayer households, it’s okay. I think still being relevant after all this time is one of our greatest achievements.”
Many say that they’ve changed over the years, but King has a different take on it.
“Nah,” he muses, “I think we’re like the thrash metal version of AC/DC.”
In terms of longevity and impact, they certainly are; and hopefully will be into the future.