As one of the most revered thrash metal axemen of all time, Slayer’s Kerry King is a guitarist first and foremost. But he can sing, too.
Aside from the occasional backing vocals, King sticks to the guitar — especially in Slayer. However, like many songwriters, he demos material with his own scratch vocals to lay down his ideas.
In the case of his solo debut, From Hell I Rise, those scratch demos were then handed over to Death Angel’s Mark Osegueda, who performed vocals on the final recordings and assumed the role of frontman in King’s solo band.
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In a new interview with The SDR Show, King was asked about those demos and what his singing voice sounds like.
“I just sound like an angry white punk kid… I think it sounds kind of adolescent,” King admitted [as transcribed by Blabbermouth], adding that most of the demos were first takes.
He continued: “I just put it on there so we had something existing. I knew I didn’t wanna sing because I can’t sing and play that much. The easy parts, yeah, but not like Zakk [Wylde] or James [Hetfield] does. They’re crazy vocalists that play crazy riffs underneath what they’re singing. I don’t know how they do it.”
Apparently King isn’t too embarrassed of his singing ability. When asked if he would ever consider releasing his demos with scratch vocals, he replied: “I’m not against it.”
“If you ask me, like, what if Glenn Tipton sang all the [Judas] Priest songs…” King pondered. “Would you wanna hear it? I’m, like, that’s a weird scenario, ’cause it’s fucking Rob Halford. But I’d be curious. It’s intriguing.”
King and his solo band are currently supporting Lamb of God and Mastodon’s co-headlining North American tour (get tickets here). The shows pick back up on Tuesday night (August 13th) with a gig in Moorhead, Minnesota, with dates running through the end of August.
Watch the full interview with Kerry King below.