Band interviews
Tom Araya: 'We'll Sell Records But We Won't Sell Our Souls'
August 24th, 2007
By Michelle J. Mills of DailyBulletin.com
"I'm a little biased, I would go with `Eyes (of the Insane)' because it's a Grammy Award-winning song. And I'm very proud to say that's it's a Grammy Award-winning song that I wrote," Tom Arraya, Slayer vocalist and bassist said of his favorite song from "Christ Illusion" (American Recordings).
The album, featuring the band's original lineup, Araya, guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King and drummer Dave Lombardo, was released in 2006 and re-released July 2007 with new songs and a bonus DVD. The track, "Eyes of the Insane," garnered Slayer the honor of "Best Metal Performance" in February.
"Christ Illusion," like many of their other efforts, makes a statement, this time the band is attacking the United States government on its dealings with the war in Iraq. Araya quickly amends his favorite song choice as the tune, "Jihad," because of its intensity.
"Every time I do that song live I have to walk away and take a deep breath and just chill," Araya said.
Born in Chile, Araya grew up with his six siblings in Maywood and Huntington Park. The family's love of music began with oldest sister, Anna, who played clarinet in her high school band, which sparked next-in-line Cisco (Francisco) to take up the instrument. He discovered guitar, which prompted Araya to pick up the bass. His younger brother, John, plays guitar and bass and is in the thrash metal band Thine Eyes Bleed.
Encouraged by his sister who was an emergency room nurse, Araya studied to be a respiratory technician and worked at a hospital for five years while Slayer, which formed in 1981, was getting on its feet. His job helped pay for the first two albums and other band needs. He finally quit when they were ready to tour.
Hanneman and King write most of Slayer's music and the two, plus Araya, all pen the lyrics. Araya and Hanneman like to collaborate together on ideas, while King prefers to work alone.
"Kerry likes to present his songs complete and that's pretty much how they stay. It's the more experimental songs, the songs that have a little soul. You can tell the difference," Araya said.
Araya's writing is inspired from many sources - television, newspapers, magazine, movies and books. He will often clip out something he's read to use later. He tends not so much to make statements, but rather to share what he's read or seen with his listeners and prod them to think about the subject further.
"I like to choose words and play with words and try to paint the picture as vivid as possible. It's fun because with me, English is my first language although it's not my native language, so a lot of the time I'll write something down and then I'll go to the dictionary and look up each word and see how it sits well with what I've written," Araya said.
He keeps an arsenal of assistance at hand when he writes, including a dictionary, a thesaurus and a rhyming dictionary.
"I remember going through a rhyming dictionary thinking it's kind of ridiculous, but there's certain words, they sound similar and when they sound similar it makes them all that. And then you discover this new word and you're like, `Whoa, it sounds so close to this, but it means something completely different,' " Araya said.
This drive for lyrical perfection is in keeping with the band's dedication to its music for the past 25 years.
"I'm thinking what our staying power is, I guess it's our integrity, it's staying true to what we create that comes naturally for us. We haven't deliberately done anything to purposely make a change. If we do change, it's something that's come naturally, it's not something we've forced upon ourselves because it's the in thing like, `We're writing a song like this because our manager wants us to sell records.' We'll sell records but we won't sell our souls," Araya said.
Another factor in their longevity is the spacing of their albums. By not releasing an effort every year, Slayer allows time for new people to discover the band and, in turn, they become fans, purchasing the newest as well as past efforts.
When he's not busy with Slayer, Araya spends time on his Texas ranch with his wife, Sandra, and their children, Ariel, 11, and Tommy, 8.
"They make me go out and jump on the trampoline. It's everybody, not just the two of them, the three of them get me on the trampoline. They keep me active. I play basketball with them," Araya said.
He also enjoys taking care of his black Angus cattle - a bull, four heifers and four calves, as well as reading, playing the guitar and singing. Araya's children are beginning to discover music, too.
"Apparently while I was gone, my kids were doing little shows for my wife. She would sit on the grass and they would get up on the porch and do a song together or dance. I'm hoping that they do follow me, if only just for fun. It's about having fun, and if your fun starts making you a lot of money - awesome," Araya said.
After this tour, Slayer plans to take a break and then get together to discuss the future. For now though, Araya is focused on the tour and Slayer's fans.
"We want to pound your face for 70 minutes with sensory overload, lights and sound, and you're not only hearing it, but you're feeling the music and I think that's the best part of what we do. We know it's an awesome show because the crowd is so into what they're doing they don't even know that we're there. That's what you want, you want it to be them. It's all about them having a good time," Araya said.