On Friday, Headbangers Ball Blog will present an exclusive podcast interview with Slayer singer and bassist Tom Araya. To whet your appetite for the complete conversation, here’s a sample of what we discussed. In addition to responding to Slayer’s Grammy nomination for “The Final Six” after winning last year’s Metal Grammy for “Eyes of the Insane,” Araya discussed how “The Final Six” came together, the meaning of the lyrics, and how the tune could wind up being a fatal prophecy.
Be sure to come back Friday to hear the full podcast, in which Araya discusses the highlights of 2007, his hopes for the new year, his belief in a higher power, the resurrection of thrash and why Slayer won’t be doing a Led Zeppelin-style reunion show in 2028 – if there’s still a planet, that is.
Headbangers Ball Blog: Tom, what was the highlight of 2007?
Tom Araya: I guess the highlight for me was the Grammy nomination. We won the Grammy this year and that, to me, was awesome. We got nominated a second time and then, to actually win it, that blew my mind.
Many people regard 1986’s Reign in Blood as Slayer’s best album, but back then it would have been ludicrous to think you would be nominated for a Grammy.
To me, that makes this even a prouder moment because it involves industry people. It’s everyone within the industry voting as to what they think is good. To actually get nominated you have to be written in. It’s a lot of the higher up industry people that literally do the nominations. So, for us to get nominated again, I just think it’s cool that they’re listening.
Last year, you won the Grammy for “Eyes of the Insane,” which is from Christ Illusion, the same album as “The Final Six.” That’s quite a coup.
The new one is one that we went back a year later, exactly to the day, and finished recording what we would have done in the first place had I not had my [gall bladder] surgery. That was amazing because there we were in May, and I was flying to LA to finish the vocals on the last song I didn’t do. And that was because Sony wanted to reissue the album. And here we are nominated again, which is awesome. That’s a great song. That’s an awesome song in my opinion.
Were you disappointed it didn’t make the original release?
Kind of, but under the circumstances it was okay because when we were working on it, we knew it was a good song, so when it didn’t get put on the album we were like, “Well, that’s fine. At least we have a song,” which is something we normally don’t have after a recording session. We had something that we could work on and do something with. So we put it on the shelf for whatever else is gonna come our way.
What is “The Final Six” about?
Me and [guitarist] Jeff Hanneman wrote that song. It’s a doomsday song. But it’s a song that pretty much paints a picture of the end of time, the apocalypse. It’s very basic and simple. Me and Jeff had worked on it, and then I had my surgery. It didn’t change much from the way it was originally written.
Doomsday songs used to seem like pieces of fiction. But now, with the melting of the polar ice caps, abundant natural disasters and global turmoil, it seems like we’re heading towards the end of days. Do you see these things as signs?
I’m aware. I’m not blind to things like that. I’m very open-minded to a lot of stuff. But the song itself, "The Final Six," that should be a clue. It was supposed to come out in 2006. And when you take the six and six and add them together, you get 12. The Mayan calendar ends in the year 2012, so the song was written in the premise of the final six years.
I’m sure a lot of people thought it was a reference to the final six in 666, which was the date on June 6, 2006.
Yeah, you can look at it that way because these are the final six years. And the premise of the song is that these are the final six years. I’m sure there are people that are out there that are into that kind of stuff and I’m into it. You pay attention to things. And there are a lot of things going on that are crazy. People killing each other. You know what I mean? That, to me, blows my mind. You have this gunman going into a Christian school, [the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado], because he was going to school but he was expelled or wasn’t accepted so he figured he’d go back and kill a bunch of Christians because he hated them because they didn’t allow him in school. And if it wasn’t for that one woman, [a security guard], that shot him, he would have killed over 100 people, easy. That blows my mind. It’s like, why? You look at that and you look at the fires and natural disasters. Yeah, they’re arson-set, but hey, they’re fires. They deplete the natural resources, not only trees but water to put them out. So, there’s a lot of stuff going on. And in all honesty, it would not surprise me if Hillary Clinton became the President and everything centers around Africa as far as what the song’s about. I think a lot of what’s gonna go down is gonna center in Africa because that’s where people can get away with stuff. What’s the one place that you would find really easy to blow up people? You know what I mean? And, so, I’m giving you my predictions. It seems like these are the pictures that were painted a lot of years ago, and the shit’s happening now.
Is it hard to raise children in an environment where the world might be gone in 20 years?
No, in six.
We’re trying to be optimistic here.
You know, I keep them with me. They’re with me all the time. Whatever happens, it’ll happen and at least we’ll be together. That’s the important thing to me.
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