Slayer delaying recording as guitarist battles illness
Don’t expect a new album from Slayer to come anytime soon but it’s for a good reason. The band is staying out of the recording studio until guitarist Jeff Hanneman finishes fighting off a rather nasty illness. Hanneman is suffering from necrotizing fasciitis which is a flesh eating bacteria that he got from a spider bite. Bassist/singer Tom Araya tells Billboard.com “There’s no way we’d go into a studio without him.” He adds, “He’s an integral part of the band. We require his musical skills, his writing skills. He’s an integral part of the band. So we’re going to hold off until he’s at 100 percent and can join that process and be part of it.”
Slayer is still playing shows, however, and have Exodus guitarist Gary Holt playing in Hanneman’s stead. The last time Hanneman hit the stage with Slayer was in April at the Big Four of Thrash show in Indio, CA. He played the songs “South of Heaven” and “Angel of Death” with his bandmates. Araya says that what Hanneman is going through is “pretty severe…He’s had skin grafts, and he’s got to rehabilitate his arm and get it back in shape again. It’s going to require a lot of time.”
Slayer is playing the Big Four show on September 14th at Yankee Stadium and also have dates lined up in South America in June and with Rob Zombie starting July 20th throughout North America. All the dates are at Slayer’s website. We’re wishing Jeff a speedy recovery so that he can get back out there and melt a shit ton of faces.
Tags: Slayer
