Kerry King joined Australia's Wall Of Sound for a chat backstage at Good Things Festival, discussing his solo project's masterclass lineup, how the touring differs from his time in Slayer, and his favourite tattoo. Kerry also shares a personal anecdote about Dimebag Darrell on the eve of the 20th anniversary of his tragic passing.
Asked if there is a favorite moment he has with Dimebag, Kerry responds, "Oh, tons of them. It was after Dime had passed, and I was hanging Vince [late Pantera drummer Vinnie Paul]... we were actually at Dime's induction into the Rock Walk at the Hollywood Guitar Center and, you know, all the guys - I was there, [Jerry] Cantrell was there, Slash was there, Zakk [Wylde] was there, I'm probably forgetting some people, but Vince was there too, and I just started to tell this story that Vince had never heard. A year or two prior I was doing my own little guitar clinic, so to speak, and one of the guys, I can't remember what city it was in, but he's like... Dime pulls up in his limo and falls out of the limo and, you know, just makes believe he's just obliterated. And the guy doesn't know what to say, and he's going, 'what do we do, what do we do?,' and Dime snaps out of it and he says, 'jerked you off, didn't I?'" (laughter all around). Kerry adds, "Sounds like him."
Watch the interview below:
Kerry King and his solo band - drummer Paul Bostaph (Slayer), bassist Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah), guitarist Phil Demmel (Machine Head), and vocalist Mark Osegueda (Death Angel) - have announced their "European Tour 2025". The group are touring in support of Kerry's debut solo album, From Hell I Rise (RPM).
The European dates kick off on July 29 in Frankfurt, Germany, and are currently scheduled to wrap up on August 19 in Krakow, Poland.
European dates:
July
29 - Zoom Saal - Frankfurt, Germany *
30 - Simm City - Wien, Austria *
August
1 - Rockstadt Extreme - Transylvania, Romania *
4 - Komplex 457 - Zürich, Switzerland *
6-9 - Brutal Assault Festival - Jaromer, Czech Republic
7 - FZW - Dortmund, Germany *
8-10 - Alcatraz Festival - Kortrijk, Belgium
12 - Academy 2 - Manchester, UK *
13 - SWX - Bristol, UK *
14-17 - Motocultor Festival - Carhaix, France
17 - Dynamo Festival - Eindhoven, Netherlands
19 - Tauron Arena - Krakow, Poland *#
* Newly announced shows
# Supporting Gojira
King will hit the road for the twenty-eight date "North American Headline Tour 2025". With Municipal Waste as Special Guest and Alien Weaponry supporting, the tour is set to launch in San Francisco on January 15, and wrap at House of Blues in Las Vegas on February 22. Tickets can be purchased here. The complete itinerary is below.
“Getting back on the road for the first time in five years wasn’t exactly like riding a bike, that’s for sure,” King acknowledged. “I’ve never had that much time off, but the first tours with my new band – in the UK and Europe, and then in America with Lamb of God and Mastodon - were all total blasts. We’ll be headlining on this next tour, so we’re playing a longer set than we did with Lamb of God and Mastodon. We've got a little bit of a learning curve, so will start rehearsing the first week of November. And we might put an extra Slayer song into the set and learn a cover song or two.”
North American dates:
January
15 - The Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA
17 - Spokane Live Casino - Spokane, WA
18 - Showbox SoDo - Seattle, WA
19 - Roseland Theater - Portland, OR
20 - Commodore Ballroom - Vancouver, BC (Canada)
22 - The Palace Theatre - Calgary, AB (Canada)
23 - Midway Music Hall - Edmonton, AB (Canada)
25 - Burton Cummings Theatre - Winnipeg, MB (Canada)
26 - The Fillmore - Minneapolis, MN
28 - The Rave - Milwaukee, WI
30 - The Majestic Theater - Detroit, MI
31 - House of Blues - Cleveland, OH
February
1 - Danforth Music Hall - Toronto, ON (Canada)
2 - L'Olympia - Montreal, QC (Canada)
4 - Royale - Boston, MA
5 - Theatre of the Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA
7 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY
8 - Baltimore Soundstage - Baltimore, MD
10 - Buckhead Theatre - Atlanta, GA
11 - Jannus Live - St. Petersburg, FL
13 - House of Blues - Houston, TX
14 - Emo's - Austin, TX
15 - The Studio at the Factory - Dallas, TX
17 - Ogden Theatre - Denver, CO
18 - Sunshine Theater - Albuquerque, NM
19 - The Nile Theater - Phoenix, AZ
21 - House of Blues - Las Vegas, NV
22 - The Fonda Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
