Scorpion Q+A 96

Question

Hello Mr. ScorpioN,
I would like to know about Dave's relationship with Slayer. Did he really audition Kerry King for guitar? Thank you Mr. ScorpioN.

Answer

Technically Kerry King was not auditioned, he was asked to leave Slayer and join Megadeth. He ended up filling in for Megadeth's first shows in February 1984 to April of 1984.

Here is an interview with Kerry from Decibel magazine in 2006:

"I did it because I admired Mustaine ¬ó I'd seen him play with Metallica. He'd be up there drunk off his ass, just ripping, not even looking at his fingers. Me and Jeff didn't know how to do that yet. When he got kicked out and was sniffing around for a guitarist, I figured I'd do it because I thought I could learn something. The other guys in Slayer were probably unhappy, but we weren't really known back then, and the way I looked at it was that if people saw me playing in Dave's band, it'd be more publicity for Slayer. Now you look back and you think 'supergroup,' but back then, absolutely not. I played their first five shows, and then I was like, 'Man, this is taking too much of my time.' I can't speak for Dave, but I don't think he would've been unhappy if I stuck around."

As for Dave's relationship with Slayer, there is a long history of slagging in the press, mainly involving Kerry. Here is the last in-depth comment Dave made regarding Slayer, from 2005:

"I don't even expect to see things worked out with Kerry. If I'm willing to sit down and say, 'Hey what's going on, why are you upset?' and he's still going to call me a dick and a prick and all this stuff... it's like, 'Dude, if you want to fight, you know where I live!' I mean, if you are just trying to make yourself look cool, that's understandable... you are cool, so why would you do this? If you really want to take a shot at me then get within range, don't do it through the press because you just make yourself look stupid. I like Slayer, I really don't know what the problem is?"