“Me not being in Slayer sucks. I want Slayer to exist. This is the only way I know how to do that”: Thrash icon Kerry King on flying solo, the reunion shows that were never going to happen – and why he doesn’t demo with modelers

Kerry King lit up in red with his signature Dean Overlord.

After more than 35 years living on the West Coast and pouring all of his musical energy into a single band, Slayer co-founder and guitarist Kerry King is now in a different place – literally. In 2020, King and his wife Ayesha packed up their stuff and relocated to Tribeca in New York City.

“My wife is from here,” says King from the back table of the New York Tex Mex restaurant and bar Cowgirl SeaHorse in Lower Manhattan.