SLAYER frontman Tom Araya is featured in a new interview with Sean McCourt at MetroActive.com. An excerpt is available below:

“We’re moving forward, and finishing up the year, basically so everyone can have closure,” Araya says. “It will allow fans to have closure too and we can all remember Jeff (Hanneman) one last time.”

Thousands of people, including family, friends and fans, attended a public memorial for Hanneman in late May at the Hollywood Palladium, and Araya says that these shows also offer a way to pay tribute to their departed comrade.

“It’s the old cliché, no one is ever really respected for what they do until they pass, and then you realize the profound effect that he had on a lot of people, and the effect the band has on a lot of people,” Araya says. “We have a banner

that we had made with Hanneman’s name on it and at the end of the set we drop it and the whole place goes nuts. I’m touched by that alone, that the fans have been very supportive, and coming out in droves.”

Go to this location for the complete interview.

To help mark the band's very first performance at the Hollywood Palladium in 25 years, Slayer will play a special, one-time-only set at their show this Sunday, October 27th. According to Kerry King, Sunday will be Old School Slayer Night, and the band's set list will be comprised of songs dating back to the band's inception, will include tracks from the genre-defining Reign In Blood as well as South Of Heaven, the band's second Gold album, up to and including 1990's Seasons In The Abyss, their third Gold disc.

"We're still putting together the set list," said King, "but we're going to make sure we play one or two rarities as well. Should be a lot of fun for the band as well as the fans."

Sunday and Monday's Palladium dates are part of Slayer's five-week North American headline tour - the band's first in two years - that kicks off this Friday, October 25th in Las Vegas. Slayer - guitarist King, Tom Araya/bass, vocals, drummer Paul Bostaph, and guitarist Gary Holt who continues to fill in for the late founding member Jeff Hanneman - will have GOJIRA and 4ARM support on all dates.

Tour dates:

October

25 - The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV
27 - Hollywood Palladium - Hollywood, CA
28 - Hollywood Palladium - Hollywood, CA
30 - Events Center at San Jose State - San Jose, CA

November

1 - WAMU Center - Seattle, WA
3 - Stampede Corrall - Calgary, AB
4 - Shaw Center - Edmonton, AB
5 - Praireland Park Center - Saskatoon, SK
7 - MTS Center - Winnipeg, MB
8 - Myth - Minneapolis, MN
10 - FunFunFun Fest - Austin, TX
12 - Bayou Music Center - Houston, TX
13 - South Side Ballroom - Dallas, TX
15 - Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL
16 - The Fillmore - Detroit, MI
17 - LC Pavilion - Columbus, OH
19 - The Fillmore - Washington, D.C.
20 - Stage AE - Pittsburgh, PA
21 - Ricoh Coliseum - Toronto, ON
23 - CEPSUM/University of Montreal - Montreal, QC
24 - Pavilion de la Jeunesse - Quebec, QC
26 - Oakdale Theatre - Wallingford, CT
27 - Theatre at MSG - New York, NY
29 - Susquehanna Bank Center - Camden, NJ
30 - Tsongas Arena - Boston, MA