Metal Roos caught up with Kerry King at Australia's Good Things Festival for an exclusive interview. In the candid chat, Kerry dives into his post-Slayer journey and the creation of his new band, which he describes as a lineup of his best mates.

Kerry reflects on the iconic Slayer days, shares his passion for reptiles, and opens up about the artists he dreams of collaborating with, including the late, great Dimebag Darrell and Ronnie James Dio. Watch below.

Asked what's happening in the Slayer camp, Kerry says, "You know, we're never gonna tour again, we're never gonna make a record again. Mark my word, we are never gonna make a record again, we're never gonna tour again, because that was the last thing, we said, 'This is our final tour.' It took five years for us to come and say, 'Hey, here's a couple of shows, five-year anniversary.'

"I think it's really cool for, you know, a lot of fans are into it. There's gonna be haters who say, 'Oh, they retired.' Yeah. Whatever. This is all about celebration. Say a kid was 10 years old when we retired, now he's 15, 16. First opportunity to see us. I think that's important."

Later in the chat, King is asked if there is anyone he'd like to collaborate with, dead or alive. He answers, "That's not hard. I would go the 'dead' route, 'cause what's fun making up people that are alive. It's be [Ronnie James] Dio. I didn't get to know Dio long enough. I didn't meet Dio until 2006, and I was a huge fan. And when I met him, I was wasted. There was comedy, it was comedy. We were in Japan doing one of the festivals you do there, Beast Feast, Loud Park, whatever it might have been. And our production manager was Black Sabbath's old production manager, so he knew Ronnie. So, we're at the bar, I'm getting ready to go to bed. You play early in Japan, so... drunk comes a lot earlier than it normally would. But I was going to bed, you know, I can time myself good, I know when to go to bed. I see him over there with Ronnie James Dio, and I'm like, 'fuck, I'm gonna go meet Ronnie James Dio,' so I go fucking stumbling over to the table, I said, 'Charlie, why don't you introduce me to your friend.' And he stood up and said, 'Hey Kerry, how are you?' And I'm like, 'Ronnie James Dio knows my name, fuck yeah.'"

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

(Top photo - Andrew Stuart)