Tom Araya Quotes

I follow politics, but I don`t like to discuss it.

I just don`t write musically, but lyrically, yeah I write.

I was born and raised Catholic.

If it were bad songs, yeah, I`d speak up, but they`re not bad songs.

We did like 12 shows, then we did the entire Ozzfest with the first half completely booked; then we did the second half with a couple days off here and there.

As long as it`s good music, that`s what`s important.

Because of time, we`ve learned that there are some things that you really have to maintain, like a normal home life; and that`s a plus.

From the heaviest of the heavy to classical to country, that`s what I listen to, I listen to a variety and I enjoy good music, good songs.

Oh yeah, our first tour in Europe they wouldn`t give me the time off from work.

That was the reasoning behind learning to play bass, and then after that it was more like it was neat to play songs together - for me to play bass and for him to play guitar.

We just bought a new house, so my wife`s been doing all the moving and other stuff, so I would like to go home and just sit and enjoy all that for a couple months before I gotta start playing again.

Fortune is either with you or it`s not.

Venom was a band that strongly influenced the image and the idea behind Slayer.

I went to school for about 2 years on a technical course, and I learned a lot. I learned about air mixture ratios and all the stuff; I learned how to draw blood.

After that I didn`t listen to music as much because `70s music just wasn`t... I remember all the songs, but it wasn`t because I was into them, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah I think that`s one of the biggest misconceptions towards the band. The biggest one is that we`re Satan worshippers, but next to that just the fact that we`re normal.

No, I have to really focus, especially when I`m writing because I wanna be good at it.

We flew out to go as a family, and it wasn`t bad. It was under a kind of dictatorship, I guess, but I didn`t witness anything stupid going on.

Sometimes I`ll sing the same verse through the entire song, because the other verses aren`t clicking. And when they do come to me, I`m in the middle of that same verse!

I had to be at least 8 or 9; I was listening to everything on the radio. You name it, I heard every song.

I would have to work on the song and figure out how they wanted the song done, because they`re such high-intensity songs. We figure that out first, then I go back and listen to it and go over and rehearse stuff with it and try to get a feel for the words.

I try to incorporate melody. Even though I`m screaming, I still like to think I bring melody into screaming.

We would just be learning to play Beatles songs and Rolling Stones songs of that time - of the `60s. That`s kinda what inspired me to play.

Whatever had been on the radio in the `60s; I mean we were always listening to the radio.

I read true crime books, and I read when people do case studies of stuff. I`m into books like that. Case studies or forensics or murder - all that good stuff.

I have a bunch of stuff written that we haven`t used, but I haven`t sat down and really focused on what to put toward the album.

As far as thinking about death and murder and various ways of killing people and how people die... I probably have the most twisted mind in Slayer.

I read a book recently by a psychiatrist who was able to interview a few serial killers and she had a thesis on how you could figure these people out. And she thinks that there are things that could tell you whether someone has the potential to do that.

I write, I write, I always write.