Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel has had a couple of insanely busy weeks. After finishing his final tour with Machine Head, Demmel was immediately asked to join Slayer on tour as their guitarist Gary Holt’s father was sick.
On top of just straight up jumping into a second tour, Demmel also managed to learn Slayer’s 19 song set in just two days! In an interview with Metal Casino the guitarist explained how it all happened. “I wrapped up the Machine Head tour – I quit Machine Head, did our last show – and the next day I got a text from Kerry King saying, ‘Do you think you can learn 19 Slayer songs and be out here in two days?”
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He continued “So, my wife had been at home with our son and running our business, and I had been gone for two months. And I showed her the text. She was so happy to have me home. So I showed her the text, and she had said, ‘You’ve gotta go. You have to go do it.’ So I started studying [the songs] on the plane. And I came out and played my first show [Monday] night.” Watch the full interview below.
Watch: Machine Head’s Phil Demmel talks Slayer gig
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ZA3WWS4nc
On the first gig with Slayer, Demmel said “I had to concentrate on what I was playing [live], so I’d look up every once in a while [and see the crowd]. Scott Ian was just saying that some of the guys were running back: ‘It’s his first night, and he’s yelling at the audience.’ I was feeling it. Sometimes I tend to smile onstage, and there’s no smiling in Slayer. You can’t smile onstage. So, yeah, I felt very welcomed by everybody.”
Watch: Slayer – “Repentless”
