Slayer guitarist Kerry King and his solo band have been paying tribute to former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno by playing a cover of the Maiden classic “Killers” during their recent shows in Australia.
He was asked about the cover in a new interview and said, “ [Australia] is the first place we played ‘Killers.’ And it’s cool because even though my [debut solo] record’s [‘From Hell I Rise’] been out six, seven months, there’s still a bunch of people that don’t know it. A lot of people don’t even know I have a record. So, when I made up this setlist, I’m, like, ‘There’s gonna be a ton of people that never heard ‘Crucifixation’ [a song from ‘From Hell I Rise’], so why don’t we give ’em something they know instead?’ So that’s how we decided to do ‘Killers’.”
He added, “And when we do the headline [tour] in U.S. in January, we’re gonna continue to play ‘Killers’ too.”
Di’Anno passed away in October at the age of 66.
