Beyond the veil: August 2013

"Jeff Hanneman: Hell awaits"

Everybody in the world of metal, is acquainted with Jeff Hanneman. He was the founding member of the archetypal thrash metal band Slayer who shredded his guitar for Slayer for over 3 decades and also contributed to the lyrical content of the band. Most of Slayer's signature songs like "South of Heaven", "Raining blood", "Angel of death", "Season of the abyss", etc. were written by Jeff, and those songs are the most prominent Slayer numbers to this day. What Jeff has contributed to extreme metal is beyond one's margin of appreciation and cannot be simply, summed up in words.

Jeff holding a Heineken

Jeff was born on January 31, 1964 in Oakland, California as Jeffrey John Hanneman. During 1984, he, former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Suicidal Tendencies's guitarist Rocky George were involved in a punk side project called "Pap smear". But before that in 1981, Hanneman and Kerry King had decided to form Slayer and the duos would cover Iron Maiden and Judas Priest numbers during rehearsals. So to avoid conflict within the bands, Slayer's producer Rick Rubin enticed Jeff to focus entirely on Slayer and not involve in any side projects. He took his advice and Pap Smear split up, merely as a fugitive, obscure side project with only a demo in their name. Two of the songs from the demo, "Ddamm(Drunk drivers against mad mothers)" and "Can't stand you" were included in Slayer's 1996 cover album Undisputed Attitute.

Jeff's lyrical content covered a variety of deviant topics such as war, genocide, Satanism and everything anti-social and extreme. Most notably, warfare. Actually Jeff was born and raised in a family consisting of war veterans, his father being a fighter in WWII who fought for the Allies and his brothers who fought in the Vietnamese war. So his lyrical content had a lot to do with his upbringing. He was an avid collector of WWII memorabilia, claiming The Knight's cross as his most prized possession among his collection.

"Sport the war, war support

the sport is war, total war

when victory's a massacre

the final swing is not a drill

it's how many people I can kill."

-War Ensemble(Season in the abyss)

If metal bands had to be represented in terms of wrestling divisions, Slayer would've unquestionably made the heavyweights division. They released 11 equally praised studio albums, among which Jeff's favorite was Reign in blood. Slayer maintained consistency throughout all their albums and never disappointed it's enormous fan base. Jeff's and Kerry's soul crushing riffs, Tom's shrilled vocals and Dave's thunderous drumming resulted in creating the most hateful music one could bear. And the audacious lyrical content added more to their already sinister sound. Slayer had it's own unmistakable sound which were impeccable to any ear. Jeff drew his musical style and influence from heavy metal bands like Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and hardcore punk bands like Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, Minor Threat and Circle Jerks. He also had a symbol on his guitar that read "DK" referring to the band Dead Kennedys. That typical thrash sound with a heavy punk influence is the sound that inspired many bands and pioneered many genres. A number of ground breaking bands like Possessed, Deicide, Sepultura, Vader, Mayhem, At the Gates, Kreator, Pantera, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Zyklon, Chimaira, Six Feet Under, Unearth, Decapitated, Obituary, In flames sight Slayer as major inspiration without which some of the greatest extreme albums would've never been created. For pioneering the sound of thrash metal and leaving a vast impression on many extreme bands, Slayer is included in "The Big Four" with the likes of Megadeth, Metallica and Anthrax.

Jeff married Kathryn in 1997 whom he had met in the early 80's. He was a resident in Los Angeles where his wife stayed while Slayer toured. He was a heavy cocaine abuser like his bandmate Tom Araya, who decided to quit after realizing the fatal consequences of drug abuse.

Jeff with his wife, Kathryn

In January 2011, Jeff suffered from a rare flesh-eating skin disease called Necrotizing fasciitis triggered by a spider bite during his visit to a friend's house in L.A. Kathryn recalled the incident in August, 2013's edition of Guitar World magazine:

"Jeff had been visiting a friend in the L.A. area. He was in the Jacuzzi one night relaxing, and he had his arm over the side, and he felt something, like a bite or a prick. But of course he didn’t think anything of it. He came home about a week later, and he was pretty well lit when he came through the front door. He wasn’t feeling well, and he just wanted to go upstairs and go to sleep.

Before he did he said, ‘Kath, I need to show you something, even though I really don’t want to.’ And he took off his shirt, and I just freaked out when I saw his arm. It was bright red and three times the normal size. I said, ‘Jeff, we need to go now. We need to get you to the ER.’ But all he wanted to do was go to bed and sleep, and I knew that I was trying to rationalize with a very intoxicated person. So there was nothing I could do that night. But the next morning I convinced him to let me take him in. He didn’t have a lot of strength, but I was able to get him into the car.

When we got to the hospital in Loma Linda, they took one look at him and they immediate knew what it was, so they took him right in. Jeff told me to go home because we both knew he’d be there for hours and neither of us thought it would be a life-or-death situation.

About three or four hours later, Jeff called me and said, ‘Kath, it’s not good. They may have to amputate. I think you need to come back here.’ When I got there, Jeff was on the stretcher waiting to go into surgery, and the doctor put it in perspective for me. He said, ‘I need you to see your husband. He may not make it.’ The doctor looked at Jeff and told him, ‘First I’m going to try to save your life. Then I’m going to try to save your arm. Then I’m going to try to save your career.’ And looking at Jeffon that stretcher and possibly saying goodbye, knowing that I may never see him again… was one of the hardest moments of my life.

I couldn’t get Jeff to go to rehab or therapy. I think he was letting the visual of his arm get to his emotions, and it was messing with his mind. It was hard to keep him upbeat at that point.

I think he thought he could do this on his own — that he would just to go rehearsal and play, and that that would be his rehab. But I think he started to learn, once he tried rehearsing, that he wasn’t playing up to his ability and that he wasn’t able to play guitar at the speed he was used to. And I think that really hit him hard, and he started to lose hope."

The incident inflicted physical and emotional pain on Jeff. During his absence in Slayer, his spot was filled in by Exodus guitarist Gary Holt and Cannibal Corpse guitarist Pat O'Brien who played in the Australian Soundwave Festival tour in February, 2011.

On May 2, 2013, Jeff eventually succumbed to death. Although Jeff had been battling with the vicious flesh eating disease, it was not Necrotizing fasciitis that led him to death(as many speculate). Jeff died of liver failure, an alcohol-related cirrhosis in a local hospital near his home in L.A at the age of 49. He and his family had been oblivious of his deteriorating condition until shortly before his death.

Slayer made the news of his death public through their official Facebook page. His sudden demise came as a big upset to the metal community with an outburst of condolences right after the announcement. Big bands, small bands and musicians from all over the world paid their tributes to the lost legend through networking sites by sharing his accomplishments, music and pictures all over the internet.

Jeff's final performance with Slayer was at the "Big Four" concert in Indio, California in April, 2011. Here's a youtube video link of Slayer playing Angel of death at the concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m0YWTwnKkY

A list of illustrious bands and musicians also paid homage to the deceased guitarist through their kind words.

Dave Lombardo- "I'm deeply saddened shocked and speechless. It's difficult for me to write my feelings at this moment. My heart goes out to #KathyHanneman."

Dave Mustaine- "We send our condolences and deepest sympathies to the family, friends, and fans of Jeff Hanneman. Our hearts go out to his brothers in Slayer. Tonight one less star will be shining and sadly, the stage got just a little bit darker. Jeff Hanneman 1964-2013."

Metallica- "RIP Jeff Hanneman" [with a picture of Jeff and James Hetfield attached]

Mike Portnoy- "WOW....I'm in shock...RIP Jeff Hanneman....wow...."

Testament- "R.I.P. Jeff Hanneman, brother in thrash."

David Draiman- "RIP TO A TITAN OF METAL"

Relapse Records- "R.I.P. Jeff Hanneman a true icon & inspiration. We'll be blasting Slayer all week in his honor"

Pantera- "RIP Jeff Hanneman. Slayer is devastated to inform that their bandmate and brother, Jeff Hanneman, passed away at about 11AM this morning near his Southern California home. Hanneman was in an area hospital when he suffered liver failure. He is survived by his wife Kathy, his sister Kathy and his brothers Michael and Larry, and will be sorely missed.

Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 - 2013)"

In Flames- "We are so devasted to hear about the passing of Jeff Hanneman. One of the greatest have passed on and please, stop for a moment and pay your

respect to this fantastic man. This is a tragedy"

Suffocation- "Rest in Peace Jeff Hanneman you will surely be missed."

Robb Flynn- "Still can't believe that Jeff Hanneman from Slayer is dead, things like that just don't happen. Thrashers don't die??!! WTF!!??

I'm not going to sit here and say how him and I were best buds or something, we definitely weren't, I'd barely call us acquaintances, I did 8 tours and over 120 shows with the dude and honestly, I never really got to "know him". I was always closer with Kerry. Jeff was super quiet, really kept to himself, would get rowdy when he was drunk, but was a bit aloof, and seemed annoyed at the people partying around him despite the fact that he himself would be getting hammered.

I can remember some good hangs with him though. The first was in Basel, Switzerland back in November, 1994 when Machine Head was main support to Slayer on the Divine Intervention tour. It was one of those shows were something so random happens it just never leaves you, in this case, the show was sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes and every kid entering the show got 2 free packs of smokes. I've never seen so much smoke in a venue in my life. I remember walking onstage and yelling at our roadie / everything-guy Mike Scum, "DUDE, turn off the fuckin' smoke machine", he said "YOOOOO, it's not the smoke machine bro, it's the cigarettes!" It was damn near impossible to breath onstage. After the show we were hanging backstage and Jeff walked back, we started bitching about the crazy cigarette show, and he invited me back to the dressing room to grab a beer, we sat down and chatted for a while, and then I went all Slayer-nerd on him and started grilling him on what songs he wrote.

Me: "Who wrote Angel Of Death?"
Jeff: "I did"
Me: "Lyrics too?"
Jeff: "Yep"
Me: "Reign In Blood?"
Jeff: "Me"
Me: "Dead Skin Mask?"
Jeff: "Yep"
Me: "South Of Heaven?"
Jeff: "Me"
Me: "Black Magic?"
Jeff: "You know it"
Me: "Hell Awaits?"
Jeff: "Yep"

On and on it went, that man wrote both the music and lyrics to a large goddamn portion of my favorite Slayer songs. He was a huge influence on my songwriting growing up in particular with arrangements and the bold use of key changes. The one thing Slayer band always had over so many other bands is they were all over the guitar neck when it came to key changes. Leads would be in some of the most random keys ever, but somehow it made it all that much more frantic, and when the chorus kicked back in, BOOM! CRUSHING! Set up perfectly. He was one of the few metal heads I met who never really got into Pantera, he told me he "liked some stuff", but thought they we're "too bluesy at times", and that he "liked more evil notes or sad riffs"

Another good memory was sharing a tour bus on the August 2001 Korean / Japan / Australia tour, it was all fly-dates and hotels, we were sharing crew, tour manager and manager, so we all rode on the bus together to and from the airport to the hotel every day. Sometimes the rides were an hour or two, so you'd just all BS and hang. One time a kid in Australia bum-rushed the bus while we were all sitting in it, hammered after partying one night. He was desperate for autographs and came on the bus screaming (what else?) "SLAAAAAAAAAYYYYYEEEEERRRR!!!" He then saw me and went all, "Oh shit, Robb Flynn, mate I fuckin' LOVE Machine Head, but it's fuckin' SLAAAAAAAYYYYYYYEEEERRRRR", I looked the fucker right in the eye and slurred, "Oh just FUCK RIGHT OFF!!"

Hanneman fell out dying, he laughed for 10 minutes straight, cracked him up, that slightly feminine high pitched giggle that he always did.

Dude backed me when Kerry King and I were beefin' all that time long ago, he would come up to me at festivals and would talk, just be normal. He even backed me in Decibel magazine when they asked him about the beef, saying "Robb is a good dude", and that "Kerry was like the girlfriend of the band, always beefin' with someone". I got a good laugh outta that.

The last memory I'll share is from the American leg of the Divine Intervention tour in March 1995. It was Slayer band, Biohazard supporting, and Machine Head opening. We were playing the International Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia. He had been sitting out some of the new songs from "Divine", which was odd to me. We were hanging out in their dressing room before the show, just him and I, and I mustered up the nerve to ask him what the deal with it was. At first he joked that he just "didn't feel like learning them, didn't like 'em, Kerry wrote them", he was chuckling, and then he stopped. He looked down and got serious. He said he'd been having a lot of pain in his wrists, his hands and wrists were going numb all the time, and would go numb during those songs because they were really fast, then he started to cry. It was a startling confession. I offered some awkward feel-good comment, but he just continued to cry, and I decided to sit there in the silence with him for a minute. He gave me a hug, and said "Whoa!", and laughed, walked out toward the stage, turned back and said "thanks dude".

It was an intense moment, one of those rare, intense moments you have with someone, let alone with someone from another band.

It made me really respect the dude.

That's the Jeff I'm gonna remember.

To Kerry, Tom, Dave, Paul, Rick Sales Mgmt and Jeff's family, my sincere condolences.

R.I.P brother."

(Source: www.metalinjection.net)

Long-time band mate Kerry King's speech at Jeff Hanneman's memorial celebration at The Hollywood Palladium:

Tribute to Jeff at Revolver Golden Gods Awards 2013:

Slayer is incomplete without Jeff. He was the living pillar of metal music who contributed a lot to the genre and took metal to extreme heights with Slayer. Slayer will never be the same without him.

Born on: 31st January, 1964

Birthplace: California, U.S.A

Band(s) involved: Slayer, Pap Smear

Passed on: 2nd May, 2013

Cause of death: Liver failure

SLAYER IN WARSAW, POLAND 2013

Slayer's played their first show without Jeff on 4th June at Impact Fest 2013 in Warsaw, Poland. Gary Holt (ex-Exodus) and former Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph filled in the spots for Jeff and Dave Lombardo respectively who was booted out of Slayer due to personal conflicts within the band.

Here is Slayer playing South of Heaven with the new line-up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FLsT_uXJUSc

DOWNLOADS

REIGN IN BLOOD [1986]

Tracks:

1. Angel of death

2. Piece by piece

3. Necrophobic

4. Altar of sacrifice

5. Jesus saves

6. Criminally insane

7. Reborn

8. Epidemic

9. Postmortem

10. Raining Blood

DOWNLOAD

HELL AWAITS [1985]

Tracks:

1. Hell awaits

2. Kill again

3. At dawn they sleep

4. Haunting the chapel

5. Praise of death

6. Necrophiliac

7. Captor of sin

8. Crypts of eternity

9. Hardening of the arteries

DOWNLOAD

Jeffrey John "Jeff" Hanneman: Slayer

INTERVIEWS OF JEFF

VIDEO INTERVIEWS

PAP SMEAR DEMO (1986)

SLAYER IN WARSAW, POLAND 2013

DOWNLOADS