Tom Araya Quotes

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.

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

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

I am not an atheist; I believe in God. But my religion ends there. I have my own personal belief system that is so strong it allows me to do what I do. I dont have to worry about going to Hell because of Slayer, you know? Everyone has a personal belief system and believes in life somehow.

Sometimes when I've gone out and murdered somebody I go and confess and stuff. And then God loves me again.

I follow politics, but I don't like to discuss it.

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.

People are not in good shape to where they have to question their own belief system because of a book or a story somebody wrote, or a SLAYER song.

I write, I write, I always write.

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.

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

Fortune is either with you or it's not.

A good wine has many qualities I think. If drunk moderately, it is healthy and good for your heart.

I was born and raised Catholic, so it's in my blood. I don't go to church... I was born and raised Catholic, which is about the extent of my religion. My parents made one request: that I have my first Holy Communion.

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 was born and raised Catholic.

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?

Oh yeah, our first tour in Europe they wouldn't give me the time off from work.

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 just don't write musically, but lyrically, yeah I write.

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.

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

I believe in a supreme being, yeah. But He's an all-loving God.

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

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

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

When I do interviews, I enter them with an open mind and try to answer the questions the best I can.

Our album 'Show No Mercy' came out in late '83, and we did three or four shows in San Francisco after the release. That was our first experience with stage-divers, crowd-surfing, people walking on people across an entire crowd.