Slayer 66 2/3: The Jeff & Dave Years. A Metal Band Biography. (51 page)

On April 1, Metal Sucks posted an April Fool’s Day story claiming that Araya couldn’t play an upcoming tour, and he would be replaced by former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted. At that point, without the behind-the-scenes information, the fake news seemed believable.

FALLOUT

 Lombardo didn’t waste time waiting for a reconciliation. He couldn’t afford to.

In March 2013, Lombardo decided he wanted to renegotiate his contract with his ex-wife Teresa, too. He filed a request to set aside key parts of his divorce agreement. The divorce settlement was, he said, a bad deal — and one that he shouldn’t have entered into in the first place.

“I am 48 years old,” he declares at the beginning of the document. “I have no formal education other than a high school diploma. I am a self-employed [sic] with my own lending services company, Drum Shaman, LLC…. When I signed the Stipulated Judgment I did not have an attorney and was representing myself, as I did not have the financial means to retain an attorney at the time….  I also believed (mistakenly) that a [child] support order could not be determined to be a fixed amount rather than using a percentage of my actual income…. While I can certainly read and write in English, I have, as indicated above, no formal education in law or family law, for that matter.”
^52-15

The divorce records provide a glimpse into Slayer’s finances. As an employee of Slayer, Lombardo averaged around $200,000 a year in his final years with the group
^52-16
. And he felt that cut of the group’s overall take was unacceptable.

In 2011, Lombardo’s income included around $40,000 in assorted royalties. The vast majority of it was Slayer money, with under $1,000 from Ipecac Records, home to Fantômas and Philm
^52-17
. While on tour, Slayer paid him $5,000 a week, plus all his expenses and travel costs; when the band was off the road, Lombardo was paid $4,000 a month as a retainer
^52-18
. 

Now Teresa claimed she couldn’t pay her bills.

“The reason we lost our house is because Petitioner [Dave Lombardo] decided to leave the marriage and I could no longer pay the mortgage of over $4,000 per month on our home on my one-half of the income,” she claimed in the divorce records. “Now my standard of living has drastically changed because of Petitioner’s decisions while he has a great job that takes him all over the world and he still basically lives the same standard of living.”
^52-19

(Lombardo responded that his family lost the house “pursuant to a ‘short sale,’”
^52-20
a transaction in which a property is sold for less than the debts owed against it.)

In short, Lombardo believed Teresa was still entitled to approximately half his income from the projects he had launched while they were together — but not necessarily the same dollar amount, as agreed to in their divorce settlement.

As of this writing, that financial dispute was ongoing.

Slayer retained the same management that had guided their career since 1986.

 As spring 2013 progressed, Hanneman sent Araya a new song he was working on
^52-21
. 

Fans waited to receive an answer for when — and, God forbid, if — Hanneman would return to the band. Hell, King himself was still waiting for word.

"I don't have an update,” King told MetalObsession.net's Nick Tevelis. “I haven't seen Jeff in forever. He's always been a recluse, and he's even been more of a recluse since he's not going on tour with us. But our manager talks to him from time to time and sees him in L.A. just randomly. But I'm far from L.A., so I'm not in that loop.” 

King said the band had begun to contemplate what was, then, the worst-case scenario.

"If Gary played with us forever? I'm OK with that,”  King told Tevelis. “But if Jeff got better and said, 'Hey, man, I'm ready to play,' and he came to rehearsal and showed us he was good enough, that's his show.”
^52-22

In May 2013, Slayer fans received final word on Hanneman’s status. It was the answer nobody wanted. 

Click here to Google search “Slayer photos 2013”

Chapter 53:

Postmortem II

Jeff Hanneman never made it back to Slayer.

May 1, 2013. The collective Slayer fanbase are complaining about King’s domineering ways and calculating the over-under on Lombardo returning to the group.

Even Lombardo is hopeful that he will return to the band. Israel radio station KZRadio asks Lombardo about his status with the group. Lombardo replies, “I hope things work out. I hope everything works out for the fans. That’s what I want.... When we get older and we can’t play anymore, I want the band to go out being still Slayer. ’Cause we’re all still alive. Can you imagine if one of us was dead?”
^53-1

 Lombardo’s rhetorical question receives a quick answer.

Thursday, May 2, 2013. Slayer fans worldwide are arguing whether Slayer without Dave is really Slayer. Bad news hits the metal world like a shock wave.

Jeff Hanneman, absent for over two years, is dead.

Slayer issue a brief statement:

“
Our Brother Jeff Hanneman, May He Rest In Peace (1964 – 2013)

“
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.
”
^53-2

Secondhand accounts link Hanneman’s untimely demise to the spider bite. In the following hours and days, the news graduates from entertainment sites to mainstream outlets like the
New York Times
. Reporters start investigating the cause of death, interviewing doctors and medical sources about how a spider bites culminates in liver failure a year and a half later.

Questions go unanswered. Then the Slayer camp release a statement that clarifies the cause of death: “We've just learned that the official cause of Jeff's death was alcohol related cirrhosis. While he had his health struggles over the years, including the recent necrotizing fasciitis infection that devastated his well-being, Jeff and those close to him were not aware of the true extent of his liver condition until the last days of his life. Contrary to some reports, Jeff was not on a transplant list at the time of his passing, or at any time prior to that. In fact, by all accounts, it appeared that he had been improving – he was excited and looking forward to working on a new record.”
^53-3

Medical sources don’t blame the spider.

“The necrotizing fasciitis and the liver failure both are awful,” notes infectious-disease specialist Kent Sepkowitz, writing for the Daily Beast, “but despite the tidiness of the narrative suggesting that the old necrotizing fasciitis caused the new liver failure, the story is exactly the opposite: People with severe underlying medical problems, such as chronic liver disease, are at increased risk for necrotizing fasciitis.”
^53-4

Only those closest to Hanneman saw it coming, but it’s still a shock.

“Was I surprised by how he died? No,” King tells Jeff Kitts of
Guitar World
weeks later. “Was it a surprise that it was that quick? Yes.”
^53-5

Hanneman passes away late in the morning; for the rest of the day, many touching tributes follow from fans and members of the metal community.

The night of Hanneman’s death,
Revolver
Magazine holds its annual Golden Gods Metal awards. Many metal notables offer fond remembrances on the black carpet, many of them hailing Hanneman as “a riff master.”

“Word traveled fast,” recalled Howell. “Jeff Hanneman was on everyone’s mind.”

Standing on
Revolver
’s
black carpet, Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo says, “He was a sweetheart, and he was always super cool to me. A really great person. And also, really progressive in his music. He turned us on to a lot of various types of music, and he was always forward-thinking and progressive in that way.”

Phil Anselmo offers, “Jeff Hanneman was creative… He was always this guy that was stoic when he wanted to be. But when he would cut up, he wouldn’t leave you alone. He would put you in chokeholds and come grab you and pull you off the bus. He was the best… He would just destroy every night.”
^53-6

Bad news be damned, King is in attendance, in the VIP section, inscrutable behind wraparound sunglasses, his portable privacy fence. While King’s attendance at the metal bash seems insensitive to the casual observer, it is consistent with the guitarists’ relationships. The members of Slayer may be brothers, but they haven’t been close for decades. King eventually takes the stage and waves away all calls for a sentimental moment.

“I thought, ‘Should I do a moment of silence?’,” says King, a shot of Jägermeister in each hand. “Then I thought… ‘Fuck no. This is the Golden Gods. Jeff fuckin’ Hanneman, he played in Slayer. Jeff doesn’t want a moment of fucking silence. Jeff wants a moment of fucking noise. If you got a drink, raise it up… and tip one back to our fallen brother.”

[Two shots and a one “Slayer/Slayer” crowd chant later]

“Alright,” says King. “The show must go on, let’s rock.”

Fans rush to criticize King for not being more emotional about the loss — and generally not being closer to Hanneman. To a civilian, it might seem odd, not talking to a longtime friend and coworker for months at a time. But Slayer has its own interpersonal dynamics. And if they operated like regular people do, it’s a safe bet nobody would care about any of them. True, King wasn’t constantly texting Hanneman. But Hanneman, who had more than a little time on his hands, wasn’t constantly calling Araya and King to see how they were doing, either.

“I thought it was really strong of Kerry to appear at the Golden Gods,” Rob Halford tells radio host Full Metal Jackie later. “I think that may have been the best thing for him to do rather than stay at home, because he was just surrounded by people that were expressing their love for Jeff and reminiscing on all the great things he created throughout the years of Slayer.”
^53-7

King eventually reveals that he hasn’t been to Hanneman’s house since January 2003.

“He might have lived only 45 minutes away, but unless you were part of his inner circle, it was hard to stay in touch with him,” King tells
Guitar World
. “And it took me a few years to understand that. For a while I was just like, ‘Why isn’t this guy calling me back?’ But as I got older I just realized that was who Jeff was…. I think we were probably the closest in the band, but never best friends…. We were like business partners. Was he my friend? Of course he was my friend. But we didn’t really act like that.”
^53-8

The day of Hanneman’s death, the metal community loses no time eulogizing the fallen titan. As more fans, friends and peers offer their thoughts on his passing, a new picture of Hanneman emerges: His life had been a good one — not without its challenges, and with much to be proud of. But not always happy.

“I met Jeff Hanneman several times during his life, and he was always grumpy, withdrawn, and antisocial,” writes eminent metal scholar and radio host Ian Christe. “Although extremely sharp, he didn’t seem to remember major events in his life and Slayer’s career, he was hyper into the present moment… We once went to a [T.G.I.] Friday’s in Times Square, and when the waitress handed us menus, Jeff handed his straight back to her, announcing that he had the offerings memorized already. The server looked blankly back at Jeff; turned out they didn’t offer what he wanted at that location. He sulked the rest of the night!”
^53-9

Hanneman’s devastating demise even entraps the Westboro Baptist church into harnessing the power of metal. Members of the hateful congregation take a respite from picketing military funerals to rewrite Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train” as a mocking memorial to Hanneman.

Elsewhere on the internet, musicians from Slash to Dave Mustaine note his passing. They remember him as a character and a talent.

Testament’s Alex Skolnick describes Hanneman’s lighter side for PremierGuitar.com, writing, "Jeff had a subtle sense of humor that was all his own, and though he was a bit more reserved than the rest of the Slayer camp, he viewed life as a party to be enjoyed to its fullest. Much of what Jeff's loved ones and fans appreciated about him was his steadfast and genuine style — the fact that he didn't stray from his own vision.”
^54-10

Closer to home, Dave Lombardo issues brief memorials on his Twitter page:

“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
.”
^54-11

And, on Facebook: “Our brother Jeff is gone. I'm speechless.”
^54-12