Slayer and Danzig have more in common than they do divisions, both of them having shaped heavy metal as we know it since the 1980’s. They were also both signed to American Recordings, through which they each released albums produced by Rick Rubin.
But despite all this, they’ve had a few run-ins that left both sides looking petty. And while Slayer have been disbanded for three years, if at any point they reunite to play a festival that also happens to feature Danzig on the lineup, expect some sparks to fly between the two veteran heavy metal acts.
A rift first opened up between the two bands in 2011 when they were each scheduled to play Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas. Danzig was scheduled to play a Danzig Legacy set with The Misfits’ Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, featuring songs from the catalogs of Samhain and The Misfits as well as his solo material.
However, the day of his scheduled performance, Danzig complained that he felt like he was getting a cold, and refused to go on until after he received vitamins, a Wendy’s chicken sandwich and some French onion soup.
Danzig ultimately ended up getting onstage 45 minutes late, complained the whole time, and only made it two songs into his Misfits set before he had to stop because of the venue’s 10 p.m. curfew. And people weren’t happy about it.
The festival’s booker, Graham Williams, explained his side of the story on Facebook after the Fun Fun Fun Fest fiasco: “Glenn flies in this morning and says he has a cold and doesn’t feel like playing the show. He demands french onion soup and vitamins brought to hotel suite. He wants soup now and wants it hot.”
After the whole fiasco, Slayer took the opportunity to leave a message on their Facebook page, with a picture of two cans of Cambell’s French onion soup and the caption, “Great show tonight @FunFunFunFest got everything we needed.”
Seven years later, however, Slayer seemed to have escalated their cold war with Danzig when the two acts were playing Force Fest in Mexico in 2018. But because of inclement weather, many of the bands playing the festival were forced to cancel their sets, including Rob Zombie and Lamb of God.
Danzig ended up being bumped to the same time slot that Rob Zombie was scheduled to play. Only he ultimately canceled too, citing poor weather conditions. But after the fact, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein’s manager Bruce Miyaki posted on social media about the incident, pointing the finger at Slayer for apparently being divas, themselves, and demanding an earlier slot.
Miyaki said, “Slayer pulled a total Dick move today !!! I’ve been a fan for 20+ years but when a band pulls a power trip and decide they want to play in Glenn [Danzig]’s slot and basically tell him play after us because we want to leave an hour early…. That’s FUCKING bullshit .. Glenn has a flight to catch tonight and can’t play an hour and a half later … Wow I lost all respect for those guys in Slayer…..#notcool”.
To date, there’s been no specific reports of a reconciliation between the two parties. Considering Slayer played their final shows only a year later, though, the risk of them butting heads with Danzig again is probably unlikely to happen.
But considering both parties have recently shared a common complaint about “cancel culture,” maybe they can bury the hatchet over a steamy bowl of French onion soup.