Jeff Hanneman Biography

Hanneman grew up in Los Angeles, in the family of a war veteran, which played a role in his passion for military themes. Often this hobby is reflected in the songs written by Hanneman, for example, “Angel of Death”. Punk rock influenced Hanneman, and Jeff introduced a quick and more aggressive sound in Slayer. He also participated in writing texts and musical material on each Slayer album, the songs written by him include Raining Blood, War Ensemble, Seasons in the Abyss and Angel of Death, which are performed at almost every group concert.

His father fought in Normandy in the Second World War, and the brothers in Vietnam; So, the war was a common topic of conversations at the dinner table. The films about the war at that time were popular on television, Jeff, together with his brothers, collected and painted models of tanks and aircraft. Interest in war and military history is an important part of his upbringing.

In the year, while listening to participate in the blues group, Hanneman met the guitarist Kerry King. Two guitarists began to communicate and play the songs of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. Slayer was founded when King asked: “Why do we not create our own group? Fuck Yeah! In the year, Hanneman married Kaitrin, whom he met at the beginning of x. The couple has no children and lives in Los Angeles, forty minutes from King.

While Jeff goes on tour with Slayer, Catrin is waiting at home; Catrin went to tours with a group twice in twenty years. Hanneman and Slayer vocalist Tom Araia got rid of cocaine dependence. They decided to abandon this when they realized: “This can only lead to death, it went too far” English. Araia and Hanneman limit themselves to beer. Hanneman's favorite brand - Heineken camp; It can be seen drinking this beer behind the scenes.

Hanneman is fond of interest in the history of Nazi Germany by collecting military German medals, and Nazi Germany is displayed in some texts written by him. Interest in Nazi Germany began with captured medals donated to him by his father. On a tour with Motorhead, Hanneman found that Motorhead vocalist Lemmy is also interested in medals, and they spent a lot of time discussing medals, weapons and tactics used by the Wehrmacht.

After the release of the album “Reign in Blood”, the lyrics of the song “Angel of Death”, accusations of Sympathy for Nazism were rained down on Slayer. The song contains details about the experiments of the Nazi doctor Joseph Mengel over Auschwitz prisoners during the Second World War, nicknamed the "Angel of Death." He writes musical material and texts for each Slayer album.

The music and texts written by him in partnership with Tom Araya sometimes even overshadow the creative contribution of Kerry King. When composing new material, the group first writes music and only then the lyrics. Hanneman often records riffs at home using a multi-track record and a drama machine; After that, he shows the composed riffs to other participants to hear their opinion; King and the pawnshop can make some changes, and then Slayer make the composition of the riffs ordinary in structure and decide where to be vocals and guitar solo.

Hanneman states that writing music and texts is allowed by everyone in Slayer. Everyone can write anything, if it turns out normal, we use in songs, otherwise - no. ” Musical instruments during tours, Hanneman uses six guitars with different settings. Early albums, such as Haunting the Chapel - Divine Intervitation, have EB settings, while later albums, such as Diabolus in Musica - Christ Illusion have an alternative setting, the first Show No Mercy album was recorded in standard buildings, but lively concerts.

The corresponding songs from the year are played in the EB of the Mi-Bemole.