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Artist News Gigs & Festivals
Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman too ill to tour
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 15 February 2011
Jeff Hanneman, guitarist with metallers Slayer, has had to step down from the band’s upcoming tour because he is suffering from a nasty bacterial virus called necrotising fasciitis which attacks skin, fat and body tissue. According to reports, Hanneman fell ill after being bitten by a spider, and he is due to undergo surgery on his right arm in a bid to fight the disease.
Meanwhile, his bandmates have decided to plough ahead with their tour commitments using a guest guitarist, seemingly eager to not have to cancel yet more dates, having postponed a number of tours in the last eighteen months because of frontman Tom Araya’s ill health.
Confirming Henneman was ill, Araya told Antimusic.com this week: “Jeff is our brother, we’ve all been friends and together as a band for almost 30 years. We just want him to recover as soon as possible”.
Meanwhile Henneman’s fellow guitarist in Slayer, Kerry King, commented on the decision to go ahead with their tour, saying: “After everything that’s happened we all agreed that we just can’t let our fans down again. Jeff is totally on board with the decision, so we will tour as planned. We can’t pinpoint what day he’ll be back, but it will be as soon as he possibly can. We can’t wait for him to get better and get his ass back on the road”.