COVER STORY
IT MIGHT HAVE been a coincidence, or maybe an evil act of fate. But a major volatile career move put Phil Demmel in the front of the line to be the second guitarist for Kerry King, a gig Demmel now proudly holds.
In September 2018, following a 15-year tenure with Machine Head, Demmel quit the band — and lost the paycheck it provided — due to personal differences with frontman Robb Flynn. Two days later, he got a call from Kerry King, who told him that guitarist Gary Holt had to drop off the Slayer tour due to a family emergency and asked Demmel if he could fly to Europe on short notice to play some shows.
“The timing happened to be good, and I think me stepping into the Slayer situation and learning 19 songs on the flight over to Europe made a good impression on
