Tom Araya
Tom Araya (born Tomás Enrique Araya June 6, 1961 in Viña del Mar, Chile is a Chilean American musician, best known as the bassist and vocalist of the American thrash metal band Slayer.
Araya was employed as a respiratory therapist in the early 1980s, and used his earnings to finance Slayer's debut album Show No Mercy. Much of Araya's lyrical content is about serial killers, a subject he finds interesting, first making his lyrical contribution 1985's Hell Awaits with the track "At Dawn They Sleep". Araya's eldest sister suggested he enroll as a respiratory therapist. Araya's father stated he either find a job or enroll in the course. Araya enrolled in a two year technical course, learning about air mixture ratios, drawing blood, and how to intubate.
Equipment
Araya is endorsed by Ampeg amplifiers and ESP-guitars which are currently marketing Tom Araya signature basses.
- ESP - Tom Araya signature bass
- B.C. Rich basses
- EMG pickups
- Bartolini pickups
- D'Addario strings
- D'Andrea Picks and straps
- Ampeg SVT-2PRQ heads
- Ampeg SVT-4PRO heads
- Ampeg SVT-810E 8x10 cabinets
Lyrics
Araya’s interest in serial killers inspires much of his lyrical themes, including the songs titled "213" about Jeffrey Dahmer and "Dead Skin Mask" about Ed Gein.
Araya wrote the lyrics for the Grammy winning song "Eyes of the Insane" from Slayer’s 2006 album Christ Illusion. The lyrics were inspired through an article in the Texas Monthly about the casualties of war, and soldiers experiences in having a tough time coping with physical and psychological trauma. Araya states “At points in their tour of Iraq, they need help and the military tends to ignore that, they kind of brush it under the mat and hopes it goes away. They try to make everything seem hunky dory and fine and dandy, when in actuality there is a lot of stuff going on that people can’t handle. There’s a lot of soldiers coming home with mental anguish. And the sad part is, we heard about post-traumatic stress after Vietnam and the first Gulf War and the military seems to want to wipe the slate clean with every new war.