Slayer have announced a memorial service that will bring bandmates, family, friends and fans of the late Jeff Hanneman together to pay their respects to the beloved guitarist. Scheduled for 3:30pm Thursday, 23rd May at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, the memorial service is free and open to members of the public.
The band revealed their plans for such a service on Tuesday, 2nd May when they announced that Hanneman, a founding member of the band, had passed away. People will be granted entry on a first-in best-dressed basis, so fans are urged to get to the venue as close to the 3:30pm start time as possible. All ages are welcome, so the next generation of Slayer fans can also make the pilgrimage.
Hanneman was put out of action by an infection from a spider bite, but the cause of his death has been attributed to alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. Though he had been all but completely out of the picture for some time, Hanneman’s influence on the metal community hadn’t diminished with tributes flooding in from his peers.
What’s more, Hanneman left a legacy that was able to get under the skin of Westboro Baptist Church, which he would be loving.
You can read the full statment from Slayer’s Facebook page below.
DETAILS FOR JEFF HANNEMAN MEMORIAL CELEBRATION ANNOUNCED:
The Jeff Hanneman Memorial Celebration will take place on Thursday, May 23 at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles from 3:30 – 7:30PM. Hanneman passed away on May 2 at the age of 49.
The Memorial Celebration will be free and open to the public on a first-come, first-in basis (subject to venue capacity). All ages are welcome, and paid parking will be available around the venue.
Jeff Hanneman helped shape Slayer’s uncompromising thrash-metal sound as well as an entire genre of music. His riffs of fury and punk-rock attitude were heard in the songs he wrote, including Slayer classics “Angel of Death,” “Raining Blood,” “South of Heaven” and “War Ensemble.” Hanneman co-founded Slayer with fellow-guitarist Kerry King, bassist Tom Araya and drummer Dave Lombardo in Huntington Park, CA in 1981. For more than 30 years, Hanneman was the band member who stayed out of the spotlight, rarely did interviews, amassed an impressive collection of World War II memorabilia, was with his wife Kathy for nearly three decades, shut off his phone and went incommunicado when he was home from tour, did not want to be on the road too late into any December as Christmas was his favorite holiday, and, from the time he was about 12 years old, woke up every, single day with one thing on his mind: playing the guitar.
It was once suggested to Slayer that if they would write “just one mainstream song that could get on the radio,” they would likely sell millions of records and change the commercial course of their career, similar to what had happened to Metallica with 1993’s “Enter Sandman.” Jeff was the first to draw a line of integrity in the sand, replying, “We’re going to make a Slayer record. If you can get it on the radio, fine, if not, then fuck it.”
