KSE’S MIKE D’ANTONIO STANDS UP TO KERRY KING
Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 3:30pm by Axl Rosenberg
When he isn’t busy feuding with Dave Mustaine, Scott Ian or any given member of Metallica, Kerry King sometimes likes to take shots at the younger generation of metal musicians. Because, well, Most recently, while touring with Killswitch Engage as part of the 2009 edition of Mayhem Fest, King claimed that he’s “offended by the silliness” of KSE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, whom King also alleged “puts his foot in his mouth all the time and says stupid shit.”
Well, it only took two months, but a member of KSE has finally responded.
Speaking to Way Too Loud!, KSE bassist/resident graphic artist/all around chill dude Mike D’Antonio had this to say about King’s comments:
I heard a little too much about [what King said]. We just did the [Rockstar Energy] Mayhem tour, and it was uncomfortable. They don’t get it, and probably never will that you can actually be in a metal band and have fun, and smile. You can do things differently than other metal bands have ever done. We just like to have a good time. We’re just a party band, and I think that comes from punk rock roots where anything goes. A lot of the old guys think it has to be straightforward or nothing, and that’s their loss I guess.
Now, whether you’re KSE fan or not, you gotta admit, D’Antonio’s comments are pretty even-handed. I mean, I guess he calls King “old” (and by metal standards, he’s kinda right), but there isn’t a lot of actual jive-talk going on here. In fact, D’Antonio’s statement pretty much echoes my own feelings on the whole situation.
And hopefully this closes the book on this particular feud. At least until the next time some festival organizer throws the two bands together.
-AR
Very classy…
It won’t happen. But it would be pretty entertaining to see what King would say if somehow, slayer and a crabcore band ended up in the same tour/festival.
lmao
looking foward :-)
Kerry would probably promote the fuck out of them.
His taste in new bands is… questionable, at best.
they toured with suicide silence. thats sorta bird-pecking-ground core
hurr.
it’s not about not having fun, it’s about not acting like a douchebag, which is what KSE is all about, intentional or not.
the fact they play cookie-cutter by the books metalcore doens’t make them that good either.
Amen.
Yeah, it’s funny how KSE are revered here, while all these other bands get made fun of in shitstain of the universe sections. Some of them don’t sound much different than KSE.
false.
Of course KSE sounds like by-the-book metalcore. They wrote the damn book.
word
exactly. One of the most emulated bands of that genre, but I guess thats what happens when Dutkiewicz produced the majority of said emulators albums.
KSE wrote the book on GOOD metalcore. I remember seeing Killswitch Engage first dvd and the dude from God Forbid blatently said that Alive or Just Breathing was so good they needed to go make a better record. I love Slayer but fuck Kerry King. How about move more than 3 inches on stage for an entire set you old idiot.
No, they wrote the book on ripping off Melodeath.
Every “metalcore” band on the face of the earth had been ripping their shit off from Slaughter of The Soul by At The Gates.
They were just the catchiest ones to do it.
Now I admit, regardless of how I feel about Slayer, being my favorite band, I think Kerry has a bad habit of letting his tongue loose for all sorts of dumb shit. Notably the feud with Rob Flynn.
Perhaps if he would have shut up more and put out an argument that was well thought out, rather than coming off as an asshole with no grip on the reality that the audience is a bunch of new faces, then he’d have an actual standing instead of getting stoned to death on blogs.
If you “rip-off” an entire genre (”Melodeath”), but you aren’t a part of that genre, doesn’t that sort of mean you changed the sound enough to create something new? Do At the Gates have “core” elements? And if not, how could Killswitch, or any other “core” band for that matter, be solely a rip-off?
I am well aware that the whole melodic “metalcore” thing was influenced by the melodic Swedish death metal of the late ’90s, but every new genre, every new band, every new piece of music ever written is influenced in some way or another by a band or an artist that came before. Melodeath itself was largely an amalgamation of elements of thrash and straight death metal, but I hear very few cries of “rip-off!” in that case.
Bottom line: if it’s different enough to warrant being labeled an entirely new genre (or subgenre, or microgenre, or whatever the fuck comes next… nanogenre???), it’s not a rip-off.
You sir speak the truth
“cookie-cutter”
I wouldn’t really say that it’s very fair because they weren’t exactly cookie-cutter as much as they were influential to the cookie cutters.
I do not like KSE or Slayer. Honestly, Slayer hasn’t been relevant for years and KSE are too metalcore-y for me. That said, D’Antonio is right. Hey Kerry, don’t most people listen to metal because it breaks the mold? At least KSE are entertaining to watch. Kerry just stands there looking all tough with his bald head, jock tribal tattoos, and super-sweet sun glasses (indoors). Boring.
I hate Kerry King. He is worse than any of the people he starts shit with except maybe Mustaine. He seems pretty easy to make fun of too (tattoo, glasses inside, sucking ass at writing solos)
Mustaine may be a dick, but unlike Kerry King, Mustaine can play the guitar much better than a 10th grader.
I totally agree with you here… KSE is gay, slayer lost touch with being good metal forever ago, Kerry King is an asshole who only sounds good by being lucky, and needs to get his head out of his ass.
awww snap…wait….no, that wasn’t response I was expecting at all.
Here’s an idea, someone just needs to come out and say what needs to be said, Kerry King is an bitter, impotent old man who’s Viagra prescription is, apparently, perpetually empty. Can’t King get laid or something? Why does he have so much hostility towards everyone? You’re in SLAYER, what can you possibly be angry about at this point in your career?
He’s married. So, I don’t think it’s the laid thing… Actually, it could be that, I guess. He IS married.
Whatever, I have a lot of fun at KSE shows, even if the music is for poseur metal pussies. Kerry King is just a dick, and KSE are just a bunch of goofballs. ‘Nuff said.
“Cookie cutter”? Seeing as how they invented metalcore, it is hard to be a cookie cutter…duh much?!?
lol @ they invented metalcore
they’ve pretty much wrote the book on metalcore considering a few of the members were in one of the (if not) the founding father metalcore bands and also how so many new bands follow their mold. Despite that fact, KsE didn’t invent metalcore.
Yeah. They were at the forefront of the explosion.
i laughed too… its like saying “He was the first guy with down’s syndrome… EVER”
I was gonna say, Overcast was the precursor to KSE, and it was metalcore as well.
Not to mention, metalcore was around WELL BEFORE either band.
Al Gore invented the internet.
Ok Mike has a somewhat ok poin but fuck that Kerry could say what the hell wants to who the hell he wants! i mean come on you gotta admit King and all his beef stories are preettty entertaining
This does not make up for the fact that his band isn’t
Kerry King is like that 5th grade kid who owned the playground during recess. He was a complete badass, and everyone loved him. Then, everyone grew up and moved along in life to different things, and King still holds onto the attitude that he’s ruler of the playground that everyone abandoned so long ago. At least, thats how I see it.
That.
If it were not for metal bands that are able to have fun I probably would not give a crap about the
genre. Is Kerry gonna talk trash about AC/DC now or any of the other many many many
metal bands that rock out and have a good time? You know as this country moves further
and further away from being a Christian nation his use of satanism and inverted
crosses loses all if it’s effect and his band is suddenly not very entertaining. I mean how entertaining
is shock value shit when the shock wears off? I’d say not very which is why Slayer bores me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsNgRmsx-14
There’s Kerry King for ya
Exactly. This is just silly.
Kerry King isn’t hostile towards them because they do what they do onstage. He’s hostile towards them because they sell more records than he does at this point in both bands’ careers and are really popular right now. It’s the same reason everyone else is cutting them up for, even if they just say that Adam D acts like a douchebag on stage.
If you’re gonna criticize guys like Adam D and Ken Susi, even the playing field a bit and direct some anger towards Devin Townsend for sounding off like an utter retard with Strapping young lad. I mean, snorkel the Shark, anyone?
lol you like killswitch engage
So do I.
^_^
I do too. :)
““offended by the silliness” of KSE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz, ”
-Coming from the guy who made his mark offending people that means pretty much nothing. That’s like
a serial killer stating that a violent videogame offends him.
whom King also alleged “puts his foot in his mouth all the time and says stupid shit.”
-Yeah I’d say that’s exactly what he’s doing now.
I think KSE is a little boring personally, what with their generic metalcore and seemingly faith inspired themes…..but you know what?
They are WAY more entertaining to me then Slayer who’s shock value anti-Christian themes are completely boring in this age of reason and secular society. Slayer is old and boring and sadly enough, these retarded comments by Kerry are the closest he has gotten to being relevant to anything in at least fifteen years. Fuck him and is band, influence or not.
Stop being such a b*tch Kerry. Your music will always be classic. Your new stuff, however, just needs to go away.
Kings just mad because Killswitch knows how to put on a show unlike Slayer who bored me to tears at Mayhem.
What’s gay?
KSE.
What’s boring?
Slayer.
What’s worse?
This argument.
Win
It’s no argument. It’s a statement. Also it’s true.
KSE didn’t exactly invent Metal-core. The band Aftershock was the first band to really do so, and a couple members of KSE were in that band and it carried over when Aftershock broke up. Killswitch were the first band to bring Metal-core into the masses of people and get big off of it. To hell with anyone who says Adam D or any of the rest of Killswitch are a bunch of retards. When you are making music and living off of it you should be having fun and making an entertaining show for the fans. Screw taking it too seriously and screw just standing in one spot through the whole show. I am the front man for a Metal band that isn’t Metal-core and I love acting like a dumb ass when there are parts I dont have to scream/sing it gets people more loosened up and actually makes some of them get into it more. We play heavy technical stuff and it feels good to let loose from that. So I commend Killswitch for how they do things, screw everyone elses’ opinion…you dont like it go the other way and watch boring bands who do nothing but play and look serious as hell and look like they are alwqays pissed at the world. Your out there playng music for kids and adults alike, fucking enjoy it and let them know you are, what is there to be pissed about?
Amen.
Dude, best comment on this page.
Let’s see…I can see Slayer stand on stage looking bored out of their fucking minds, putting on the most stoic stage show around…or I can see Killswitch actually looking like they enjoy what they’re doing. Not that hard a decision to make.
Exactly! Not to mention the safe, non-threatening, and fun music that KSE play for the entire family.
I really like this. He’s not bad mouthing King at all. He does essentially say it sucks what he said, but that’s about it. Nothing bad to say back. KSE kicks ass and they have fun. It can be a fine line, but when they occasionally come off as douches, it’s cause they want to have a good time and maybe even be a little funny. Bands like that fucking Bloodhound Gang act like douches because they think douchebaggery is funny and cool. So it makes for a song that people might chuckle at, but let’s face it, as human beings, most of the people on this site would much prefer they suffer some crippling emotional breakdown that forces them into a wheelchair as they sit, mute and dumb, watching their families slowly begin to regard them as nothing more than a burden that the state has deemed necessary to weigh them down and become ever more aware of the resentment and eventual pure hatred that is felt toward this fuck by his not-so-long-ago loved ones (You know, because we would never wish physical harm on anyone.) Nope. The KSE dudes are great, and I hope they’re around just as long as Slayer has been.
Well said by Mike D. He came off smart, and wasn’t just taking pot shots at King. Seriously though, King needs to lighten up. I don’t know what’s with that dude, but the whole point of playing music is to have fun, so if the boys in KsE want to be stupid on stage, let them! There’s nothing wrong with that! I play in a band, and we take our music seriously, but continually act like idiots at shows. We’re retarded. All we do is drink, make jokes, hit on girls, and play songs. It’s fun. I kinda wish more bands would take that approach these days…
Also, side note…has Ziltoid been exceptionally quiet these days? Haven’t seen him hating everything ever since he took over the site and people realized how funny/interesting he wasn’t…
i love people that hate metal core so much and yet they will go and put on a fuckin black metal cd and that band will sound the same as 100 other black metal bands too, every kind of music is gunna have bands that sound the same their are thousands doing it so odds are some people are gunna come up with the same ideas and god forbid sound a little like each other ! kse are a good bunch of musicians you cant deny that one but, who gives a fuck if they are goofy onstage i pay to be entertained not to watch a bunch of old fucks (slayer) stand in the same place and bore me to death! fuckin close minded purists on this site make me sick
I honestly don’t see much of a difference between synchronized crab-core dancing and what Adam D. does onstage. There’s a similar kind of reaching desperation.
I’m usually all for self-expression, and I don’t think all metal should be completely serious. I’m also not a fan of Kerry King at all, in fact I think he might just be the most overrated guitarist in metal, and he talks way too much shit, but for once I have to agree with him. Adam D comes across as a dumbass with a poor sense of humor. I have nothing against silliness, if it’s done right. GWAR shows are a lot of fun, because they put a lot of thought into their humor. I’m totally cool with bands being wasted onstage and dicking around, like Van Halen. But come on, daisy dukes? Licking your guitar and doing the “pussy fingers” move every 10 seconds? It doesn’t seem like he actually has a sense of humor, it looks like he’s making a huge effort to show everyone “LOOK AT ME!!! I’M CRAZY!!! AREN’T I A NUTTY GUY!!!!!” Sort of like Tom Green. Acting like a lunatic is only cool if A) You actually are a lunatic, like Hunter S. Thompson. or B) Your lunacy has some sort of direction or purpose. So I have to agree with KK that when Adam D. comes out every night in his daisy duke shorts and simulates sex with everything onstage, it definitely paints a poor picture of metal bands, or at least of KsE.
SD, you make a good point, but one thing is missing from your analysis. Kerry King is probably the last man in music to make this criticism. Kerry King’s idea of stage presence is to stand back on his side of the stage, yawning and playing riffs he’s play 3,000 times before, before walking to a stage monitor, propping a foot up, blazing through the same solo that he’s put in every song, then stepping back to his stationary position.
All of this while wearing the same spike wrist bands he wore 25 years ago. Maybe Adam D is immature and goofy for the sake of attention, but at least he actually has a personality, unlike King’s made-up pissed at God persona.
Oh, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Kerry King may have started out as the real deal, but he’s basically a cartoon character at this point, like a caricature of what “metal” is supposed to be. He must think that all of his “stage presence” comes from his beard and head tattoos. I could probably overlook everything you said about Kerry if he deserved half of the accolades heaped upon him as a guitarist, but he doesn’t. His playing is boring. I personally find Slayer boring in general. I went through a Slayer phase when I was like 15, but that’s about it. They definitely broke some new ground, and I give them credit for that, but they’ve inspired music that’s infinitely more exciting.
Kerry is a bitter old bitch because he never wrote a good solo in his life.
Totally agree with you on that one…!!!
King is just jealous, Dutkiwitz or whatever can play solos around king anytime…and in tune too…!!!!
I never realized heavy metal fans and players were so image conscious. Maybe Adam D, should come out on stage on the next tour, wearing skin tight jeans, a bullet belt, and a wristband made of nails, with a corpse painted face, and stand still. Then he could be troo…I think heavy metal has lost its focus when we worry about what we wear or do vs what we play.
Kerry King is nothing but a douchebag cocksucker, and continues to prove it every time he opens his mouth. He’s like Kanye West – regardless of whether he actually should say anything, he does it anyway, just to remind everyone he’s still around.
At the end of the day he’s still Kerry King…..I mean, he can do whatever the fuck he wants…
I cauld say how much i respect Slayer for what they have done for metal . . .
I cauld say how much I love Killswitch Engage for what they do for metal . . .
But whats the point? Who would care? I wouldn’t . . .
So bottom line . . . FUCK KERRY KING.
Killswitch made metalcore what it is today…
It might be a negative thing to most but atleast Killswitch fucking ruled when they came out. And imo, their style of metal is still unique. No band sounds like they do after they 2 latest records.
*their
FUCK KSE, FUCK THIS ASSHOLE HIPPIE MUTHERFUCKER…
LONG LIVE KK AND LONG LIVE SLAYER!!!!!!!!!
Love it, very intelligent and well said. Music is what you want it to be and King would be on the street if the musicians in Slayer didn’t carry his ass.
Usually, I’d talk about King’s old-person bitterness, but I still think he’s right about this band. No one’s here to say that you shouldn’t have a good time playing metal, hell, Municipal Waste seem to have a blast at their shows and that goes over well. It’s just that KSE guitarist is so annoying that it takes away from the show. It’d be different if he were clever or at all funny, but insted it’s the same effect as having Carlos Mencia or something yelling his bits at you in between songs.
And a little note, when Mike just tosses in KSE’s “roots in punk”, i got the same feeling as when the singer from Disturbed said the same thing a few months back. Sure, it may be true, but it’s influence on your stuff is so minute that it’s just pandering.
Fun is for emos!!!
I’m not a big fan of Kerry King, but he’s right on this one. I saw KSE, and was so put off by Adam D’s antics, that I left. He’s not funny. I guess the Hot Topic kids think he is.
What antics could he possibly be taking part in that would so offend you that you would want to leave? – I’m really curious. If you don’t like their music, I get it, but if you do….as long as he is up there playing (and playing well)…what’s the problem? You don’t think he’s funny…so what? It’s not a comedy show, watch one of the other four guys on stage. :/
I think the fact that KSE play their asses off and put on a quality show each time they hit the stage shows that that they are in fact serious about their music. KSE shows are high energy and FUN, which is more than I can say about Slayer’s perfornances from the last five years of so. I’ll take Adam D. goose-stepping around the stage (not being “serious” and “metal” enough), air-humping Howard Jones and generally acting like a court jester over the ultra serious has-beens in Slayer plowing through a tired set; standing still with their mean faces on any day of the week. I don’t know about most metal fans, but I when I pay my money and spend the time to go to a show, I like to enjoy myself. KSE (and particularly Adam) have a great time while they play (yet still respecting their music and playing their asses off), which adds to the party atmosphere and typically leads to a good time had by all – I don’t see anything wrong with that. King needs to get a grip. Would he tell Gwar they are “silly?”
i screwed his wife kerries that is hahahahahahaah hi ayesha still got our video..