Metal Hammer exclusive: This interview was conducted in Glasgow, Scotland.
[This is the raw first draft transcript - there may be typos and abbreviations]

When did you first start writing the new record? And when did you decide not to carry any of the left over material forward from ‘With Teeth’?
“When I finished With Teeth there were a handful of tracks that didn’t make the record. Tracks that I liked but in the context of the rest of the record it didn’t fit in so… I got done with the record and went on tour, I found myself bored out of my mind, it’s fun to play a show, but the rest of the day if just waiting around for the show. So I started messing around with… if the ‘limitation’ is that all I have is a laptop in my hotel room…”
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OnTrackMagazine.com: There seemed to be a little bit of animosity that you guys were goin’ on first (before MARILYN MANSON) and that you would even be on tour with somebody like MANSON to begin with, being that his music’s very different and not something that the average SLAYER fan would embrace.

Tom: Yeah, it was an odd bill, and we got the audience I figured we were gonna get and that was an audience that people didn’t come to see us; the same with MANSON. A lot of the people that came to the show I think came because they wouldn’t come to see just MANSON or SLAYER, but since they were playing together, “Let’s go check it out.”

And I think a lot of our crowd was that; we got this kind of crowd on this entire tour. So it did well for everybody because this is our third time now goin’ through and we were doin’ really well, as far as merch sales we did the same. We did the same amount the last time as this time so we did really well; it showed good numbers for us.

We had a really positive growth and response. So it worked out really well for us. Like I said, we were on prime-time, 8 o’clock. The only thing is, like you said, a lot of people just assumed that we would headline, and that was the one thing that we let it be known a long time ago: this is a co-headline bill — but — we’re gonna kick his ass every night. (Laughs) We’re gonna open up and kick his ass every night. That’s by his choice! (Laughs)

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Maynard James Keenan updates us on Puscifer

TOOL frontman Maynard James Keenan has issued the following update on his PUSCIFER project:

“OK, music fans. Let the games begin. It’s been a long time coming and we thank you for your patience. The ‘Cuntry Boner’ CD single is now available for pre-order exclusively at www.puscifer.com and will be shipped the first week of October.

As promised there will be even more music to follow. We’re just now finishing up the video for ‘Queen B’ and that should be up on iTunes in a few weeks. We’re also putting together a pre-release EP for iTunes called ‘Don’t Shoot The Messenger’.”

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Blabbermouth – Former PANTERA/current DOWN frontman Philip Anselmo has slammed VH1‘s “Behind the Music” special on PANTERA as “awful,” claiming that “they glossed over everything that PANTERA did to and for metal.”

The “Behind the Music” PANTERA episode, which had its premiere in May 2006, included interviews with the surviving members of PANTERA — Vinnie Paul Abbott (drums), Philip Anselmo and Rex Brown (bass) — along with appearances by Guy Sykes (tour manager), Walter O’Brien (manager), Terry Date (producer), about five members of PANTERA‘s/DAMAGEPLAN‘s crew, and Rita Haney (“Dimebag” Darrell Abbott‘s girlfriend).
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SYSTEM OF A DOWN drummer John Dolmayan has issued the following update on SCARS ON BROADWAY, his new project with SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s Daron Malakian (guitarist, vocalist, songwriter):

“Yesterday [Thursday, Sept. 27], Daron and I began recording SCARS ON BROADWAY‘s debut album. We’ve gone in with close to 18 songs. The music is expansive, experimental, and sometimes in your face…

“We’re very excited to get it down and get it out to all of you.”

Malakian co-produced (with Rick Rubin) SYSTEM OF A DOWN‘s multi-platinum albums “Toxicity” (2001) and the dual-disc “Mezmerize/Hypnotize” (2005), all three of which hit the No. 1 spot on The Billboard 200 chart.

SYSTEM OF A DOWN has been on hiatus since last year, with its members working on various side projects. This has naturally led to rumors that the band was breaking up permanently. But bassist Shavo Odadjian told The Pulse of Radio that SYSTEM OF A DOWN is far from over. “SYSTEM is alive and well,” he said. “We’re just not working together right now. We kind of like split up at first, but you know, we’re brothers, man, we’ll take bullets for each other. So it’s like, you kind of miss each other after a while and you, one guy makes the first move, then another starts making phone calls….this is a juggernaut, man. SYSTEM OF A DOWN is my lifeline. It’ll never go away. We could not make a record for 10 years — that’s not gonna happen, but I’m just saying we could — and we’ll come back strong.”

SYSTEM OF A DOWN vocalist Serj Tankian will release his first solo CD, titled “Elect the Dead”, on October 23.

World Entertainment News Network reports: Ozzy Osbourne has reportedly agreed to a suicide pact with wife Sharon — because she doesn’t want to go through the pain her father Don Arden did when he suffered from Alzheimer’s.

Sharon, 54, claims she and Ozzy, 58, made the mutual decision earlier this year after music mogul Arden lost his struggle with the neurodegenerative disease and died in July, aged 81.

She says, “We believe 100 per cent in euthanasia, so have drawn up plans to go to the assisted suicide flat in Switzerland if we ever have an illness that affects our brains. If Ozzy or I ever got Alzheimer’s, that’s it — we’d be off.

“We gathered the kids around the kitchen table, told them our wishes and they’ve all agreed to go with it. There’s no way I could go through what (my father) did, or put my kids through that.

“My father deteriorated at such a rapid speed he became a shell of himself.

Some say the disease is hereditary so at the first sign I want to be put out of my misery.” And Sharon believes their decision will spare their kids Aimee, 24, Kelly, 22, and 21-year-old Jack the burden of the illness.

She adds, “It’s taken away some of the fear of our ending and is a final gift of love to our kids.”