Mike Patton is a genius... It is definitely the hardest music I've ever played.

I'm doing a lot of touring and things have been really busy for me.

I just to put out the best records I can and perform the best I can.

I like a lot of the stuff that they did without me, the time I wasn't around.

I'm really not into the educational aspect of performing. It's not in me.

Right now we're in the process of writing new material for a new record.

There's a lot of down time on the road. That part of it I really don't enjoy. There's nothing to do.

You will in the future hear me on a pop album, but that's just the experimental side of me.

You're at the hotel and after that you go to the venue and sit there and wait.

At the moment I have my family coming out with me on the road. We have our own vehicle and it's more like a family vacation. I just stop, do some gigs, and take off. It's a lot more fun now with the family.

Dude, I love playing drums, and I love being on stage, and I love recording. It's my life... it's been my life, all my life, and I don't think it could ever become boring for me.

Every job has its downside. For example, being in a band; the travel part of it - getting picked up from your house in a car, going to the airport, getting on a plane, going from the airplane to a van, then going from the van to a hotel.

I like to be one of those drummers who actually add to the music, not one of those guys who sit in a room 24/7 trying to outwit or outplay another drummer.

One of the great bands we opened up for was Priest back in '89. That was really great because at that time we had never met them, never toured with them before. They were a big influence on Slayer, so to open up for them was really cool.

There was a bit of a readjustment period because I didn't know what it was going to be like. I didn't know what was happening, how it was going to be, how it was all going to feel. As time went on it was great. Everything felt good so we decided to go with it.

We got off the Clash of the Titans tour and I said that my wife and I were working on having a baby and sure enough we found out that she was pregnant. So I told them nine months in advance that I wasn't going to tour in September so I could witness the birth of my first son.

When I look back, it was a strange period in my life, looking at my childhood and then my teenage years and forming Slayer when I was still 17, not out of high school.