Apparently Tom Araya joins Pete Townshend as another casualty suffering injury in the name of rock and roll.
Araya has developed a back injury requiring surgery, and resulting in the cancellation of Slayer’s immediate tour plans that include
the American and Canadian Carnage Tour dates that were set to kick off
on January 18, as well as the band’s UK/European tour scheduled for
March and April. Booking agents for both Slayer
and Megadeth
are
already hard at work to see if these dates can be rescheduled, so those
holding tickets are asked to sit tight as more info will be announced
as progress is made.
The headbanging Araya, known for aggressively swinging his long mane of
hair while performing, began experiencing back problems while on the
band’s Australian/New Zealand/Japanese tour last October. In spite of
his rapidly increasing pain and discomfort, he carried on with the
tour, but immediately upon returning home saw an orthopedic specialist
who diagnosed a Cervical Radiculopathy. The rocker initially did not
want to take the major surgery route, so the specialist recommended a
series of minimally-invasive procedures. While those procedures have
resulted in some improvement, Araya continues to deal with intermittent
bouts of severe pain, numbness and muscle spasms. The surgical
procedure that Araya will undergo, called an Anterior Cervical
Discectomy with Fusion, is a relatively routine practice and the
recovery rate is excellent.
So there you have it kids. Bring ear plugs if you’re going to be close to the stage. And bang your head…but not too hard.
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