How long was the idea of doing a signature bottle of Jäger for Slayer in the making? Is it a recent development, or has it been going on for a while?
We have a music manager in England named Tom Carson (who’s not my brother, although I would gladly accept him), and this was his idea, his baby. He’s a music nut and Slayer fan, and he asked me for my help, because of my relationship with the band, to put it together. So if I had to guess, I’d say probably a year and a half or so. And I think that the reason it came to fruition is because Slayer announced their last tour. So, really, it’s now or never!
Putting the bottle and box together, what were things that it had to have on it?
So, I gotta put both caps on here: I gotta put a Slayer fan and former employee hat on, and I gotta put the Jägermeister guy hat on. So, it had to have iconic logos from both entities. For me, the Slayer one is a Slayer logo. It had to be there, no question. For Jägermeister, the antlers and the glowing cross had to be there. That’s relating to the legend of Saint Hubertus, which relates to the master hunter name of Jägermeister. And then, Tom and I started ideating about, ‘What should the bottle say?’ I don’t have one yet, by the way, which is hilarious and sad. I’ve only seen pictures of it. But we were like, ‘What do we want to say on the bottle?’ and even on the box.
Even if you read through that, it’s all truths. It’s an ode to them, to thank them for their ongoing relationship, which is still ongoing and will be even after they stop touring. And to thank them, really, for their friendship and the stewardship of our brand. None of this was something they had to do -- they’ve just been good friends to us and to the brand in a truthful way, not in a BS way. So, when we wrote this copy, on not even the box but the bottle itself, it was a tribute from Jägermeister to the greatest thrash metal band of all time ever. And that’s really it, in a nutshell.
As somebody who’s a fan of the band, who’s worked with them, and who’s worked with Jäger, can you name one Slayer song where, when it starts, you think, “We’re doing a shot of Jäger, NOW”?
Obviously, Reigning Blood has to be it. That’s what I was listening to, by the way, to gear up for this interview. It’s just that slow grind, the way that starts, is really it for me. There’s Angel Of Death, too -- you’re a fan, I’m a fan. I could probably say all of them from the first album to the last one, and say, ‘Well, that one, that one, that one!’ You know what I mean? But, the one is Raining Blood, because really that [does the thunder booming] and that little pause before it actually starts...You know what? I might have two shots, because there are enough bars in there that you can probably get two in before it even starts, especially when they do the stadium intro which is even longer!