One on One with Gary Holt
Boy how time flies! I remember when I was a wee young lady of like 15 or 16 going to shows and becoming a fixture in the SF metal scene. In particular, the early and formidable years of thrash. San Francisco was on the map for this genre with bands like Violence, Testament, and the almighty Exodus.
For me the name Exodus has two meanings. One we have the biblical reference of Exodus which was the chosen group for who themselves transitioned from bondage to freedom (old testament version). This history lesson coincides with what Exodus means today. Determination, tragedy, and finally redemption. With their many transformations and tragedys, Gary Holt has remained a fixture and main stay for this bands various interchanging members. He has endured his own demons, and now has resurrected once again with a new line up, new album, and a North American tour. I sat down with Gary for the first show of the tour and asked him what the hell he has been up too.
Darien: So how ya doing man?
Gary: Im doing fine, just relaxing.
Darien: Getting ready for this tour here?
Gary: Yeah, a little over four weeks something like that, with a couple of trips into Canada with Montreal and Toronto.
Darien : First off, I just want to say Im really stoked about this show. I was born and raised in SF Bay Area and I havent seen Exodus since like 1992 at the Stone. That was the last time I saw you guys.
Gary: Its been a long time.
Darien: Too long, so this is a big deal for me. I just wanted to get that out the way. I did an interview with your buddy Peter of Hypocrisy at the Anthrax show at the Pound. I was going to talk to you, but you looked kind of busy.
Gary: I was way, way, high. I dont smoke weed and Peter gave me some cookies. I thought they were just cookies and I was just hungry so I said, Yeah, Ill have some cookies. By the time I realized it, it was too late I was just so wasted. Peter ate like a dozen of those things and like he put it, I was on the dark side of the moon.
Darien: So how did you guys hook up to do the solo for Scrutinized? Is there an Exodus Hypocrisy tour coming up?
Gary: Well we just did the last one in November. It was awesome. I mean Peter and I have been friends for quite some time now. We first met around 2002/2003 and he was like, You know you got to do a solo and I was like, You can do some backgrounds and Ill do a solo. We didnt have any time to get any tracks out to him to do some back grounds. We talked about touring together forever and we finally made it happen and it was one of the most fun tours Ive ever done.
Darien: Are you guys going to do a tour here?
Gary: Yeah, were talking about it.
Darien : So you just sent your solo over to him?
Gary: Yeah he sent me a tape of the song and I went to my sound mans house and did it on his computer. I havent even listened to the album version of it yet. I dont even remember the solo. I remember the first notes of it thats it. I told Peter I just hope I dont embarrass myself because I hardly had any time to do it.
Darien : What do you wish to accomplish on this particular tour?
Gary: Oh you know .. to go and bust a few heads, and have a few drinks, and have a good time. Thats all I ever plan on doing ya know.
Darien: How was the ShovelHead tour, the one were you played at the Avalon?
Gary: That tour started out badly. It started off in Hollywood and it was great, then we went down into the south right fresh after Hurricane Katrina wrecked everything. We had a number of shows that were moved, people were displaced, and people had other things on their minds other than going to see an Exodus show. It didnt get truly good until we got out of the south and as soon as we got to Pennsylvania, it was amazing. The shows were so good. At that point, that first week and a half seemed like a month and a half. We had some really bad shows were there was just nobody there and we had to cancel one cause the promoter was a dick and the show was destined to be a fucking logistical flop. The guy did not have his shit together, the PA was a mess, but once we got out of there everything was cool.
Darien: So it sounds like you had a lot of situations on that tour.
Gary: Were Exodus, we always have situations (laughs)
Darien: Honestly, it took me a while to warm up to Shovelhead Kill Machine. I dont do well with changes in general so sometimes it takes me a while to get into something new. After giving it a long close listen, well its an ass kicker. How has the response been to this new album?
Gary: Its been amazing. The reviews have been incredible and youll always find skeptics such as yourself. People who got to be convinced, but thats ok Im all about convincing people. The albums unrelenting, its brutal, its completely bonkers. Some people it takes them by surprise how heavy it is ya know. Its a serious beat down that's for sure.
Darien: How well do you deal with changes Gary?
Gary : Obviously quite well ( laughs) considering I had everything fucking falling by the way side around me and I still got this album made and found the best fucking band mates I could find without fucking even having to delay between albums. I mean I dont want any more changes thats for sure. Ive had it. If theres anymore changes Im going to fucking kill myself. I feel like Ive been in the band for 15 years with these guys.
Darien: Now that there is some line up stability, do you feel people are accepting Exodus whole heartedly now?
Gary: Yeah. You know the shows weve done people go bonkers, but our bread and butter is Europe and abroad. You know just about any metal band thats popular here are going to be popular somewhere else cause metal is bigger, ya know. The tours we did with Hypocrisy were just amazing. Japan and Australia with the Haunted, just fucking unbelievable. Japan with Nile as well.
Darien: So do you party hard and still use drugs?
Gary: No. I dont do drugs anymore except when Peter is feeding them to me in the form of a cookie. I still drink though. Ill have a bottle of Gray Goose with my name on it for later.
Darien: Has cutting back helped you and how?
Gary: Its helped me cause fucking its enabled me to do this. I wasnt a drug dabbler I was a drug fucking abuser. You got two kinds of people in this business: musicians who dabble in drugs, and drug addicts who dabble in music and I had become the ladder.
Darien: So is Dethamphetamine a personal account?
Gary: Yeah, absolutely.
Darien: So what keeps you going after 25 years! A quarter of a century scary huh?
Gary: I love it. Something I love and something I was created to do. Thats a no brainer.
Darien: How do you maintain yourself touring?
Gary: I dont drink like I did when I was younger. I mean you know I take it a little more easy. The recovery time is longer. I still feel like I can still perform at a level surpassing what I did when I was younger and surpassing any younger band out there and I continue doing that as long as I feel like I can at a level, and do it at a level that I insist upon. I dont ever want to look slow on stage and going through the motions.
Darien : Im always amazed at the family vibe that happens, do you feel you guys are a tight unit now?
Gary: Absolutely. Were a happy family. Were like the fucking Cleavers!
Darien: Whos Ward? Whos June? Who Beaver?
Gary: Im Wally , No Im Eddy Haskell. Robs Lumpy Rutherford ( laughs)
Darien: What is something you would like to improve about yourself Gary?
Gary: I quit smoking a few weeks ago. But starting yesterday, Ive had a few drags on some cigarettes and I keep beating myself up about it which I know I shouldnt do. I mean I take one drag and I have a head rush that lasts ten minutes. Quitting smoking is proved to be far more difficult than quitting doing drugs. It comes in little waves. It only last last five seconds. Its a bitch.
Darien: What pisses you off?
Gary: Ignorance. Ignorant attitudes. Ignorant everything.
Darien: Are you angry?
Gary: Eh, sometimes. Im a pretty happy person generally. Ignorant people in general sometimes make me angry. Thats why when Im home Im kind of like a fucking hermit. I dont go out unless I have to. I went to that show with Hypocrisy only cause I had to. My buddy Peter you know they come all the way from fucking Sweden to San Francisco and they would never let me live it down. I was like yeah Ill just email them and say Im sick , but I was glad to go. Im glad I went, but I have to drag myself out and shit.
Darien: You stay in the Bay Area?
Gary: No, I live north up in Chico. I just moved there in Jan. My girlfriend is going to school up there. She starts Chico State in the fall. Her dad is a professor there. Now you got the Senator Theater doing real shows. You got Ice Cube playing there. I was talking to my manager about putting something together there over the summer in my new adopted home. I like it up there. Its quiet and its crime free. You read about some crime in the paper there and it wouldnt make water cooler conversation. Not like living in Oakland. Its so much cheaper up there.
Darien: How has your label Nuclear Blast been supporting you in comparison to other labels you have been on?
Gary: Awesome. I mean I have no complaints. They know the music, they know how to market it, and theyre fans of the band not just a record label. Were friends with all the people. Im perfectly happy.
Darien: What influences your song writing?
Gary: I dont know, thats always a hard question to answer because you know it comes from everywhere. Riffs come from ideas. Ya know lyrically, its shit that pisses you off in everyday life. You know sometimes I feel like I need to go out and let people that make me mad help me to come up with new fucking motivation.
Darien: So generally, when your writing songs or getting influenced in writing songs, is it your own personal experiences? Or whats going on in the world.
Gary: Yeah a little bit, but some of it is good ole Exodus violence, you know? I cant write songs about killing people from my own personal experience cause Ive yet to do it. At least not that you know of. Its just my own twisted fantasies about how bad I want to kill somebody.
Darien: The tone in your songs are pretty dark and angry. What is Exodus trying to convey with that?
Gary: Fucking anger, rage, black thoughts. I like my lyrics dark like my coffee. Thats bullshit though. I like mine with lots of cream and lots of sugar, but that wouldnt have worked with my little plan.
Darien: What was your inspiration for the song Thy Death Day Come. Thats a brutal fucking song.
Gary: I dont know. It just started with a riff and just built from there. Its an apocalyptic kind of song.
Darien: How was the recording process for ShovelHead?
Gary: It was good considering the pressure we were under with all the member changes and the fact we gave the mighty Paul Bostaph 3 weeks to learn all the material which turned him like 5 shades of white when we hoped to start recording. It was awesome, ya know. A big BBQ type atmosphere.
Darien: Were did you guys record this album?
Gary: Trident studios in Pacheco. Andy Sneap mixed it. Weve worked with Andy on the last 3 records including the live record. I produced this one and Andy mixed it. Hes like the 6th member of the band. I wouldnt let anyone else mix my shit.
Darien: I remember saying you work better under pressure. Have things been running a little smoother lately?
Gary: Oh yeah, no complaints. I just hope I know how to make another album working in ideal circumstances. Im so used to chaos I might not know what to do with myself.
Darien: Speaking of touring, do you keep a scrapbook of all the places youve been and people youve met?
Gary: No no, but I did on the first couple of tours we ever did. I kept a tour diary which one of these days Ill publish cause its fucking hilarious. But Ill have to publish it in my handwriting and not typed because half of the humor is watching my penmanship go to fucking hell cause you just read the bad English when your just way too drunk. Its just not the same humor as the fact like it looks like I wrote it with the pen sticking in my ass and writing with like my fingers cut off! Its hilarious. I mean Im clever at that kind of shit. You know one of these days Ill publish it. I am taking notes working on a book eventually one of these days. Ive got stories to tell.
Darien: Youve probably done and seen more than most people have in several lifetimes. When can we expect to see Exodus on VH1 Behind the Music?
Gary: I think we should already have one. I mean we got sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What better story than anybody else? I mean you know its like my old buddies Anthrax. I love them to death. Theyre old friends and they got one. But nobody died and no one was ever a drug addict. You know were just a fucking walking talking one. We got death, drugs, and rock and roll. To me, theres certain requirements that you should always have to have to have a Behind The Music special. You got to be an addict, someone die, or lose it all in a free fall spiral of drugs and bad business decisions and claw your way back up. . Or, you hit the top, fall down, and go back up again. Or, you go down, or go up, its always highs and lows. You got to have em. Its got to be more than Oh we got dropped from our label or We fired someone from the band. Its got to involve some alcoholism, death, and horrible fucking battles within the band you know just throwing it all away.
Darien : Any ideas or plans for new material?
Gary: Yeah already writing stuff for the next record. Its going to be crushing.
Interview by Darien Lomeli (contributing to this interview Troy Cavallo)
Contact me at:
www.myspace.com/darien666
Email: dlomeli@aol.com
Pick up Exoduss new album Shovel Headed Kill Machine out now on Nuclear Blast Records.
www.exodusattack.com
www.myspace.com/exodus
Boy how time flies! I remember when I was a wee young lady of like 15 or 16 going to shows and becoming a fixture in the SF metal scene. In particular, the early and formidable years of thrash. San Francisco was on the map for this genre with bands like Violence, Testament, and the almighty Exodus.
For me the name Exodus has two meanings. One we have the biblical reference of Exodus which was the chosen group for who themselves transitioned from bondage to freedom (old testament version). This history lesson coincides with what Exodus means today. Determination, tragedy, and finally redemption. With their many transformations and tragedys, Gary Holt has remained a fixture and main stay for this bands various interchanging members. He has endured his own demons, and now has resurrected once again with a new line up, new album, and a North American tour. I sat down with Gary for the first show of the tour and asked him what the hell he has been up too.
Darien: So how ya doing man?
Gary: Im doing fine, just relaxing.
Darien: Getting ready for this tour here?
Gary: Yeah, a little over four weeks something like that, with a couple of trips into Canada with Montreal and Toronto.
Darien : First off, I just want to say Im really stoked about this show. I was born and raised in SF Bay Area and I havent seen Exodus since like 1992 at the Stone. That was the last time I saw you guys.
Gary: Its been a long time.
Darien: Too long, so this is a big deal for me. I just wanted to get that out the way. I did an interview with your buddy Peter of Hypocrisy at the Anthrax show at the Pound. I was going to talk to you, but you looked kind of busy.
Gary: I was way, way, high. I dont smoke weed and Peter gave me some cookies. I thought they were just cookies and I was just hungry so I said, Yeah, Ill have some cookies. By the time I realized it, it was too late I was just so wasted. Peter ate like a dozen of those things and like he put it, I was on the dark side of the moon.
Darien: So how did you guys hook up to do the solo for Scrutinized? Is there an Exodus Hypocrisy tour coming up?
Gary: Well we just did the last one in November. It was awesome. I mean Peter and I have been friends for quite some time now. We first met around 2002/2003 and he was like, You know you got to do a solo and I was like, You can do some backgrounds and Ill do a solo. We didnt have any time to get any tracks out to him to do some back grounds. We talked about touring together forever and we finally made it happen and it was one of the most fun tours Ive ever done.
Darien: Are you guys going to do a tour here?
Gary: Yeah, were talking about it.
Darien : So you just sent your solo over to him?
Gary: Yeah he sent me a tape of the song and I went to my sound mans house and did it on his computer. I havent even listened to the album version of it yet. I dont even remember the solo. I remember the first notes of it thats it. I told Peter I just hope I dont embarrass myself because I hardly had any time to do it.
Darien : What do you wish to accomplish on this particular tour?
Gary: Oh you know .. to go and bust a few heads, and have a few drinks, and have a good time. Thats all I ever plan on doing ya know.
Darien: How was the ShovelHead tour, the one were you played at the Avalon?
Gary: That tour started out badly. It started off in Hollywood and it was great, then we went down into the south right fresh after Hurricane Katrina wrecked everything. We had a number of shows that were moved, people were displaced, and people had other things on their minds other than going to see an Exodus show. It didnt get truly good until we got out of the south and as soon as we got to Pennsylvania, it was amazing. The shows were so good. At that point, that first week and a half seemed like a month and a half. We had some really bad shows were there was just nobody there and we had to cancel one cause the promoter was a dick and the show was destined to be a fucking logistical flop. The guy did not have his shit together, the PA was a mess, but once we got out of there everything was cool.
Darien: So it sounds like you had a lot of situations on that tour.
Gary: Were Exodus, we always have situations (laughs)
Darien: Honestly, it took me a while to warm up to Shovelhead Kill Machine. I dont do well with changes in general so sometimes it takes me a while to get into something new. After giving it a long close listen, well its an ass kicker. How has the response been to this new album?
Gary: Its been amazing. The reviews have been incredible and youll always find skeptics such as yourself. People who got to be convinced, but thats ok Im all about convincing people. The albums unrelenting, its brutal, its completely bonkers. Some people it takes them by surprise how heavy it is ya know. Its a serious beat down that's for sure.
Darien: How well do you deal with changes Gary?
Gary : Obviously quite well ( laughs) considering I had everything fucking falling by the way side around me and I still got this album made and found the best fucking band mates I could find without fucking even having to delay between albums. I mean I dont want any more changes thats for sure. Ive had it. If theres anymore changes Im going to fucking kill myself. I feel like Ive been in the band for 15 years with these guys.
Darien: Now that there is some line up stability, do you feel people are accepting Exodus whole heartedly now?
Gary: Yeah. You know the shows weve done people go bonkers, but our bread and butter is Europe and abroad. You know just about any metal band thats popular here are going to be popular somewhere else cause metal is bigger, ya know. The tours we did with Hypocrisy were just amazing. Japan and Australia with the Haunted, just fucking unbelievable. Japan with Nile as well.
Darien: So do you party hard and still use drugs?
Gary: No. I dont do drugs anymore except when Peter is feeding them to me in the form of a cookie. I still drink though. Ill have a bottle of Gray Goose with my name on it for later.
Darien: Has cutting back helped you and how?
Gary: Its helped me cause fucking its enabled me to do this. I wasnt a drug dabbler I was a drug fucking abuser. You got two kinds of people in this business: musicians who dabble in drugs, and drug addicts who dabble in music and I had become the ladder.
Darien: So is Dethamphetamine a personal account?
Gary: Yeah, absolutely.
Darien: So what keeps you going after 25 years! A quarter of a century scary huh?
Gary: I love it. Something I love and something I was created to do. Thats a no brainer.
Darien: How do you maintain yourself touring?
Gary: I dont drink like I did when I was younger. I mean you know I take it a little more easy. The recovery time is longer. I still feel like I can still perform at a level surpassing what I did when I was younger and surpassing any younger band out there and I continue doing that as long as I feel like I can at a level, and do it at a level that I insist upon. I dont ever want to look slow on stage and going through the motions.
Darien : Im always amazed at the family vibe that happens, do you feel you guys are a tight unit now?
Gary: Absolutely. Were a happy family. Were like the fucking Cleavers!
Darien: Whos Ward? Whos June? Who Beaver?
Gary: Im Wally , No Im Eddy Haskell. Robs Lumpy Rutherford ( laughs)
Darien: What is something you would like to improve about yourself Gary?
Gary: I quit smoking a few weeks ago. But starting yesterday, Ive had a few drags on some cigarettes and I keep beating myself up about it which I know I shouldnt do. I mean I take one drag and I have a head rush that lasts ten minutes. Quitting smoking is proved to be far more difficult than quitting doing drugs. It comes in little waves. It only last last five seconds. Its a bitch.
Darien: What pisses you off?
Gary: Ignorance. Ignorant attitudes. Ignorant everything.
Darien: Are you angry?
Gary: Eh, sometimes. Im a pretty happy person generally. Ignorant people in general sometimes make me angry. Thats why when Im home Im kind of like a fucking hermit. I dont go out unless I have to. I went to that show with Hypocrisy only cause I had to. My buddy Peter you know they come all the way from fucking Sweden to San Francisco and they would never let me live it down. I was like yeah Ill just email them and say Im sick , but I was glad to go. Im glad I went, but I have to drag myself out and shit.
Darien: You stay in the Bay Area?
Gary: No, I live north up in Chico. I just moved there in Jan. My girlfriend is going to school up there. She starts Chico State in the fall. Her dad is a professor there. Now you got the Senator Theater doing real shows. You got Ice Cube playing there. I was talking to my manager about putting something together there over the summer in my new adopted home. I like it up there. Its quiet and its crime free. You read about some crime in the paper there and it wouldnt make water cooler conversation. Not like living in Oakland. Its so much cheaper up there.
Darien: How has your label Nuclear Blast been supporting you in comparison to other labels you have been on?
Gary: Awesome. I mean I have no complaints. They know the music, they know how to market it, and theyre fans of the band not just a record label. Were friends with all the people. Im perfectly happy.
Darien: What influences your song writing?
Gary: I dont know, thats always a hard question to answer because you know it comes from everywhere. Riffs come from ideas. Ya know lyrically, its shit that pisses you off in everyday life. You know sometimes I feel like I need to go out and let people that make me mad help me to come up with new fucking motivation.
Darien: So generally, when your writing songs or getting influenced in writing songs, is it your own personal experiences? Or whats going on in the world.
Gary: Yeah a little bit, but some of it is good ole Exodus violence, you know? I cant write songs about killing people from my own personal experience cause Ive yet to do it. At least not that you know of. Its just my own twisted fantasies about how bad I want to kill somebody.
Darien: The tone in your songs are pretty dark and angry. What is Exodus trying to convey with that?
Gary: Fucking anger, rage, black thoughts. I like my lyrics dark like my coffee. Thats bullshit though. I like mine with lots of cream and lots of sugar, but that wouldnt have worked with my little plan.
Darien: What was your inspiration for the song Thy Death Day Come. Thats a brutal fucking song.
Gary: I dont know. It just started with a riff and just built from there. Its an apocalyptic kind of song.
Darien: How was the recording process for ShovelHead?
Gary: It was good considering the pressure we were under with all the member changes and the fact we gave the mighty Paul Bostaph 3 weeks to learn all the material which turned him like 5 shades of white when we hoped to start recording. It was awesome, ya know. A big BBQ type atmosphere.
Darien: Were did you guys record this album?
Gary: Trident studios in Pacheco. Andy Sneap mixed it. Weve worked with Andy on the last 3 records including the live record. I produced this one and Andy mixed it. Hes like the 6th member of the band. I wouldnt let anyone else mix my shit.
Darien: I remember saying you work better under pressure. Have things been running a little smoother lately?
Gary: Oh yeah, no complaints. I just hope I know how to make another album working in ideal circumstances. Im so used to chaos I might not know what to do with myself.
Darien: Speaking of touring, do you keep a scrapbook of all the places youve been and people youve met?
Gary: No no, but I did on the first couple of tours we ever did. I kept a tour diary which one of these days Ill publish cause its fucking hilarious. But Ill have to publish it in my handwriting and not typed because half of the humor is watching my penmanship go to fucking hell cause you just read the bad English when your just way too drunk. Its just not the same humor as the fact like it looks like I wrote it with the pen sticking in my ass and writing with like my fingers cut off! Its hilarious. I mean Im clever at that kind of shit. You know one of these days Ill publish it. I am taking notes working on a book eventually one of these days. Ive got stories to tell.
Darien: Youve probably done and seen more than most people have in several lifetimes. When can we expect to see Exodus on VH1 Behind the Music?
Gary: I think we should already have one. I mean we got sex, drugs, and rock and roll. What better story than anybody else? I mean you know its like my old buddies Anthrax. I love them to death. Theyre old friends and they got one. But nobody died and no one was ever a drug addict. You know were just a fucking walking talking one. We got death, drugs, and rock and roll. To me, theres certain requirements that you should always have to have to have a Behind The Music special. You got to be an addict, someone die, or lose it all in a free fall spiral of drugs and bad business decisions and claw your way back up. . Or, you hit the top, fall down, and go back up again. Or, you go down, or go up, its always highs and lows. You got to have em. Its got to be more than Oh we got dropped from our label or We fired someone from the band. Its got to involve some alcoholism, death, and horrible fucking battles within the band you know just throwing it all away.
Darien : Any ideas or plans for new material?
Gary: Yeah already writing stuff for the next record. Its going to be crushing.
Interview by Darien Lomeli (contributing to this interview Troy Cavallo)
Contact me at:
www.myspace.com/darien666
Email: dlomeli@aol.com
Pick up Exoduss new album Shovel Headed Kill Machine out now on Nuclear Blast Records.
www.exodusattack.com
www.myspace.com/exodus
