EXODUS Guitarist: 'We Were There Before Anybody But METALLICA'

Mark Eglinton of The Quietus recently conducted an interview with guitarist Gary Holt of San Francisco Bay Area thrashers EXODUS. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Quietus: Have the big labels killed music?

Gary Holt: Maybe they have something to do with it, but technology is more to blame. At the same time as technology has made it easier to make really high quality albums for a lot less money, it's that same technology that allows everybody to take it for free and put it on a little MP3 player and walk away.

The Quietus: Something of a double-edged sword, then?

Gary Holt: Exactly. I'm a fan of high-speed Internet as much as anybody, but to me the MP3 player and the CD burner are what's killing things. Without those two, even if you downloaded a record, it's confined to your computer. So if you wanted to throw it in your car you still had to buy the fuckin' CD. Now you buy it, burn it, take it and soon CDs will be a thing of the past anyway, and it will all be MP3 downloads.

The Quietus: We're all doomed...

Gary Holt: I think within the next 10 years there will be no albums and that will be a crime. I think back to when I was a kid and I couldn't wait to get that vinyl and tear into it, and just listen to it and read the lyrics along with the song until I had all that shit memorised. And then there was the artwork and it was all part of the experience, and all you might get now is some little picture that pops up on your iPod. They'll miss out on what I consider an integral part of the record-buying experience. Personally I don't like listening to albums on little ear buds, I like listening to this shit with good hard watts of fuckin' power behind it...sub-woofers, you know? I want to feel it. I remember when I'd bring home one of my favourite albums in the middle of the afternoon, and nobody's home and I'd be just CRANKING this shit. I'd sit in that one spot on the couch where I've got maximum bass response. Who wants to have this shit pumped into your ears through some tiny microscopic speakers?

The Quietus: All of this must add emphasis to the need to tour?

Gary Holt: Oh sure, I mean now we depend on it. I look back to, like, the '80s and I always thought that we didn't tour enough back then. Now you have to stay out on the road as much as possible and try to generate enough income that way. Then when you're done touring an album you've got to get your ass back in the studio as soon as possible for the next one.

The Quietus: Do you actually make money?

Gary Holt: You know, we manage to do it...I make a living at this, but sometimes it's feast or famine; one minute you're doing those really profitable tours and then you're doing tours where you just try and increase your audience, but you're not making anything. I can only imagine how hard it is for younger bands.

The Quietus: The "Big Four" tour this summer...do you think it's all too late?

Gary Holt: I don't think it's too late, but my whole take on this whole thing is that I don't get pissed off with it but look: we were there before anybody but METALLICA. I guess if you're basing it all on sales then Dave [Mustaine] and METALLICA should be there certainly, you know. SLAYER were right there. Maybe I'm biased but I think we had as big a hand in it as anybody. I think it's good for the fans that want to see it, and it's cool that METALLICA are open to such a thing now.

The Quietus: Are they open to it because they have made so much money, though?

Gary Holt: Yeah, maybe. People ask me what it's like to play with metallica but we haven't played with them since 1986. There are lots of bands who have played with them way more than us. We were there together in the beginning so people always want to hear all the tales and how it all started. I'm that guy to call on when you want to hear about the old Bay Area days.

The Quietus: Tell us your most outrageous Paul Baloff story.

Gary Holt: Oh gosh, I think there are more outrageous Paul Baloff tall tales than there are stories. Paul has a million of them. People would come up to me, right after his passing, with these great stories and I'm like, "Man, that shit never happened." There was a big rumour going around that at one of the old Ruthie's Inn shows where Paul said "Kill a poser," that somebody slashed some poser's throat outside. There is no way I would not know about that, you know...

The Quietus: Presumably the police would know about it too!?

Gary Holt: Exactly. I should just let everyone believe that one, though. [laughs]

Read the entire interview at The Quietus.