EXODUS/SLAYER Guitarist GARY HOLT: 'If You Really Believe In God, You Believe In Some Horrible F***ing S***'

In a new interview with the Scandalous Podcast, EXODUS and SLAYER guitarist Gary Holt was asked if he is spiritual at all. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, fuck no. [Laughs] No, I'm an atheist. I do not believe at all. I'm not agnostic. I follow the science. If you really believe in God, you believe in some horrible fucking shit, and you've self-edited out the worst of the Bible because in modern society, you obviously have to. I think it's ridiculous. But at the same time, I have absolute respect and tolerance for those who do believe because you kind of have to. Ninety percent of my whole circle of life believes, like my parents, my mom and dad. I'm not gonna tell my mom she's fucking stupid or 'you're wrong.' All I ever ask is that I'm allowed not to believe. And some people have a problem with that."

He continued: "I keep religion and politics off my own Instagram page 'cause it just starts a fight anyway. I posted a meme years ago of Jesus carrying the cross and it said, 'This kite sucks.' People got fucking mad at me. I was, like, 'All right, let's just keep it to cats and guitars.' [But I thought the Jesus meme] was funny. People can send me, my friends will send me memes based on politicians I like at the time, totally making fun of them, and I can still laugh at it. It's, like, 'That's fucking good. That was hilarious. A good one. I'm gonna share it privately.''

Holt added: "We're all humans. I think segregating people based on their beliefs and everything is quite often part of the plan to keep 'em separated… And 'cause it's better for the people calling the shots, to not have us unite. But if someone's getting married in church, I go to fucking church and I sit there and I bow my head if they lead a prayer. I'm not gonna sit there and be a dickhead about it. I have family that have a Easter dinner and they lead a prayer, I respectfully semi participate. I'm not thinking that, but I'll be quiet and put my head down and, 'All right, time to eat.'"

Holt previously discussed his views on religion in a 2021 interview with The Metal Voice. He said at the time: "Everybody pretty much knows I'm an atheist and I'm not a believer, but if I fucking wrote off all those that were, I wouldn't have a family. Most of my family believes in Jesus fucking Christ. And I'm not gonna part ways with them because we share a different religious ideology. And I won't over a political [ideology] either. Some of my best friends are completely different than me, and that's okay. It's not a bad thing. I don't look at them as fucking lesser people because we don't agree on something. And a lot of time, if you take the time to discuss shit like fucking humans, you'll find that you actually can find middle ground on a lot of things."

The EXODUS leader, who spent almost nine years touring with SLAYER, initially as a fill-in for founding SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman, will take part in the SLAYER reunion shows in September and October.

Holt began filling in for Hanneman at SLAYER's live shows in 2011, and became the band's full-time co-guitarist as of 2013, while remaining a member of EXODUS. Holt played on SLAYER's final album, "Repentless", which came out in 2015.

The lineup for SLAYER's comeback will be the same as the one which last toured in 2019: bassist/vocalist Tom Araya and guitarist Kerry King, along with Holt and longtime drummer Paul Bostaph.

Holt joined EXODUS in 1981, shortly after the band's formation, and has been the group's main songwriter ever since. Holt has performed on every EXODUS album, and is considered highly influential in the world of thrash metal.

EXODUS's latest album, "Persona Non Grata", came out in November 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records. The LP was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudi and EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap. For the third time in the band's history, they returned to Swedish artist Pär Olofsson to create the album artwork.

"Persona Non Grata" was the follow-up to 2014's "Blood In Blood Out", which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers' first release since the departure of the group's lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

In March 2023, Hachette Books announced that it had acquired Gary's upcoming memoir. "A Fabulous Disaster: From The Garage To Madison Square Garden, The Hard Way" is described in a press release as "a no-holds-barred memoir from the preeminent thrasher's life in metal, from its humble (but not quiet) beginnings in the San Francisco Bay Area through today's current resurgence in worldwide popularity, as he lived big, played fast and crashed hard, written in collaboration with Adem Tepedelen."