EXODUS's GARY HOLT Explains Record-Label Switch From NUCLEAR BLAST To NAPALM

During a question-and-answer session on July 27 at Diablo Guitars in Renton, Washington, where he was holding a guitar clinic, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt was asked about the band's recent switch from Nuclear Blast Records to Napalm Records. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's just one of those things. We were with Nuclear Blast for a long time — since 2003 — but sometimes, you know, change is good. There was a ton of change at Nuclear Blast and I kind of knew one person there anymore and I used to know everybody. And this might be my last record deal. I'm 59 years old, so I wanted to make sure it was right. I hope so. But I'm pretty confident. They're all 100 percent behind this band."

This past May, EXODUS canceled its previously announced summer 2023 European tour so that Holt could "tend to his family" after his brother was recently hospitalized in Italy.

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.

Holt began filling in for SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman at 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.

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.

Five months ago, 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."