EXODUS's GARY HOLT: 'I'm Not Rich, But I Make A Living Playing Guitar, And That's A Gift In Itself'

In a new interview with Moshville Times, Gary Holt was asked what has kept him so focused on EXODUS since he joined the band four and a half decades ago. The 61-year-old guitarist responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's a way of life, being in EXODUS. Even in the years I spent [touring] with SLAYER, I missed this. I missed it. And when SLAYER played their final show, I went from two nights sold out at the L.A. Forum [with SLAYER] to two months later, I was showering in some really sketchy German venue shower [on tour with EXODUS], and I loved it. It was awesome. You go through extremes of — from the highest level to comfort to, 'Do I wanna step there?' And it's okay. I love it. I love doing this. This is the band I joined when I was 17 years old. And I'll be 62 in May, and I'm still here. What's not the love. I'm not rich, but I make a living playing guitar, and that's a gift in itself. I can't retire — I gotta keep working — but I love my job. So working isn't a problem."

Asked where he gets his inspiration from for his "creative flow", Gary said: "I have no idea. I don't know. I mean, it'd be easy for some people to say, 'Well, I listen to a lot of modern metal and I take a lot of influence from that,' but I don't. I listen to Adele. The only album I listen to is everything by Adele. I'm obsessed. I love Adele. And my radio in my car is either on sports talk radio or soft rock. Maybe I'm getting some influence by Christopher Cross. I don't know. And Prince — Prince is my musical hero. I probably subconsciously take as much influence from him as I do anyone else. But I still listen to the same rock I did in high school — NAZARETH and THIN LIZZY and Ted Nugent and AC/DC and SCORPIONS and all that stuff. And I still write the same way I always did. I just sit down and jam and play until something sticks."

EXODUS's twelfth studio album, "Goliath", is due on March 20 via Napalm Records. The LP was produced by EXODUS, and was mixed and mastered by Mark Lewis (WHITECHAPEL, NILE, UNDEATH).

This past December, EXODUS filmed music videos for three songs from "Goliath", including "3111" and "Goliath". The clips were helmed by Jim Louvau, a musical and visual creative artist based in Phoenix, Arizona, who previously worked on EXODUS's music video for the song "The Fires Of Division" from the band's 2021 LP "Persona Non Grata".

"Goliath" marks the first time in nearly three decades that an EXODUS album hasn't been mixed by Andy Sneap, who has acted as JUDAS PRIEST's producer and touring guitarist for eight years.

Singer Steve "Zetro" Souza was fired from EXODUS in January 2025 and was replaced by a returning Rob Dukes.

Souza joined EXODUS in 1986 after previously fronting the band LEGACY (which later became TESTAMENT). He remained in the band until their hiatus in 1993, but rejoined them for two years from 2002 to 2004. Dukes had joined EXODUS in 2005 (following Souza's departure) and remained until 2014, when Souza rejoined.

Dukes previously joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on four of the band's studio albums — "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" (2005),"The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A" (2007),"Let There Be Blood" (2008, a re-recording of EXODUS's classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).

EXODUS played its first concert with Dukes in nearly 11 years on April 5, 2025 at the Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly at the Fillmore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Although EXODUS rarely gets mentioned alongside the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — the aforementioned "Bonded By Blood" LP inspired the likes of TESTAMENT, DEATH ANGEL, VIO-LENCE and many others to launch their careers and is considered one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time.