GARY HOLT 'Highly Doubts' SLAYER Will Ever Return: 'To My Knowledge, It'll Never Happen Again'

Gary Holt says that he "highly doubts" there will ever be a SLAYER reunion.

The EXODUS leader, who spent almost nine years touring with SLAYER, discussed the possibility of the latter band coming back while being interviewed by Australia's "Scars And Guitars" podcast.

Asked what the most enjoyable part was of being part of SLAYER's final tour, Holt said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Just the amount of people that came out to see it, especially the amount of people who flew in for the final two shows was epic. And it was emotional. Tears were shed while playing 'Angel Of Death', and who would have ever thought that would happen? Who plays 'Angel Of Death' [while] trying to keep the tears at bay for the last fucking time? But it was an awesome, awesome, moving thing — an amazing part of my life."

As for the possibility of SLAYER ever returning for more live shows, Holt said: "I highly doubt it… To my knowledge, it'll never happen again. To my knowledge, I don't know at the same time. Maybe someday someone just offers so much money that it changes people's minds. But the band went out on a fucking super-high note, on top, and why sully that? I mean, we've already outlasted MÖTLEY CRÜE's retirement. [Laughs] Well, theirs has gone a little longer because of the pandemic, but it took them — what? — a year to decide they'd tour again."

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.

Back in March, Holt told Headbangers Con that he would be open to playing with SLAYER again if the band ever decided to come back. "Look, if the powers that be ever — like, in a year or something — said, 'Hey, you know what? We feel like playing some shows,' I'm there to do it," Holt said. "But those aren't decisions for me to make, or even me to really speculate on. As far as my knowledge, the band is over, and the final show was November 30th, 2019. And I'm full speed ahead with EXODUS now."

SLAYER guitarist Kerry King made headlines earlier this week when he said that the band retired "too early." While recording a short video message to congratulate MACHINE HEAD on the San Francisco Bay Area act's 30th anniversary, he said: "So, I hear congratulations are in order for my friends in MACHINE HEAD. Apparently, it's 30 years, which is quite an achievement. Not a lot of bands get there. We did, and then we quit too early. Fuck us. Fuck me. I hate fucking not playing."

SLAYER played the final show of its farewell tour in November 2019 at the Forum in Los Angeles. One day later, Kerry's wife Ayesha King said that there is "not a chance in hell" that the thrash metal icons will reunite for more live appearances. In August 2020, she once again shot down the possibility of her husband and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya sharing the stage ever again under the SLAYER banner.

After Ayesha shared three photos of Kerry holding their cat in slideshow-type Instagram post, a fan wrote: "No Tom, No SLAYER Kerry. Stop thinking SLAYER without @tomarayaofficial". Ayesha then replied: "don't worry, they'll never be SLAYER again! You can rest easy".

SLAYER's final world tour began on May 10, 2018 with the band's intention to play as many places as possible, to make it easy for the fans to see one last SLAYER show and say goodbye. By the time the 18-month trek wrapped at the Forum, the band had completed seven tour legs plus a series of one-off major summer festivals, performing more than 140 shows in 30 countries and 40 U.S. states.

Last year, SLAYER drummer Paul Bostaph confirmed that he is involved in a brand new project headed up by Kerry. The duo spent much of the last year and a half working on music with the hopes of recording it properly once the coronavirus pandemic has subsided.