GARY HOLT Says He Is 'Protecting The Innocent' In His Upcoming Memoir: 'I Know Where All The Bodies Are Buried'

In a new interview with Mike Palm of TribLIVE, EXODUS and SLAYER guitarist Gary Holt spoke about the status of his memoir, which is due next year via Hachette Books. "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."

"I had thought about doing a book for a long time," Gary said. "Just my career arc is very different. Most of your rock books involve starting out, mass success, huge drug use and alcoholism and a spiral down, then redemption. Mine's different. I had moderate success, completely out of music, complete drug addict, and then the redemption. It's really close to the finished stages now. I read the latest version of it. It made me cry a couple of times. It made me cringe a bunch of times because there's some really cringy [expletive] going on. And it made me laugh. It's laugh, cry, on the edge of your seat, like any good movie. That's all you could ask for."

Asked if there were any stories that he left out of the book, Holt said: "I left out anything that would be horrible to a lot of people I know, because if I turned it into a tell-all, I know where all the bodies are buried in thrash metal. I could expose everything. But no one would tell me all that stuff anymore, because Gary's a blabbermouth and he just shared it with the world. I peel the layers back on myself heavily, just like I always have. But I'm protecting the innocent to a large degree. I'm not going into detail about other people's stuff. That's for their own books. And that's their own decision, whether they want to share some of that stuff. And anytime it did involve bandmates, I ran it past them. Some stuff is not a secret, the drug use and all that. … I left tons of stuff out, stuff that would have made the most riveting chapters on Earth, but it would've been damaging to people I care about. And I don't mind damaging myself, because it's my story."

When Holt first shared the news of his upcoming memoir on social media in March 2023, he wrote: "Super stoked!!! The announcement in book circles has gone out today, so I'm sharing it in MY circle! The book about my life is under way, from the beginnings of EXODUS and thrash metal, to the drug fueled fall, to the unexpected and tragic circumstances that led me to @slayerbandofficial to the bounce back to Madison Square Garden with and @exodusbandofficial charting at number 20 on the MAIN Billboard charts, all will be told! No holds barred, all the lows and highs will be retold! Been a project very close to me, and I'm stoked to be working with @ademtepedelen_ @lauramazer @bschafer714 @hachettebooks and @wendysherman to make this a reality!"

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.

In a June 2012 interview with Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show, SLAYER's Kerry King stated about Holt: "I always regard Gary as the Glenn Tipton of our era — really good, really polished and nobody talks about him. To this day, nobody really references [JUDAS] PRIEST and Tipton that much as guitar players and I feel the same way about Gary. EXODUS have a huge following but a little more overlooked than METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER, ANTHRAX — the 'Big Four,' so to speak, so [it is great] to be able to bring him to the forefront and shove him down people's throats and say, 'Hey, this motherfucker kicks ass. Pay attention.'"

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.