In a brand new interview with Germany’s Metallic.de, EXODUS guitarist Gary Holt confirmed that the band’s basic debut album, 1985’s “Bonded By Blood” remains to be his favourite EXODUS LP. Requested if which means he thinks EXODUS “by no means topped” “Bonded By Blood” with one thing else, Gary stated (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “No. By no means topped it. That is blasphemous to even say. ‘Bonded By Blood’ is the album that began all of it. So, it is my youth, it is my highschool yearbook. It is the rationale I am nonetheless right here. So it is at all times gonna be primary. And [late EXODUS frontman] Paul Baloff, regardless of solely singing on one album, is at all times the voice of EXODUS. That is no insult to [later EXODUS singers] Zetro [Steve Souza] or Rob [Dukes]. It is simply Paul began it.”
Requested if he and his EXODUS bandmates have considered a doable retirement or if they’re simply too “filled with power” proper now to name it quits, Holt responded: “No, I am not filled with power. I am fucking drained. However we’re gonna do that as exhausting as we will, as heavy as we will till we won’t. And that is why we recorded a lot music [for the next EXODUS album]. We figured, do it now whereas we’re nonetheless in a position to. Who is aware of? I’ve had elbow issues, hand issues, shoulder issues now. Perhaps in 5 years age will catch up and the arthritis will get dangerous and I can not do it. I do not know.”
Concerning what he would possibly do all day if he needed to cease touring and recording with EXODUS, Gary stated: “I don’t know. I do not know. Flip to a lifetime of crime, perhaps. I do not know. I have not discovered a approach to earn cash being charming, so I do not know what I am gonna do.”
When the interviewer famous that Gary has discovered a approach to make some extra cash by promoting merchandise through his Holt Awaits on-line retailer, the guitarist concurred. “Yeah, it helps,” he stated. “Individuals suppose, ‘Oh, you are a wealthy rock star.’ No. I promote shirts, and I promote them outta my fucking closet. All proper. Pack this one up, label it, ship it off. However no, that simply helps. It does not pay the payments. It helps to maintain pay the payments. It helped actually so much within the pandemic. However I do not know. If I actually retired, I might most likely do extra producing. I might keep in music. However generally I daydream about not leaving the home. ‘Trigger I hate leaving — I hate getting on the aircraft to go away — however as quickly as I arrive, I’ve enjoyable.”
Holt was additionally requested about EXODUS bassist Jack Gibson‘s latest remark that he and his bandmates are “touring t-shirt salesmen”. Gary stated: “[Selling shirts is] the place we make our cash. We’re fortunate… In the event you’re in a band the place the cash you are paid to play covers your bills and the t-shirt cash is yours, you are doing rather well. As a result of every part, particularly because the pandemic — tour buses price method more cash. Every little thing prices extra. Airfare prices extra. It is fucking exhausting. We do okay, we do fairly good. However then if you come residence and you do not work for 2 months, that cash you made has to cowl, stretch out over all of it. So it is not what individuals suppose.”
In a July 2024 interview with Danielle Bloom, Gibson was requested what recommendation he would give to musicians who’re simply beginning out, in addition to to these musicians who perhaps are a little bit jaded at this level of their profession. He responded: “I do not know what to inform younger musicians in the present day as a result of I am jaded. And it is not that I am simply jaded, it is that there is no music enterprise anymore.
“Once I was younger, there was a path, there have been steps to take,” he defined. “You bought your band collectively, you place your music collectively, you began on the lookout for reveals, and if you happen to may draw individuals to your reveals, then the subsequent step was that label individuals would have an interest. You then needed to get your promotional pack collectively to present to the labels that have been . And you then tried to get signed and you then tried to make data and promote data And people steps do not exist in any respect anymore. Now the step is make a band — or not even make a band. Let’s simply go viral. I do not know to do this. Do not ask me how one can fucking do this. I am in my fifties. I do not know the way to do this shit. It’s very a thriller to me. I do not know the way issues get standard now, different than simply whole luck. So I do not know.
“Right here in Nashville [where I live now], younger musicians, they ask me that on a regular basis,” he continued. “And I type of really feel like a dick after I’m answering, as a result of I am, like, ‘Guys, I do not know.’ I do not know what makes issues tick. The bands which can be actual standard, I do not know why these bands are standard. And I am not saying that they are not good; I simply do not know why these ones are those that stand out from the opposite ones proper now. All of it type of sounds the identical to me. I assume it is most likely as a result of I am simply previous. However I do not know what path to present anyone.”
When Bloom famous out that “we live in several occasions” proper now, Gibson concurred. “There is no enterprise,” he stated. “As soon as they began giving the music away, there is no enterprise. We do not promote shit for data. If we do not exit and promote t-shirts, we do not earn cash. I am a t-shirt salesman. I am not a musician. I am actually a touring tchotchke vendor. That is what we do. We play music to attempt to get individuals to the shop and promote them our fuckin’ stuff with stuff printed on it. That is the enterprise. If you cannot replenish a room, 50,000 items moved on the Web, then they do not wanna discuss to you. And any day now, we’re all gonna lose our jobs to those fuckin’ robots. As soon as the A.I. figures out how one can truly make music that folks take pleasure in, they are not gonna pay us to do shit.”
After Bloom expressed her perception that folks will at all times be desirous about seeing dwell music being carried out by people, Jack stated: “Properly, that is true. However at this cut-off date, many of the music enterprise is not that; most of it’s licensing and industrial jingles and music modifying and music recording. All that is gonna simply disappear. There’s gonna be 50 individuals on the market who make music that persons are desirous about that may’t be reproduced. After which the remainder of it… Like, who’s gonna pay someone to jot down music for a film? Or pay an orchestra, pay 60 individuals to come back in and carry out it when one man can simply go [punch a few commands into a computer] and it comes out. And we’re not gonna know the fucking distinction. Issues are altering so quick that I do not actually know what to say.”
Souza joined EXODUS in 1986 after beforehand fronting the band LEGACY (which later turned TESTAMENT). He remained within the band till their hiatus in 1993, however rejoined them for 2 years from 2002 to 2004. Dukes had joined EXODUS in 2005 (following Souza‘s departure) and remained till 2014, when Souza rejoined.
Dukes beforehand joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on 4 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 basic 1985 LP, “Bonded By Blood”) and “Exhibit B: The Human Situation” (2010).
EXODUS‘s third stint with Souza resulted in January, with Dukes being welcomed again on the identical time.
EXODUS performed its first live performance with Dukes in almost 11 years on April 5 on the Decibel Journal Metallic & Beer Fest: Philly on the Fillmore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Though EXODUS not often will get talked about alongside the so-called “Massive 4” of Eighties thrash steel — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — the aforementioned “Bonded By Blood” LP impressed the likes of TESTAMENT, DEATH ANGEL, VIO-LENCE and lots of others to launch their careers and is taken into account probably the most influential thrash steel albums of all time.
