Exodus and Slayer guitarist Gary Holt recently did an interview with Mike Palm of TribLIVE and talked about the status of his memoir.
You’re gonna love this! “A Fabulous Disaster: From The Garage To Madison Square Garden, The Hard Way” is due to come out next year!
The press-release says it’s 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.”
Exodus / Slayer’s Gary Holt added, “I had thought about doing a book for a long time. 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 he left stories out of the book (duh, no shit Sherlocke), Gary 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.”
You’ve known Exodus / Slayer’s Gary Holt was going to release a book since he chirped about it in an online post from March ’23: “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!”
As you know, Holt joined Exodus in 1981, shortly after the band formed. He’s started filling in for Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman at live shows in 2011, and became the band’s full-time co-guitarist as of 2013. A beast of metal.
What’s the best rock book? Recommend a book. I wonder which will sell more, Gary’s book or Poison drummer Rikki Rockett’s?
* Web news is powered by the homedwell.ca group! Buying a home? Selling your home? Contact them today!
