Seven years after the arrival of Blood In, Blood Out (2014), Exodus is preparing to release their new album Persona Non Grata on November 19th, and Wikimetal was able to participate in an exclusive press conference for Latin American journalists with Gary Holt , who spoke about the new album, the possibility of a Slayer , and his favorite album at the moment.
The new album began recording in July 2020, when Exodus reunited at Tom Hunting in the mountains. According to Gary Holt, spending time with his bandmates, and especially with his longtime friend, took them back to their teenage years when they played in their parents' garage. The reunion of friends resulted in what Gary considers one of Exodus' best albums. He promises an album that covers the band's entire career; heavy, with catchy hooks and "a little bit of everything".
Persona Non Grata is described as an album that addresses issues that "revolt and disgust modern society," covering topics ranging from police brutality to the phenomenon of fake news and sensationalist media. The strong sociopolitical content of the project is at least interesting coming from a band like Exodus, whose members have quite divergent political and social opinions. Gary Holt, who declares himself "totally pro-vaccine," commented that, Steve "Zetro" Souza 's denialist discourse against the vaccine , the vocalist is also vaccinated, and that the divergence of opinions is not a problem for the band.
“The world around us has forgotten how to coexist with people who disagree with you,” he comments. “The world is very boring if you only hang out with people who think like you, right? Exodus is a band with completely different political ideologies, and yet we are brothers. You know that saying about not discussing religion and politics with people who disagree with you? That's kind of what we do.”
Exodus recently went through a difficult situation that has definitely brought the members even closer together, regardless of their differences. In April, drummer Tom Hunting revealed he had been diagnosed with stomach cancer and now, after months of treatment, he is doing well . According to Gary Holt, Hunting was unaware of the cancer during the recording of Persona Non Grata , but suspected something was wrong due to "unexplained weight loss." The guitarist assured that his friend is "doing very well" at the moment and commented: "He's very lucky. The cancer he had is one that most people don't survive."
Keeping friends close is definitely one of Gary Holt's priorities. During the recording of the new album, Exodus welcomed back former guitarist Rick Hunolt , who played "two very long solos" on the track "Lunatic-Liar-Lord". When asked about his former bandmate's participation, Gary replied that Rick is "part of the family" and "will always be welcome" to play with them.
“We intend to keep inviting Rick because I never have as much fun as when I’m around him. Rick smiles, I smile. That’s the kind of relationship [we have],” he comments. “At some point in the future I’d like to do a special tour with all the remaining former members who want to participate – because some wouldn’t want to. We kind of did that a few years ago, played two nights in San Francisco and had a great time. All we thought about was doing a tour like that.”
Although he's still not sure about the possibility of a Latin American tour anytime soon, Gary Holt seems dreamy and positive about the idea of reuniting with his old bandmates: “Maybe when we finish the tour for the new album we can do it. Maybe we'll do it in South America, that would be incredible. It would be so cool. I love that. I love spending time with my best friends.”
Still in a nostalgic mood, Gary Holt commented on his recent statements about the end of Slayer , stating that the band still had "years of useful life," but ruling out any possibility of a return. "You can't continue in Slayer without Tom Araya , his voice fulfills half the role, so as far as I know, there will never be another Slayer show," he declared. "That sounds kind of sad, but I was a part of it for almost 10 years; I'm grateful, I feel very lucky, and it's a very big part of my life. They are my brothers, but now it's all about Exodus. I'm home, I'm back where I belong."
In contrast to Slayer, Exodus fans can rest easy – the band has no intention of retiring anytime soon. “We’re more united as a band today than we’ve ever been,” says Gary. “We all realize we’re closer to the end of our days than the beginning. We’re not getting any younger. We insist on maintaining the speed and heaviness of the music, but that’s not making our lives any easier – it’s making them harder. But we have no desire to stop. We’ll stop when the time comes.”
The spirit of youthfulness, however, remains in Gary Holt's musical taste. He reveals that his favorite album at the moment is Women In Music Part III , by the indie pop trio HAIM , describing it as "the best album ever".
While the album may not have direct repercussions on Exodus' new work, Gary Holt reinforces expectations for the arrival of Persona Non Grata on November 19th: "We gave it our all on this album and I can't wait for its release."
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