GARY HOLT’S LIFETIME IN THRASH: Exodus/Slayer guitarist tells Metallica, Megadeth, Paul Baloff, Bay Area, glam metal rivalry stories

Gary Holt is the guitarist of veteran California thrash metal bands Exodus and Slayer. On episode three of Heavy Stories, he talks about how his upbringing as the youngest of six children influenced him to make loud music, and looks back on learning his first guitar chords from his high school best friend and Exodus’ founder, future Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett. He reflects on the backyard party scene that made Exodus (in)famous, the night he spent in jail aged 17, meeting late frontman Paul Baloff, becoming blood brothers with his bandmates, bootlegging his own t-shirts, kicking his meth use and much, much more. We also talk about how he joined Slayer in 2011 and what keeps him going while contemporaries such as Megadeth call it quits. (Image: Jim Louvau)