Entitled A Fabulous Disaster: From the Garage to Madison Square Garden, The Hard Way, it’s safe to say that the title of Gary Holt’s memoir, addressing his tenure with his band Exodus, is certainly well chosen.
It’s a known fact that Exodus might not always have enjoyed the stadium sellout success, multi-platinum albums and clamouring fanbase they deserve, and now it’s also clear that Holt also believes in gilding no lilies in his recourse regarding the band’s success.
Exodus were, of course, home to Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and, following his departure in 1983, it’s Holt who has held the band together through thick and thin, being the only member to appear on all 12 of the band’s studio albums and three live albums.
Now, in promotion for his new book, Holt has embarked on his own tour, telling a captive audience at a Rock City Music Company book signing that "there's no shame in admitting" that the band have had a rough ride so far.
"You were on tour, and you were pulling in 18 paid [tickets] in places that held 700, 800 people," Holt admitted to fans. "I talked about the Colorado Springs show, where we drew 18 people, and I went right off the front of the stage, straight to the bar at the end of it, because it's hard.
"You're up there an hour and a half, and you're playing basically a sound check, and there's nobody there. It was really hard to get through. So, I just went straight to the bar and ordered, like a double Rumple Minze, and just sat right next to the guys who were there, going, 'Yeah, that was awesome.' I pulled up, like, 'Come here and have a drink!'"
And that’s just one example of the band’s dirty laundry now on display.
"We played a show at a place in Omaha, Nebraska called The Ranch Bowl," reveals Holt. "We used to play there in the '80s, sold out... We played there again in '97 with Paul Baloff. It might have been like 12 people there…
“We played five or six Exodus songs, then we started just having a Black Sabbath jam, because there was no one there. We just started, like, massacring other songs.
“I think we played half of Van Halen's Everybody Wants Some! Like, this is terrible; it's tough. It's enough to make you quit, for sure. But, you know, fortunately for me, I have no other job skills whatsoever."
Indeed Holt himself is even yet to read his own book… “I have not read the book myself,” he admitted. “To me, it's like albums. I don't listen to my own albums once they're mixed, because I've heard it a thousand times. I lived this thing."
A Fabulous Disaster: From the Garage to Madison Square Garden, The Hard Way is out now on Hachette Books, complete with a foreword by Kirk Hammett.
