Guitarist GARY HOLT On Joining SLAYER – “I Didn’t Realize It Would Be A Five And A Half Year Endeavour Riddled With Tragedy”; Video

Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to guitarist Gary Holt (Slayer, Exodus) and Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph on their seven week North American Tour with Anthrax and Death Angel in Montreal.

Gary Holt discusses how he joined Slayer: “I didn’t audition Kerry King called me up, I was on the 7000 Tons Of Metal cruise and my good mutual friend of mine and Kerry’s, my tattoo artist Bob Tyrell, who was on the boat and Kerry texted Bob, ‘have Holt call me when he gets home gets back to shore’. I called him up and he explained what was going on with Jeff (Hanneman) and asked if I wanted to help him out and fill in and I said sure, I had time off. I didn’t realize it would be a five and a half year endeavour riddled with tragedy in the middle of it. I thought it was a two tour thing until Jeff took his rightful spot back. That didn’t happen and unfortunately I’m still here. I rather Jeff be here, this is Jeff’s spot.”

In a new interview with Billboard.com, Slayer’s Tom Araya discusses the band’s upcoming projects, including comic books and BMX bikes, but also touches on new music. In the excerpt below, he talks about what will be the follow-up to the band’s Repentless album.

“We haven’t been a put-a-record-out-year-after-year band since back in the ’80s, when Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven and Seasons In The Abyss came out,” Araya explains. “We like to work our material out and make sure we’re happy before anybody decides to say, ‘Let’s do a record.’ And now there’s no Jeff, so that leaves a lot on Kerry, and he’ll need to take a break from touring work to start working on ideas and get stuff together and work things out. So there hasn’t really been any talk of a new record yet. The Nuclear Blast [Slayer’s label] people have, but we haven’t.”

Read the full interview at Billboard.com.

A convicted prisoner on death row, a cookie-cutter, white-bread family unit putting up the Christmas decorations. Two worlds, lightness and darkness colliding, white supremacists and ruthless murders. Check out Slayer’s recently released ”Pride In Prejudice” music video.

Details:

Directed by BJ McDonnell
Produced by Felissa Rose
Edited by Ed Marx and Andrea Porter
Director of Photography – Eric Leach
Tony Gardner/Alterian FX for Special FX Makeup
Jason Trost (“Hatchet III”) – Wyatt
Danny Trejo (“Machete,” “From Dusk Til Dawn”)
Bill Moseley – the Dad (“House of 1000 Corpses,” “The Devil’s Rejects”)
Caroline Williams – the Mom  (“Sharknado 4:  The 4th Awakens”, “Hatchett III”)
Richard Speight, Jr. – returning as the ultimate Bad Guy  (“CSI,” “Jericho,” “Supernatural”)
Filmed during the winter of 2016 in the mountains of Wrightwood, CA

With the premiere of “Pride in Prejudice,” Slayer completes the Repentless music video trilogy.

The first video, “Repentless,” was released 9/11/15 and has accumulated more than 9.8 million views to date.  It introduced us to Wyatt, the eyepatched rebel inmate (Jason Trost/”Hatchet III”), and a host of nefarious prisoners played by some of today’s most iconic horror film actors including Danny Trejo/Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn, Tony Moran/Halloween’s Michael Myers, American Poltergeist, Derek Mears/Predators, Friday the 13th, Tyler Mane/Halloween, Sean Whalen/Men In Black, Halloween II, and Vernon Wells/Mad Max 2, Commando, Weird Science.

“Repentless” was shot at the Sybil Brand Institute in East Los Angeles and has Slayer performing the song in the prison yard while a riot breaks out, blood flowing in abundance, inmates and prison guards brutally slaughtered.

From the very first frame, “You Against You,” the gore, the violence, the carnage begins and just never ends.  While the second video in the trilogy, it is the prequel to “Repentless,” telling the story of the circumstances that led to Wyatt’s erroneous arrest and imprisonment.  Slayer’s performance for “You Against You” was shot at a graveyard of jets, airliners and helicopters in California’s Mojave Desert. “You Against You” premiered 3/16/16 and has accumulated more than 4.8 million YouTube views.

The “Repentless” video trilogy was conceived and directed by BJ McDonnell who directed the 2013 horror film “Hatchett III.”  His rich resume as a motion picture cameraman includes “Jack Reacher,” “Tomorrowland” and “The Interview,” and just wrapped filming for the upcoming “Annabelle 2.”

In September 2015, Slayer released Repentless, the band’s 12th studio album, the first without founding member Jeff Hanneman and first with producer Terry Date, to widespread rave reviews and the highest chart debut of the band’s career.  The band – Tom Araya/vocals & bass, Kerry King/guitars, Paul Bostaph/drums and Exodus/Slayer touring guitarist Gary Holt – has toured near-non-stop since the album’s release, and heads out on the road starting September 9 with a seven-week North American trek with Anthrax and Death Angel.  This fall, Dark Horse Comics will publish a three-issue comic book series based on McDonnell’s original concept for the “Repentless” video trilogy and written by Jon Schnepp.  In addition, October will see the release of Slayer’s “Cradle To Grave” BMX Bikes/Subrosa four-bike collection.  Comprised of the Slayer Balance, Slayer 20, Slayer 26 and the Slayer Urban Terrain Bike, all are intended for BMX riders to “use and abuse.”