Gary Holt Reflects on Writing Memoir, Playing Ozzy’s Final Show

“As the wise sage Lemmy says, ‘There’s plenty of time for sleeping when you’re dead.'”

Gary Holt joined Loudwire Nights on Thursday (May 15) to jump into everything that’s keeping him busy these days, from the 40th anniversary of Exodus‘ Bonded by Blood to his new memoir, A Fabulous Disaster — and a few other things, too.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“While I’m able to actually physically be able to still do it at this level, I’m going to keep doing it,” Holt told host Chuck Armstrong.

“Why slow down now and then find myself really wishing I could work harder later? I mean, maybe someday I can think about retiring. I can’t now, you know? But I don’t want to lie at the same time, you know, I’m having fun.”

While some fans may be surprised to hear this, Holt was very open about how much fun he had writing his memoir, too. In fact, there were too many stories for one book, so he had to make the difficult decision to cut a lot of hilarious memories.

“There’s a lot of really, really funny stuff, things that if they were relegated to a chapter, it would literally be a two-page chapter,” he said.

“But it would be the funniest two pages you ever fucking read. I mean, sleep deprivation makes for some really funny stuff … When we were truly spun out — it was a dark, horrible time — but I’m not going to lie, there are times when you haven’t slept for three days when shit is funny. Your brain is working and everything’s a comedy skit because you’re fucking insane, you’re out of your mind. Lunacy at its finest.”

Gary Holt Gets Ready For Ozzy’s Final Show

Like most guests on Loudwire Nights these days, Holt spent some time celebrating the legacy of Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath. For Holt, though, this was particularly special because he’s looking ahead to joining Slayer onstage in Birmingham for the Back to the Beginning concert on July 5.

“It means everything,” Holt admitted about being part of Ozzy and Sabbath’s final shows.

“We would be nowhere without Black Sabbath. One of the heaviest, early influences of mine. I’m a kid who grew up on hard rock, before we even called it metal and there was Sabbath at the upper echelon of how heavy hard rock can be.”

Holt said he and a longtime friend were recently catching up about Back to the Beginning.

“Kirk Hammett and I were talking about how fortunate we are to be part of this,” he said.

“I have a pair of Sabbath Master of Reality Converses that I’ve never worn that are getting worn at that show.”

Exodus with Slayer’s Tom Araya – San Francisco, 1984

Exodus with Slayer’s Tom Araya – San Francisco, 1984 (Brian Lew)

What Else Did Gary Holt Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

Why Exodus are recording two albums at the same time right now: “We went in and we had a lot of material. We don’t ever stop writing when we’re in the studio. We leave the drums up and some of the best songs happen a month into the recording process.”
Why fans shouldn’t expect him to share news about what Slayer are up to: “You get nothing out of me. Part of the beauty of my years in Slayer was I had one job and that was just to go out and shred and rock and show up. In Exodus, I have to wear a thousand different hats and with Slayer I wear none. I just plead the fifth to everything.”
Why Exodus were drawn to bands like Mercyful Fate and Venom in the early days: “Satan!”