“We carry the world’s biggest chip on our shoulders”: Gary Holt on Exodus’s competition with thrash rivals Metallica and Megadeth
Gary Holt has once again touched upon the comparisons often made between Exodus and their thrash rivals Metallica and Megadeth, asserting that despite playing “faster”, Exodus still doesn’t get the same credit as their genre counterparts.
In a recent interview with Loudwire, the guitarist explains how having the “world’s biggest chip on our shoulders” at not receiving the same recognition as Metallica and Megadeth actually serves as a formidable source of inspiration for the band.
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“It works to our advantage,” Holt says [via Ultimate Guitar]. “We’re never satisfied, the world’s against us, and everybody looks down on us. Like, we’ll write the fastest thrash compared to our peers. And if it’s 2% not as fast [as] one before it, ‘Oh, Exodus has slowed down.’”
“We’re still faster than everybody else. We feel we don’t get the credit,” he says.
Holt goes on to explain how “years of self-inflicted damage and dysfunction” keeps the band “motivated to prove ourselves”.
“We’re, arguably, the first one – us and Metallica formed at the same time. Exodus was formed in the ‘70s. And here we are.”
Both pioneers of the early Bay Area thrash metal scene, Exodus formed in 1979, while Metallica formed two years later in 1981. Exodus founding guitarist Kirk Hammett later joined Metallica in 1983 following the departure of lead guitarist and future Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine.
Indeed, Gary Holt recently joked that he’s owed some royalties for his part in writing Metallica’s massive Ride the Lightning hit Creeping Death. As he explained, he wrote the lyrics “Die by his hand” (later changed to “Die by my hand” in Creeping Death) for an early Exodus demo. “It’s Kirk’s riff, it’s my lyrics,” he said.
Gary Holt has spoken about his thrash metal genre-mates extensively as of late, recently saying, “Metallica were the best of all of us but not anymore”.
“I think Exodus crushes them, but that’s my own humble opinion,” he said.
Elsewhere in the Loudwire interview, Holt, now 61, reflects on how his playing is being affected by age.
“Eventually age will catch up to us, and we can’t play this shit,” he says. “Because modern-era Exodus is more difficult than the ’80s stuff to play. It just is. I’m arthritic and have bad joints from my toes to my fucking neck. I’m serious, all of them are bad. I’ve had countless injections from here, here, and a few spinal taps.”
“I do it to keep going. Like in Slayer, I had so many injections in my elbows, I can’t count them. The alternative was to stop for a while. And maybe I should have… But I just keep going. I can’t stop.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
