Gary Holt talked about his upcoming memoir, ‘A Fabulous Disaster: From The Garage To Madison Square Garden, The Hard Way,’ in a recent chat with TribLIVE‘s Mike Palm.
Asked if he left out any details from his book, Holt explained, “I left out anything that would be horrible to a lot of people I know, because if I turned it into a tell-all, I know where all the bodies are buried in thrash metal. I could expose everything. But no one would tell me all that stuff anymore, because Gary’s a blabbermouth and he just shared it with the world.”
“I peel the layers back on myself heavily, just like I always have,” he continued, “but I’m protecting the innocent to a large degree. I’m not going into detail about other people’s stuff. That’s for their own books. And that’s their own decision, whether they want to share some of that stuff.”
“And anytime it did involve bandmates, I ran it past them. Some stuff is not a secret, the drug use and all that. … I left tons of stuff out, stuff that would have made the most riveting chapters on Earth, but it would’ve been damaging to people I care about. And I don’t mind damaging myself, because it’s my story.”
‘A Fabulous Disaster’ will come out next year via Hachette Books. Holt announced the memoir written in collaboration with Adem Tepedelen on social media last year, saying that it will explore the early days of his career with Exodus, his fall in the industry, and his resurgence with Slayer.
Holt joined Exodus in 1981, shortly after the band’s formation, and has been the primary songwriter since. He has also performed on all Exodus albums.
The guitarist began filling in for Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman at live shows in 2011 and became the band’s full-time co-guitarist by 2013, while remaining a member of Exodus. He played on Slayer’s 2015 album, ‘Repentless.’