Gary Holt, the veteran guitarist for thrash metal stalwarts Exodus, recently shared candid thoughts on the band’s decision to part ways with singer Steve “Zetro” Souza and welcome back Rob Dukes. In an interview with Germany’s Rock Hard magazine, Holt likened band dynamics to a marriage, indicating internal strife led to the change.
When asked why Zetro “had to leave,” Holt responded with a telling analogy (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Without going into details, I tell people like this: being in a band is like being married. And you might see that husband and wife out in public and they’re really nice and charming, but you don’t know what’s happening in their house. Like, maybe she’s throwing f**king dishes and knives at his head. Maybe he’s smacking her around. You don’t know what’s happening. And there was a lot of unhappiness in the band, and I wish him no ill will. We had a good time until just kind of the four of us were trying to enjoy this as much as we can. I’m 61 years old. I want to end my career smiling all the time.”
Holt affirmed that bringing Rob Dukes back was the immediate and only consideration. “No, we talked to nobody else. Rob‘s still one of our best friends,” Holt explained. He pushed back against cynical accusations that the move was financially motivated. “And I don’t like change. That’s the thing — people think, ‘Oh, well, they did this.’ I had some guy on Instagram say, ‘You just did this for money.’ And when has it ever been financially beneficial to part ways with your singer? It’s usually the opposite.”
He repeated the band’s collective desire for enjoyment at this stage of their careers: “But, once again, we’re all in our sixties now. We wanna have fun with friends. We wanna enjoy ourselves doing this. And I could have brought in some young guy who’s 30 years old, who still has abs, isn’t fat like the rest of us, and can jump off the top of drum risers and stuff. But no — we’ll stick with guys our own age.”
Looking ahead, Holt expressed immense excitement for Exodus‘s forthcoming album, particularly highlighting Dukes‘s vocal contributions. “Wait till you you hear the new album. It’s insane,” Holt enthused. “He does things vocally you’ve never heard him do or anybody in Exodus. It’s insane.”
Intriguingly, Holt revealed that the band recorded a substantial amount of material during their recent studio sessions — enough for two full albums. “We just decided we were gonna work ourselves as hard as we could and try to accomplish this,” he said. “And the second one’s 80 percent recorded, ’cause we did 18 songs. And so when it’s time for the next album, we go in and record two more [songs], not 10 more. And then I can go on vacation. I’ve never had a vacation in my life… We worked hard. We were in the studio for seven weeks, and one day after we stopped recording, we were on tour. So since March 2nd, I’ve been home for two and a half weeks.”
The first of these new Exodus albums is anticipated for release early next year, possibly in February. The second album’s release date will be determined later, but the significant progress made means less work for the band members when that time comes, potentially allowing for the vacation Holt has long awaited. He also gave a shout-out to fellow guitarist Lee Altus, noting his increased songwriting contribution. “Lee — usually he contributes a couple of songs. He wrote six songs. Lee wrote the longest song. I’m the guy who writes the long songs, and most of mine are five minutes long.”
Holt concluded with high praise for the upcoming material, emphasizing its unique blend of familiar and new elements. “But the album’s spectacular. We couldn’t be more proud. It’s beautiful. It’s crushing. It’s catchy — hits, punishing hits. It’s spectacular. There’s some stuff that is so different for us, but it’s 100 percent Exodus. You’ll go, ‘Holy s**t.'”
