Gary Holt, the guitarist of EXODUS who also toured extensively with SLAYER for nearly nine years, expressed his skepticism about a potential reunion of SLAYER during a guitar clinic held recently on Monday, July 17, at Pitbull Audio in National City, California.
When asked if he thinks there will ever be a SLAYER reunion, Holt responded: “Ah, man. You’ve gotta talk to other people. That’s outta my pay grade. Look, if anybody ever asked me to do it, of course I’d be down to do it. But I don’t think it’s ever gonna happen. I think the band’s ended. Unlike all the other farewell tours that started five years ago and are still continuing, I think this one’s over.”
Regarding his experience touring with SLAYER during the band’s farewell tour in 2018 and 2019, Gary said: “It was totally fun. I mean, it was the final, last-ever tour. It was a good time. You tried not to let it get weird on you, as far as, like, ‘This is it.’ I never really thought about it ending until the last final of the two shows. It kind of dawned on me. But that was a good one. I’ll remember that tour forever. It was f**king rad.”
In an interview with Metal Hammer earlier this year, Kerry King expressed his extreme displeasure when it was initially proposed to split SLAYER, labeling the idea as “premature.”
When asked about his initial reaction when conversation about ending the band started, King responded: “Anger… what else? It was premature. The reason I say ‘premature’ is because my heroes from my childhood are still playing! I can still play, I still want to play, but that livelihood got taken away from me.
“But, anyway, on to the next chapter, I guess. We were on top of the world, and there’s nothing wrong with going out on top of the world, it’s a good way to go out. So, bravo for that. But do I miss playing? Yeah, absolutely.”
Kerry also added that the farewell tour took an emotional toll on them. “Every one of those shows was a bummer! We were going to all these places and all these cities where we have all this history,” he said. “It’s a bummer to think, ‘I’m not gonna see my friends there again.’ You’d get to that country and know you were going to see these people, and you’d see them yearly. I haven’t seen them now in three years. That sucks. And the fans, too. SLAYER means a lot to our fans, and they mean a lot to us. I know I will see these people again, but no SLAYER leaves a big hole for a lot of people.”
SLAYER played its final show of their farewell tour in November 2019 at the Forum in Los Angeles. One day later, Kerry King‘s wife, Ayesha King, said that there is “not a chance in hell” that the thrash metal icons will reunite for more shows.
