In the late 1970s, a new, heavier subgenre of metal began to take over the San Francisco Bay Area metal scene, a genre that would soon be heard in sold-out arenas across the world.
Victoria-based author and music journalist Adem Tepedelen set out to tell the story of the early thrash metal scene after linking up with Exodus founder and longtime Slayer guitarist Gary Holt. On April 1, their new memoir – A Fabulous Disaster – will hit book shelves with the aim of telling Holt's story as a pioneering figure in a genre that would soon sweep the world.
Though thrash bands like Metallica and Slayer saw mass critical acclaim and sold millions of albums over decades, they saw humble beginnings playing backyard parties in SoCal suburbs, influenced by a new wave of European metal bands and West Coast hardcore punk bands.
"All these bands, for the most part, started in the suburbs, and there were a lot of bands, like high school bands, basically, that would play these raging backyard parties, or they would hire out local recreation centres and kind of put on their own shows," said Tepedelen, adding that some of the biggest names in metal, like Metallica's Cliff Burton, saw their start in the scene playing for various bands around California in the '80s.
In his late teens, Holt learned how to play guitar from then Exodus guitarist (and future Metallica guitarist) Kirk Hammett, before officially becoming a member of the band in 1981. In 1984, the band released their debut album Bonded by Blood, which would later become an iconic album of the genre according to Tepedelen.
"Exodus, for various different reasons, didn't really find that success, and a lot of that's detailed in the book. They weren't the best-managed or the most serious band on the planet. They played well, and they played hard, but they also partied hard," said Tepedelen.
As the genre continued to grow throughout the 1980s and renowned albums like Metallica's Ride the Lightning and Slayer's Reign in Blood started to see mainstream success, Exodus started a slow downward spiral due to lack of success, personal issues between bandmates, and substance use.
"That kind of sent Gary into a meth-fueled spiral, and so for a good decade, he wasn't really doing much of anything," he said. "They tried to get Exodus back together, but that didn't go very far because of all the meth use, and so at the end of it, Gary finally, not going through any 12-step programs but just by his own sheer willpower, pulled himself out of that spiral and ended up getting Exodus back together."
After some changes to the band and fallouts with record labels, Exodus returned in the late '90s and early 2000s after about a decade-long hiatus and they continue to perform, and release music today, with a new album expected in 2026. Holt also went on to join Slayer in 2011, and he is the only member of Exodus who has played on every album.
"He's now considered one of the godfathers of thrash. He is highly esteemed in the metal world, so we wanted a book that showed how you can still have this success, not necessarily on the Metallica kind of level, but he fought hard for everything he's gotten, and I think he deserves this place where he is now, so highly esteemed and looked at as one of the progenitors of the genre," said Tepedelen.
Nowadays, what's popular in metal music has changed. New and young fans tend to gravitate towards metal with even more intense aggression, harsh vocals, and high-tempo production like Knocked Loose and Gojira – who recently played in the opening ceremony during the Paris Olympics. Despite the shift in how people listen to and play metal, the music continues to show the influences of the thrash pioneers who played a part in introducing the genre to the world.
"This book is definitely full of lots of interesting, funny metal stories. But he struggled with a lot of things that a lot of people can understand and appreciate and relate to in his life, whether they be sort of like the personal relationships, or just his issues with substance abuse and overcoming that," he concluded.
A Fabulous Disaster is set to be released on April 1 and can be found at hatchettebookgroup.com.
