Gary Holt Reveals A Fact About Kirk Hammett During His Time In Exodus

Exodus bandleader Gary Holt recalled the tenure of the band’s former guitarist Kirk Hammett and revealed a fact about him during his time in the band back in the day.

Kirk Hammett was the original guitarist of the thrash metal band Exodus. Appeared with them from 1979 to 1983, his fans wondered if there was an effort that featured Kirk Hammett or his material before he departed from Exodus. As some of you might know, Exodus had debuted in 1985 with its Bonded By Blood.

Throughout his career with Exodus, Kirk Hammett did not appear in any studio album of the band. He recorded and wrote riffs, but they had never used his material in their early records until the band’s sixth studio album, Tempo Of The Damned. Kirk Hammett‘s record performance on Exodus included the songwriting credits of the sixth album and 2014’s Blood In, Blood Out. Those songs were Impaler and Salt the Wound, respectively.

Currently, Kirk Hammett has been a member of the heavy metal pioneer Metallica. He had left Exodus to join Metallica in 1983, replacing the Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, who was fired from the band due to personal issues. During his ongoing career with the band, Kirk Hammett has released ten studio albums with Metallica, which means he performed in every one of the band’s studio albums.

During his recent interview with his friend Rob Dukes, who was a former Exodus singer, Gary Holt mentioned the fact about Kirk Hammett. When Rob asked Gary if Hammett was involved in the songwriting credits for any of the material in Exodus‘ debut album, Holt said Hammett tried to change the riffs that were written by him and added Exodus never used Hammett‘s riffs until the sixth studio album, Tempo Of The Damned.

“There were riffs that I had written while Kirk was still in the band, and he tried to adapt them, tried to change them a little bit — the old, ‘I changed it a little bit,” recalled Gary. “I’m a co-writer on this riff.’

“And that was, like, two riffs, I think. And the rest of ’em were written after he left. We never used a Kirk Hammett riff, ever, until ‘Tempo Of The Damned’ [album] when we recorded ‘Impaler.'”

Gary Recalls The Moment He Showed Debut Album’s Classic Song’s Riffs To Kirk Hammett

In the continuation of his words, Holt took fans back to the moment he showed the debut album’s classic song Strike Of The Beast‘s riffs to Kirk Hammett. Praising himself by touching on his memory, Holt said that he imagined showing riffs to Kirk Hammett as a film.

“The biggest talent I have, if you wanna call it a talent, is my fucking memory,” he continues. “I can remember fucking everything.

“I remember showing him… I can picture it as a film, showing Kirk the riff to ‘Strike Of The Beast’, and I can picture it as if I’m watching it on a film — in the jam room, me in my spot where I played him [the riff] and him wanting to change the higher note to a lower note; I remember it all as if I’m watching a movie of it.

“I remember all of it — every last minute of it. I remember details from fucking most meaningless shit.”

Back in February 2021, Gary Holt had talked about Kirk Hammett’s impact on his musical life, revealing he taught him playing guitar. According to Gary Holt, Kirk Hammett showed him the building blocks of the guitar playing. He also said that he wouldn’t be here if Kirk Hammett was not in his life.

“He showed me my first lick and the basics, the building blocks; he showed me my first chords and taught me how to play some songs and stuff.

“I wouldn’t be doing this today if it weren’t for Kirk. We hit it off and became fast friends, and like, ‘Let me show you some guitar,’ and six months later I was in the band; in a year, I was playing really good solos.

“They rehearsed in my garage, and then they moved to their friend’s house – I was still part of the road crew, we moved 2×12 combos and drank beer and pillaged and wrecked shi.

“And at rehearsal one day, he hands me his guitar, ‘Here, play something’, we played ‘Grinder,’ Judas Priest, and then they asked me to join. I said, ‘Fuck yeah!’ Changed my life forever, that song is dear to my heart, always will be.”