Kerry King: Slayer to Make ‘Legit Offer’ for Gary Holt to Continue With Band

In many ways, Slayer fans have come to accept that guitarist Gary Holt is a regular member of the band, though there's never been an official document signed on the matter. But guitarist Kerry King says that's something that Slayer hopes to address soon.

Holt, the longtime guitarist for Exodus, first played with the band back in 2011 when Jeff Hanneman was sidelined due to his recovery from a flesh eating bacteria contracted from a serious spider bite. But what started as a fill-in role became more permanent as Hanneman's recovery from the bite never allowed him to return to a full-time role. Two years later, Hanneman died after suffering from liver failure, and Holt has remained with the band ever since.

In a new interview with OC Weekly, guitarist Kerry King says that making good on the commitment that Holt has shown the band as a fill-in so far is one of the band's immediate priorities. "That's something I definitely want to address sooner than later," says King. "We just got recording out of the way and we still had to get Paul [Bostaph] situated. Not as if this issue wasn't important to us, we just had other things on our mind. I know we got Paul's deal in (and I don't even know if that's even gotten finalized yet), but I know we got the paperwork through and it's in the process."

He adds, "To us, we had to do that first because Paul was in the band for 10 years prior to this. The next thing to do is make a legit offer to Gary if he's going to stay on board. And that's ok if he's not interested in staying. I certainly wouldn't ask him to quit Exodus, that's not part of it at all."

In the years since he began filling in, Holt has pulled double duty, also rocking with Exodus, and the two bands have managed to work out the scheduling issues so far.

As for Holt's future involvement on writing, King says, "Personally, I'm open to that for the next record for sure. For Repentless, I thought a long time about what I thought Gary should do on this record. I know fans might not be very open after hearing Jeff for 30 years. I didn't know how fans would react if he contributed writing to this record. The best scenario was to get Gary involved a little bit with playing leads because you can't have a two-guitar attack without two guitars."

Slayer are building up to the Sept. 11 release of their Repentless album. Pre-order info can be found at this location. The band just kicked off their summer of headlining dates on the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival over the weekend. To see their upcoming dates, click here.

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