About this Event

EXODUS



Plus supports



Doors - 7:00pm

Price - £17.00 Adv.



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About:



“I’m not happy unless I see someone out there in the pit, bleeding and smiling.” – Gary Holt



For the troops in the trenches, it began in 1982 with a low generation copy of a local band’s three-song demo. For some, it began with their first listen to Combat Records’ version of Bonded By Blood in 1986. Still others will say what really mattered began on August 11th, 2001. Regardless of the year, these dates all have one thing in common: the tenacity of Gary Holt.



One cannot discuss the power and influence of EXODUS without going into the genealogy of metal music itself. Long hailed as the band that spawned the burgeoning Bay Area Thrash scene in the early ‘80s, the band’s most admirable quality is that the word “surrender” has never existed in lead guitarist/songwriter/General-I n-Chief Gary Holt’s vocabulary. Surviving decampment (original guitarist Kirk Hammett left to join Metallica in 1983), death (original vocalist Paul Baloff died in early 2002), untimely disaster (long-time second vocalist Steve Souza abandoned the band in 2004 on the eve of a South American tour), dejection (original drummer Tom Hunting was incapacitated by panic attacks in May 2005), and drug abuse (guitar comrade-in-arms Rick Hunolt’s resignation in June 2005 was due in part to addiction issues), it would have been easier for many to interpret these events as a signal to retire, but then again, not everyone is Gary Holt.



At the beginning of their career, EXODUS gained huge notoriety in the international underground scene as a result of the tape trading community. Their dynamic guitar riffing, adrenaline-inducing drum work, and bloodied live shows made all the difference in the band’s mission to take Bay Area Thrash to a worldwide audience. By 1983, the band line-up included guitarist Rick Hunolt and bassist Rob McKillop and had inspired the likes of Metallica, Testament, Death Angel, and Vio-lence. EXODUS’ debut, the immortal, must-have, undisputed thrash classic Bonded By Blood was released in 1985 via Torrid Records (then re-released in 1986 on Combat Records), and a vast tour with Slayer and Venom propelled the band into a household name.



Shortly before recording Pleasures Of The Flesh (their 1987 album for Combat Records), lead vocalist Paul Baloff left the band due to personal and musical differences and was replaced by ex-Legacy vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza. That line-up’s creativity led to Combat’s Fabulous Disaster in 1989, and ultimately awarded the band with a major label contract with Capitol Records. 1990’s Impact Is Imminent and 1992’s Force Of Habit had EXODUS steadily touring with Pantera, Suicidal Tendencies, Anthrax Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Metallica, and Megadeth; however, the changing musical climate brought on by the commercial infiltration of grunge dawned the death of the careers for the majority of the scene’s metal bands, including EXODUS. A brief reunion with original vocalist Baloff occurred in 1997 long enough for the band to recruit bassist Jack Gibson (Vile), tour through Europe and North America, and record their second live album, Another Lesson In Violence.



Four years later, EXODUS’ future convened in an unexpected way on August 11th, 2001. Holt, Hunting, Baloff, Hunolt and Gibson were invited to participate – alongside the Souza-led Legacy, Heathen, Forbidden Evil, Anthrax, Death Angel, and Vio-lence – in the spectacularly billed Thrash Of The Titans benefit show for Testament singer Chuck Billy, who was suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy. Originally intended as a one-off show by many of the enlisted performers, Thrash Of The Titans single-handedly paved the way for the reunion of many Bay Area thrash bands that had literally vanished from the scene. Following the benefit, EXODUS began writing music again, but Baloff’s untimely death from a stroke on February 2nd, 2002 placed the reformation