The Exodus Interview — ”Creep Show’

It's kind of funny that Exodus songwriter and guitarist Gary Holt is a member of PETA and a pretty pleasant guy to boot. After all, this is the man who turned a Bay Area '80s thrash band into a tour de violence with the classic 1985 album 'Bonded by Blood' -- and whose latest offering, 'Exhibit B: The Human Condition' (out May 7) features a song written from the perspective of a high school shooting spree killer, 'Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer).'

Of course, in his 20s, Holt was a complete hell raiser, trashing hotels, terrorizing scenesters, chasing tail and drinking and drugging with the best of 'em. But the dude's mellowed a bit over time and gotten wiser. The only place he's likely to get arrested these days is at an animal rights rally. As he explained in our interview, he wouldn't even try to kill a giant, possibly rabid raccoon that snuck into the band's mountain cabin where they were recording the new album. Fortunately, his music remains as angry and aggressive as ever.

If 2007's 'The Atrocity Exhibition ... Exhibit A' was a scathing condemnation of organized religion and politics, 'Exhibit B: The Human Condition' is the misanthropic realization that it isn't just Washington, Wall Street and the church that's corrupt and rotten, it's all organizations and individuals. Man, Holt says with a sneer, is an ugly, destructive virus that's uncontainable and out of control.

And now, all that's left to do is have a good time as we decimate our environment and destroy ourselves. Yeah, the dude's pretty pessimistic, but he's got a wicked sense of humor. During our ''Creep Show' interview, he kept us entertained as he explained the details about the creation of 'Exhibit B: The Human Condition,' discussed the chemistry within the band and regaled us with tales of nature run amok.

Panelists for this week's show were Noisecreep editor Seth Werkheiser, Noisecreep lead blogger Amy Sciarretto, Revolver senior writer and Noisecreep regular Jon Wiederhorn and Noisecreep writer/photographer Justina Villanueva.

During the news portion of the show, Holt joined us as we discussed Poison frontman Bret Michaels' near-fatal brain hemorrhage, Most Precious Blood guitarist Justin Brannan's interest in running for New York State Senate in 2012 and Red Chord frontman Guy Kozowyk shooting a PETA2 PSA with Gwar vocalist Oderus Urungus.

We also discussed some major upcoming tours, including the BlackDiamondSkye tour, which features Alice in Chains, Deftones and Mastodon, the Rockstar Energy Drink Uproar Festival with Disturbed, Avenged Sevenfold, Stone Sour, Halestorm and the announcement of year's Ozzfest. We also talked about how one Mexican cruise ship can hold a boatload of metal heads and stage performances by Testament, Death Angel, Swashbuckle, Saxon, Raven, Finntroll, Amon Amarth, Obituary, Sodom and Trouble without posers flying overboard.

And finally, the ''Creep Show' panel talked about this week's new releases, including Deftones' bludgeoning 'Diamond Eyes,' Godsmack's crowd-pleasing 'The Oracle' and Mike Patton's Italian opera head scratcher 'Mondo Cane.'