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EXODUS Fan Comments on Arrest Over Posting Band Lyrics to His Facebook: “It Was Surreal”

Manos Spanos
Last week, we reported on the insane story of an Exdous fan getting arrested and potentially charged with a felony. Thirty one year old James Evans from Central City, KY was the fan who was arrested and he recently spoke to Billboard recounting how his arrest went down: The fallout began that same day [Evans posted the lyrics]. Local police officers arrived at Evans’ mother’s house in Greenville, Ky., asking if she knew where he was. She directed them to her son’s house in Central City, where they proceeded to ask him if he planned on harming anyone, along with issuing a report on the situation. “I assumed the conversation got resolved,” says Evans, who works the night shift at a screenprinting store. On Monday, the officers returned to his house while Evans was at work, asking his wife what kind of car he drove and if he was in possession of any weapons. “They informed her that I may or not be charged,” he says. “They said they were going to talk to me at work, but they never showed up. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal.” At 8 a.m. on Tuesday, officers showed up at his workplace and issued Evans a warrant for his arrest. According to 14News, the warrant says Evans was arrested because, “he threatened to kill students and or staff at school.” “They never even cuffed me, just put me in the back of the car,” he says. “They knew I wasn’t dangerous. They were kind of shocked, too, because they thought it had been resolved. They just had to serve it because it was in their jurisdiction.” Evans is being charged with a Class C felony for "terrorist threatenings" which could lead to anywhere from five to 10 years in prison. A judge has delayed the case for six months so that Evans can get psychiatric evaluation. If he is proven to be sane, the charge will be stricken from his record. This is a whole lot of unnecessary stress over posting some lyrics to Facebook, no? Billboard also interviewed a lawyer, David Greene, who said this is a pretty ludicrous charge: "Generally, statements are protected by the First Amendment," he says. "There's an exception for true threats, which are threats of violence directed against a person that puts that person in a state of fear. There's absolutely no basis for thinking this person was doing anything more than quoting lyrics, or that he intended to put any person in a state of fear or carry out any action of attack." It's obvious that Evans had no plans of attacking any schools and really, these cops can be better served solving actual crimes. But this proves two things: Be care what you post on Facebook. Don't live in Kentucy.
02 min read

EXODUS: ‘Blood In Blood Out’ Special Guests, Bonus Tracks Revealed

Manos Spanos
San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS will release their tenth studio album, "Blood In Blood Out", in North America on October 14 via Nuclear Blast. The album art was illustrated by Swedish artist Pär Olofsson, known worldwide for his incredible renderings that have graced the covers of countless heavy metal albums, including EXODUS' "Let There Be Blood". Crafting an industrial sound bed on the intro to the album opener "Black 13" is electronic music producer Dan the Automator (GORILLAZ, MIKE PATTON, DELTRON 3030). "[Dan and I] ran into each other a couple times," shares EXODUS guitarist and songwriter Gary Holt. "I knew what I wanted to hear and I knew he could do it, and could do it that day. So we sent him a file with the drums and guitars we already had there and just told him to go crazy with it." TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy lends his signature roar to the track "BTK", one of the first songs recorded by returning vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza, who recently said: "Chuck and I have known each other forever. We work really well together; we know each other really well. So if I'm doing my vocals and he's there, I can trust him to go, 'No way, Zet, [it] doesn't sound good like that. Do it like this,' or, 'Yeah, that's killer.' If he says it sounds killer, I know it is." Original EXODUS guitarist Kirk Hammett, who has been a member of METALLICA for the past 31 years, contributed a solo to "Salt The Wound". "This was actually the first time Kirk got to play on an official EXODUS release," states Holt. "He did the early demo, and then joined METALLICA and didn't do anything with us after that. So he was totally gung-ho about it. He came down and ripped out a bunch of takes and we picked the best one and then had a barbecue and drank beer." "It felt really casual, really cool — just like it did back in 1980 when we were all just hanging out back in the day," Hammett told RollingStone.com. "Me, recording a solo on their album was a huge thing for me. Other than the EXODUS demo that's been heard by a lot of people, it's the only time I ever recorded with EXODUS. It was a huge thing for me." He added: "I play a pretty cool solo, and then Gary comes in and plays another solo, and you know what? I listened to that and thought, 'Wow, it's 1982 all over again and here we are, Gary and I are trying to cut each other's heads off with our guitar solos.' Nothing has changed much in the last 30 years. I love it. I love those guys. I've only known them for most of my life, so I'm really happy that I finally got to record with them." "Blood In Blood Out" track listing: 01. Black 13 (featuring Dan the Automator) 02. Blood In Blood Out 03. Collateral Damage 04. Salt The Wound (featuring Kirk Hammett) 05. Body Harvest 06. BTK (featuring Chuck Billy) 07. Wrapped In The Arms Of Rage 08. My Last Nerve 09. Numb 10. Honor Killings 11. Food For The Worms Bonus DVD includes: * "Blood Upon The Goat" making-of footage * Behind-the-scenes tour footage * Footage from Kirk Hammett's Fear FestEVIL After-Party at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con The digital version of "Blood In Blood Out" will include the digital bonus track "Angel Of Death" (ANGEL WITCH cover). The album’s Japanese edition includes the "Protect Not Dissect" bonus track featuring Rat from THE VARUKERS/DISCHARGE. "When I was working on the record, I was sitting around watching TV series like 'Gangland' and all these locked-up prison reality shows," said Holt. "And I thought, 'Yeah, that's like EXODUS.' It's a brotherhood. You bleed to get in, you bleed to get out. "I've been doing this kind of music since I was a teenager, and I'll be doing it 'till I can't physically do it anymore." The concept for the art was impressively envisaged by Olofsson based on the album title alone, as Gary Holt explained: "The concept came from Pär Olofsson. I fed him the title and he immediately came up with the final concept, and it's perfect! One of my favorite covers we've ever done and it fits the title and theme to a T!" "Blood In Blood Out" is EXODUS' first album since the departure of the band's lead singer of the past nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of his predecessor, Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004. Asked what EXODUS is doing differently on "Blood In Blood Out" compared to the band's previous efforts, Souza said: "I just think it's way more brutal now. I think if you look at the production value in the albums, from 'Bonded By Blood' [1985] and even 'Impact Is Imminent' [1990] and now you look at them, from 'Tempo Of The Damned' [2004] and then 'Shovel Headed Kill Machine' [2005] and 'The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A' [2007] and 'Exhibit B: The Human Condition' [2010] and now to 'Blood In, Blood Out', I just think the maturity level and knowing what you wanna sound like and knowing what you're going for and knowing what you do well. Not trying to second-guess yourself and go, 'Oh, we've gotta do this because of this.' It's not like that anymore. Now it's all about, 'Hey, we're EXODUS. We've been EXODUS for 30 years. And let's just be EXODUS.'" The album can be pre-ordered from the Nuclear Blast USA webshop in CD, digipak, and 2-LP exclusive yellow vinyl formats. Bundles include a t-shirt with exclusive artwork for North America + a poster (while supplies last). EXODUS will head out to South America in October before returning for a supporting run in November with fellow metal titans SLAYER and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. The Scion-sponsored leg of this U.S. tour launches on November 11 with two shows at the Fox Theater in Oakland, California. The 26-show trek includes nine headlining off-dates with additional performances to be announced soon. Tickets are on sale now via the links on the official EXODUS Facebook page. Due to the overwhelmingly demand, EXODUS is making their VIP Experience packages available for the entire tour via SLOtix.com. Fans are encouraged to get them as soon as possible, as VIP package sales will close seven days prior to each show day. For fans who have already purchased their show ticket and would like to be part of the EXODUS VIP Experience, contact SLO Customer Service at 888-756-4849 or customerservice@slotix.com. Hammett was a member of EXODUS' original lineup before replacing Dave Mustaine in METALLICA in 1983. In fact, Hammett was not only the person who came up with the EXODUS name, but also the first from the band to meet original EXODUS singer Paul Baloff and brought him into the group. Dukes joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on four of the band's studio albums — "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" (2005), "The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A" (2007), "Let There Be Blood" (2008, a re-recording of EXODUS' classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).
08 min read

EXODUS: ‘Blood In, Blood Out’ Release Date Confirmed, Cover Artwork Unveiled

Manos Spanos
San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS will release their new album, "Blood In, Blood Out", on October 14 via Nuclear Blast. The album art was illustrated by Swedish artist Pär Olofsson, known worldwide for his incredible renderings that have graced the covers of countless heavy metal albums, including EXODUS' "Let There Be Blood". The concept for the art was impressively envisaged by Olofsson based on the album title alone, as guitarist Gary Holt explains: "The concept came from Pär Olofsson. I fed him the title and he immediately came up with the final concept, and it's perfect! One of my favorite covers we've ever done and it fits the title and theme to a T!" "Blood In, Blood Out" will be EXODUS' first since the departure of the band's lead singer of the past nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of his predecessor, Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.
01 min read