Charlie Benante and Gary Holt know a thing or two about filling in with legendary bands. Holt played with Slayer from 2011 to 2013 as a live member, only to join the band full time after the passing of guitarist Jeff Hanneman. And then there's Benante, who's now drumming for the recently reactivated Pantera and filling the shoes of Vinnie Paul.
Of course these jobs come with loads of hecklers and haters – the "it's not X band without Y member" folks. In an interview with Consequence, Benante said his position with Pantera is just as logical as Holt's position with Slayer, in that both were friends with the guys they're filling in for.
Benante also touched on the idea of people expressing their displeasure with classic bands having new members, saying he's not sure why negative opinions even need to be voiced. Since y'know, the guys they're about will eventually see them.
"That's the thing, man. There was a connection [between me and Paul], and you go way back with Slayer too, you know? What I mean is as soon as I heard that you were gonna do it, I immediately said 'that's the right choice right there.' It just made sense.
"There's people that send me 'hey, did you see this?' And I'm like 'why did you send me this?' Why ruin my day? I think the people who do these things, [who make] these comments – I don't even think they realize how much of an affect that they have on people.
"What I mean, and whether or not you hate the situation or whatever, is why can't you find some sort of restraint? Like, why do you need to sustain this thought that you have? Can't you just hold it in and [be like] 'maybe I'll keep my thoughts to myself.' No. They gotta tell you. I've never seen more of it in my life than I did in this past couple of months, just people judging."
Holt later added that even the people who wanted to compliment his playing in Slayer always had to add a "but" at the end, pretty much negating any kind words they had.
"I've seen people say 'yeah, I went and saw Slayer and Gary was really good, but…' You know what they say everything you say before the word but is bullshit, because you throw away everything you just said," he said. "'It was really good, but I hated every fucking solo, so he sucked. It wasn't really good.'"
For what it's worth, both Benante and Holt seem extremely well-equipped to do the jobs they were tasked with. Benante is out there crushing it with Pantera, and Holt's contributions to Slayer's live shows are straight up undeniable.
