Exodus guitarist Gary Holt says the arrest of a fan who posted lyrics online proves what a "paranoid society" we live in.
Holt says James Evans’ arrest in September could have been avoided with some basic research in the part of the authorities. Evans posted lyrics to the band’s song Class Dismissed (A Hate Primer) on his Facebook page.
The lyrics include the paragraph: “Student bodies lying dead in the halls, a blood splattered treatise of hate. Class dismissed is my hypothesis, gun fire ends in debate.”
Evans’ case was eventually deferred for six months and he is not expected to serve any jail time, despite being charged with “terrorist threatenings” and originaly facing up to 10 years behind bars.
Holt tells Full Metal Jackie: “It goes to show you that we live in a very paranoid society, and in a lot of ways rightly so, because of so many tragedies — non-stop shootings and such.
“But my problem with James Evans being arrested primarily lies in the fact it would have taken 20 minutes of research to realise that this guy was not a threat. He wasn’t a depressed 17-year-old posting diatribe after diatribe on Facebook about how bad he hates his school and hates his classmates and then the posted lyrics, and I’d see it.
“He’s a 30-year-old man, and I bet if you searched his Facebook page, you’d find nothing but other metal references and typical Facebook stuff. It does show you that the written word can be frightening to some.”
Police received a number of calls after Evans’ Facebook post, which eventually led to his arrest. He described his ordeal as “surreal.”
Exodus released new album Blood In, Blood Out on October 10.
