Slayer’s Gary Holt Has Custom Guitar Painted with His Blood

In case being in Slayer and Exodus isn’t metal enough, guitarist Gary Holy just took things up a bunch of notches by having a custom guitar painted with his own blood. According to Loudwire, this is the first time such a feat has been accomplished.

Artist Vincent Castiglia is responsible for the magnificent looking artwork that includes a demonic figure and “777” scribed by the guitar’s pickups . To make this bloody instrument happen, Holt had 18 vials of blood taken from him backstage at a Slayer gig in California.

“It was very exciting to finally be able to reveal the ‘blood guitar’ painted with 18 vials of my own blood at this year’s NAMM!” Said Holt. “This Vincent Castiglia original is the first of its kind. This [past]?weekend was also my first look at it in the flesh so to say I was stoked is an understatement! Looking forward to taking this one-of-a-kind piece of dark art out on tour in February!”

Added Castiglia: “I thought about the logistics, whether it would be possible or not, and figured, ‘Hey, if I’ve been able to take my paintings and medium as far as I have already on canvas, why not do it on a guitar body?’ After some trial, and some extra preparation, it all worked out perfectly, and this guitar actually became what I’d cite to be one of my favorite, most detailed works to date. I pushed it as far as was physically possible in terms of detail. The subject matter, look and feel, and functionality of the piece are all in perfect line with my work.”

Click here to read our 2015 interview with Slayer!