Interview by Avinash Mittur
In 2014, San Francisco Bay Area thrash veterans Exodus decided to fulfill the desires of a majority of their fans by bringing back singer Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza into the fold and releasing a new Zetro-fronted studio album called ‘Blood In, Blood Out’ via Nuclear Blast Records. Building on the strongly positive response they’ve received for the album and continuing on with their revivalistic phase, they are about to hit the road in North America with fellow Bay Area thrashers Testament. As part of this tour, they will perform at the House Of Blues Sunset Strip in Los Angeles on Thursday April 2nd. Last week, our writer Avinash Mittur caught up with Zetro himself to talk in detail about the upcoming tour, his return to Exodus, the prospects of performing ‘Legacy’ songs with Testament, his other bands, and other topics. Enjoy the conversation below.
First thing I think we have to talk about is the tour that starts next week. A full tour with both Exodus and Testament seems somewhat overdue, don’t you think?
Yeah, I guess. I wasn’t in the band at the time, but a few years ago they did a short ten day run, it was Megadeth/Testament/Exodus. But yeah, they haven’t done a real Testament/Exodus run, especially with me with my history with both of the bands, that sort of incestuous thing.
I know whenever Testament play a show at home, you usually hop onstage to sing a song from the Legacy days.
Right. I told Chuck that the crowds have to be good, so that’s how we’re going to repay them. I don’t think it’ll be a problem in the Bay Area but everywhere else, I told them that the crowd’s got to be good, then we’ll come out and do it. Since they are doing all of The Legacy and The New Order… We did an interview yesterday and we were talking about even doing a couple other ones. I’m ready for whatever!
Interesting. You did have a hand in writing some of the songs on Dark Roots of Earth.
Yes, and The Formation of Damnation too. I think there’s four on the new one that I helped out with so far.
On these new songs, did you work with Del James as well, or was it just you and Chuck?
Oh no, just me and Chuck. He writes with Del, then he’ll come back and write with me. I’ve never written with him and Del at the same time, but our songs seem to end up on the same records.
Before you rejoined Exodus either of the times, what did you spend your time on? This is not including Hatriot of course.
Yeah, so for example I did that Tenet project with the guys from Strapping Young Lad and Glen Alvelais. Chuck and I did Dublin Death Patrol. I kept my hands kind of busy. Then I started Hatriot and we did it pretty hard. We’re still going at it pretty hard, but obviously Exodus came around for the third time. It was just the right timing for me- mentally, physically, musically, with everything. The record was really well-written I thought as soon as I heard it. It all worked out really well. So yeah, I did keep myself busy musically. Living in the East Bay, I’d still go to Raiders games. I always pay attention to what the sports teams are doing, because that’s what we do!
You mentioned Dublin Death Patrol. I’ve only been recently familiar with the town of Dublin, CA whereas you’ve lived here all your life. What was the city like in the ’80s? Were there a lot of kids your age into metal? Was there any kind of rivalry with what was happening in Berkeley and San Francisco?
It was weird! There was an attitude in this town. There were kids in the late ’70s/early ’80s, maybe late ’76 to say ’85, that carried this weird attitude on their shoulder. We’d go out to Berkeley and just intimidate those guys, totally. Dublin Death Patrol actually started in the crowd. We’d all go out to see Laaz Rockit with Willy Lange, then Chuck was in a band called Guilt and I was in Legacy, so we’d all follow each other around. As soon as I joined Exodus, Chuck then joined Legacy and it all kind of worked out really well. I mean, everybody was a rocker. We didn’t know any different. If your cars were high and jacked up, you listened to hard rock from the ’70s and ’80s. You’d hear Ted Nugent screaming out of someone’s car and you’d know. UFO, Judas Priest, all those bands were a part of that mentality in this town. There was Phil who’s in Machine Head, myself and Exodus, Chuck, Willy from Laaz Rockit… we all grew up in this town and all grew up in that time of edgy attitude. I don’t know if that helped us along in the business, but we’re talking about this tiny little town with five people that you can honestly say were successful in the music business, in heavy metal.
I remember reading an interview with Chuck were he said there was an old barn off of Dougherty Road where you all would play shows and party at.
Oh yeah, we used to play the barn parties all the time man. I remember it would be total chaos, like we’d put the word out: “Six keggers out there, Rampage!” It was Chuck’s band with his brother Andy and Willy. They were called Rampage and there was also another band called Out of Control. Dublin Death Patrol was really a mixture of those two bands plus myself and a couple other guys from around here. It’s kind of cool. On Dublin Blvd, across the street from the park and the bank, there used to be a barn back there. I think there’s a daycare there now. Every Halloween, we threw a massive rager!
Moving towards the new record, when I listened to Blood In, Blood Out, I got a much more “good friendly violent fun” vibe compared to the last few albums that Exodus put out, which were quite serious in nature. Was this an intentional thing with the lyrics and melodies?
Actually, I wrote very few melodies and I only wrote lyrics for “Body Harvest” so everything was pretty much written. It was really just how the band had done it. I turned 51 the other day and I joined this band when I was 21. I know how to do Exodus, even in the ten years that I wasn’t in the band, both times: there was the nine year period in the ’90s, then ten years until last year. I was still able to roll right into it, and be myself. I didn’t try to be Rob Dukes, even though he did a great job on all those albums that he sang on. Those albums called for that kind of aggression and I guess when you listen to “Blood In, Blood Out” it just feels like, “This is Exodus. Straight up Exodus, the one I listened to from the beginning.” That’s what I hear when I listen to it.
From what I know, Rob did lay down some vocal takes before the split. Did you have a chance to reference those before tracking your parts?
It wasn’t really something that I got to do. I had a scratch track and I followed that, and that’s how we’ve always done it. Even before we have lyrics, they’ll kind of hum it over a scratch and I’ll pick it up from there. I’m really good with that method. Lyrics are my thing, I write them with Chuck, I write all the lyrics for Hatriot, so I don’t have a problem with coming up with melodies or following along. I can take a song, listen to it and figure it out, I’m pretty good with that and I’m very fortunate to be.
You mentioned that “Body Harvest” was your only lyrical contribution to the album, and I know that Lee Altus co-wrote that song as well. What was it like writing with him for the first time?
It wasn’t only myself, it was me, Jack and Lee all in the room together, writing the lyrics. Lee wrote the music for “Body Harvest” too. It was really cool how that worked. He knew he had a song called “Body Harvest” but he didn’t want to keep only what he had. One of the days when I was tracking vocals I came in early just to write like I do with Chuck. “I’m here for 24 hours, let’s do this.” I have a title and theme, then I can work. It’s what I’ve always done, and I never seem to run out of ideas either.
As songwriters, how do you think Lee and Gary differ?
You know, there’s not much difference there I think. Gary writes very violently. He’s very… “astute,” I guess is a good word to use. He’s very apt on what he’s attempting to go for. Lee’s stuff is really chuggy, really heavy and he’s a straight up shredder. I think it’s on the song “Honor Killings” at the end, they do a trade-off thing. I think it’s the best guitar solo on the record with both of them just flailing away. That’s my favorite lead section on the album that they do. It really exemplifies what both of them bring to the table. I love Rick Hunolt, he’s my brother in arms, but honestly I have to say that Lee and Gary are the best tandem in thrash metal, not just in their abilities to play lead, but rhythm as well.
I know Jack Gibson engineered some of the record. This was his first time working with Exodus in that kind capacity.
He worked on the whole record really! He did a good job; I like to work with people that I’m comfortable with and working with Jack, he’s so easy and mellow. There’s no intensity about it. I tell him, “I know what to bring to the table,” and Jack will be like, “Okay, cool. Let’s go for it. Let’s do it again…” He’s really calm, he’s not going, “Fuck man, you got to get it right next time! Come on, come on!” I really liked having Jack there in that role, and I have no problem with him doing it again.
It sounds like he was more than a competent engineer, but a talented producer as well.
I would say definitely. Out of everyone in the band, Jack and Gary have been in it for the longest time. He joined in ’98 for Another Lesson in Violence, he toured with Baloff, kept chugging along until I rejoined in 2002, and he just kept going. He has a history with Exodus, and he knows what this band’s about.
This new touring cycle is the first time you’ve been a full-time musician in 10 years. What did you miss about having this for your job?
I just think about everything that goes on now… I spent so much of my life building these things, and seeing the bands starting to get all these accolades and be appreciated for the things that they’ve done. I mean, we’re doing Motorboat with Motorhead and Slayer, Anthrax and Suicidal, how great is that? We’re talking about all these bands that have been around for so long. Guys who have been chugging along for so long, and now we get to go on a cruise and people will come and hang out. Things like that, the festivals, the fans, just playing live period. I just appreciate it so much more now.
So about Hatriot; how goes writing the material for the third album?
Great! There’s probably five or six songs with titles and actually my son Cody, he does a great Zetro voice, he’s going to play bass and sing while I’m out doing Exodus. I’m coming back I think at the end of June. I’m going to do both, I’ve been in touch with everyone and I think probably by the end of the year, Hatriot will be ready to go.
To me, Dawn of the New Centurion sounded much more pissed off and focused than Heroes of Origin. Does the new material follow that direction?
I think it’s gone a whole other way actually. It’s slightly going back to the sound on Heroes, but as Kosta gets more comfortable writing good stuff, he really starts to know what he’s doing and what the band is about. I think you shoot from the hip when you first start and now his writing has gotten really heavy, much more heavy.
What is the transition between the bands like for you, jumping from these very small clubs and bars with Hatriot to thousands of people with Exodus?
It’s cool, and it keeps me grounded in a big way. I have no problem with it, and I don’t take it for granted. I really love it. This time is the best time to go see Exodus because we’re really moving like a machine and there’s no distractions.
So back in ’04, did those distractions impede your live performance?
Oh man, there were a million of them. The kids were little. Their mother, whom I’m no longer married to, wasn’t a big supporter of this. I have a beautiful girlfriend and she supports it 100%. My children have grown up now, and now the band makes enough money to where I can live off the band. I don’t have to go to work anymore. It’s all a different mentality and if I can submerge myself like that, I can be the best I can be. I don’t have to worry about what’s going on at home, if my kid got arrested, or my substance abuse, or everyone else in Exodus’ substance abuse. There’s elements that simply do not exist any more. The focus is much more refined.
With Exodus, the most successful album that came out during your first run with the band was Fabulous Disaster in 1989. In 2014 Blood In, Blood Out beat out that album when it came to the chart positions. Could you have ever imagined that you’d release your most successful album at the age of 51?
No and at that age, you just can’t. You’re young and you think, “Oh yeah, every album will just get bigger and bigger!” You don’t know that there’s a plateau and that when you peak, you start to drop. You don’t think of that, especially when you’re young and you’re naive about the business. You’re just, “Oh! Okay! We did it? We got that much? Wow!” Now it’s like, we know how to do things, we know what it’s like. We know how to build it. We know how to make a great record successful and we’re all much better at that. We can look at us as a group and we’re all still big fans of our own genre. That’s the key to making good music still.
Testament / Exodus / Shattered Sun North American tour dates:
04/01/15 – Regency Center Grand Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
04/02/15 – House Of Blues – Hollywood, CA
04/03/15 – Livewire – Scottsdale, AZ
04/04/15 – Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM
04/06/15 – Aztec Theater – San Antonio, TX
04/07/15 – House Of Blues – Houston, TX
04/08/15 – House Of Blues – Dallas, TX
04/10/15 – Pop’s – Sauget, IL
04/11/15 – Mojoes – Joliet, IL
04/12/15 – Harpo’s – Detroit, MI
04/13/15 – The Intersection – Grand Rapids, MI
04/15/15 – Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto, ON – CANADA
04/16/15 – Rapids Theatre – Niagara Falls, NY
04/17/15 – Starland Ballroom – Sayreville, NJ
04/18/15 – The Palladium – Worcester, MA, New England Metal & Hardcore Festival
04/19/15 – The Paramount – Huntington, NY
04/21/15 – Mercury Ballroom – Louisville, KY
04/22/15 – Cannery Ballroom – Nashville, TN
04/23/15 – Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
04/24/15 – The International – Knoxville, TN
04/25/15 – Metropolitan Park – Jacksonville, FL, Welcome To Rockville Festival (Festival Date, NO SHATTERED SUN)
04/26/15 – Culture Room – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
04/28/15 – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD
04/29/15 – The Chance – Poughkeepsie, NY
04/30/15 – The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
05/01/15 – Farm Bureau Live – Virginia Beach, VA, Lunatic Luau 15 (Festival Date, NO SHATTERED SUN)
05/02/15 – Bogarts – Cincinnati, OH
05/03/15 – Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC, Carolina Rebellion 2015 (Festival Date, NO SHATTERED SUN)