Former Exodus vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza recently sat for a chat with Metal Messiah Radio in which he was asked whether he'd ever consider rejoining his old band.
"I would love to be there again," he replied. "It would be great for all the fans to be able hear me sing my songs again."
He continued, "[The current members of EXODUS and I have] talked over the past few years. They do have a singer; his name is Rob [Dukes]. Everybody knows that that's their singer for right now and until that decision is made otherwise, I completely understand and that's why I go along with [my new band] HATRIOT, for one. But how great would that be to see Zetro up there again singing those famous songs like 'The Toxic Waltz' and 'Cajun Hell' and all the good ones?"
Exodus guitarist Gary Holt was tipped to the interview almost immediately and quickly issued a public rebuttal:
"This dude is on a public relations BLITZ to get his job back!
"Just because I don't hold a grudge [against him] DOES NOT mean he's ever gonna get his job back.
"What TOTAL disrespect he showed to me, Rob, and this band. I guess he figures he'll take it to the streets to build up some kind of hype. He believes what he wants to believe, I guess, that the entire world is waiting for his glorious return.
…
"Move on, man, move on. [You] had your chance, [you] didn't want to work at it, now it's not waiting for you anymore."
This is disappointing for yours truly as I've always been a big fan of Zetro, for my money the best of the "gremlin" voiced singers this side of Bon Scott. I'm still on board with the newer Exodus shit, but to be honest I dig it in spite of Rob Duke's singing, not because of it.
As much as I hate to admit it, though, it sounds like Zetro may just be a huge pain in the ass to work with. Back in September he left Dublin Death Patrol – the Bay Area all star group he co-sings in with Chuck Billy from Testament – on vague terms which were nonetheless clearly personal, only to rejoin a month later after admitting to simmering down over the interim and rethinking his stance.
Ah, fuck it. I try to take the stellar tuneage where I can get it and leave the drama for those getting paid to deal with it. In the meantime, Zetro's got some retro thrash in the works with his new band Hatriot, and it's the next best thing to an Exodus Mark II reunion:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJqeuyW5O00[/youtube]
