ROB DUKES Reclaims EXODUS Vocal Throne On 'Goliath': 'It's The Best Thing I've Done'

By David E. Gehlke

The surprise early-2025 firing of frontman Steve "Zetro" Souza and the reinstatement of his predecessor, Rob Dukes, have allowed EXODUS to correct a mistake that should never have occurred. Dukes was originally plucked from relative obscurity in 2005 to front the legendary thrashers after the unceremonious dismissal of Souza. Dukes had no experience fronting a thrash metal band the size of EXODUS — a risky move that quickly paid off upon the release of the same year's "Shovel Headed Kill Machine", an LP headlined by killers like "Deathamphetamine", "Shudder to Think", "I Am Abomination" and "Altered Boy". Neither a Souza nor a Paul Baloff clone, Dukes brought a newfound brand of anger and acidity to EXODUS enhancing their live performances and producing the excellent twin studio albums "The Atrocity Exhibition" (A and B). However, the allure of one more go-round with Souza was too much for leader Gary Holt and his bandmates to resist. Dukes was dumped in 2014 and turned his attention to GENERATION KILL. Fortunately for him, he was able to mend his relationship with EXODUS over the years, making his return a natural one.

Admittedly, Dukes need little time to get reacclimated to EXODUS. The band's resultant new "Goliath" studio album finds the frontman at his gnarling, biting best (with some clean vocals, to boot). The LP also bears the mark of an outfit more willing to collaborate than ever. It shows across ten cuts, striking in their diversity, with the appropriate thrash whip-arounds, grinding heaviness and even a funk-filled intro on "Violence Works". With the release of "Goliath" right around the corner, BLABBERMOUTH.NET snagged Dukes for the scoop.

Blabbermouth: From the time it was announced you had rejoined to the time you got back onstage, how much getting up to speed did you need?

Rob: "I never really stopped. I was doing GENERATION KILL. The hardest thing about coming back was remembering the lyrics. It's always been difficult for me because, for some reason, my brain doesn't retain it unless it's repetitive, where we do it every night, and it becomes muscle memory. That was the hardest part, remembering the words. As far as the ability to do it, no, I think it's a natural thing. I don't warm up; I don't do anything. I never lose my voice. I just do what I do. People ask me, 'How do you fucking do it every night?' I go, 'I don't know. I just do it. I don't do anything special.' Like, all the things that people do, 'Oh, I need tea. I need heat.' It's all bullshit. [Laughs] You are either breathing right or not. When people lose their voice, it's because the vocal cords are like muscles. When they get swollen, they don't operate correctly. I've only lost my voice a few times, and it was in the beginning. Once I learned how to sing, it wasn't an issue. I haven't sung in a couple of months now, and we start rehearsal for the MEGADETH tour, and the first day, I'll blow off all the rust. The second day, it will be fine. The repetition helps with the lyrics. The repetition also helps strengthen the muscles I need to sing, namely my vocal cords. You just have to breathe right."

Blabbermouth: It puts into perspective how many lyrics are in a standard EXODUS song.

Rob: "Oh, Jesus Christ, it's like a fucking book. [Laughs] Some songs have so many lyrics. It can be so crazy. Then I've had really funny instances where, if I know the first word of the verse, I can usually remember it, as it flows. But if I don't remember that first word, I panic. Dude, it's like, 'What's the first word? What's the first word? Then I'll run up to Gary, and he'll go, 'I don't know!' I'm like, 'Fuck!' I'm just panicked. I remember one time we were doing 'Altered Boy'. We were playing in San Francisco. We were playing that song, and right before we went to play, Robb Flynn [MACHINE HEAD] came over and looked at the setlist and said, 'Oh, good. You're doing 'Altered Boy'. I love that song.' Robb is staring at me, and in my head, I'm going, 'What's the first word? What's the first word? We've been playing it every night. It wasn't like it was new to the set. We've been playing it for a month. Right before I had to sing, it popped into my head. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. I guess that's why guys use a teleprompter. It doesn't take anything away; it's like a security blanket.

"I've been studying and listening. I have a list of songs. The new stuff is going to be weird. I'll be alright; I'll figure it out. The first couple of 'Bonded [By Blood]' [40th anniversary] shows were nerve-wracking because we didn't rehearse enough since we were still doing the record. I didn't have many rehearsals for those shows. It was like trial-by-fire shit. I listened to it every day, all day, for a month and a half. I've been listening to these songs for 40 years. People tend to go, 'Why do people use teleprompters and forget the lyrics?' It's one thing to sing with a CD, it's completely different to sing with a microphone and a band. I've talked to some of my friends in the industry, other singers, and we all have the same laugh about the same shit: 'Oh yeah! I forget lyrics all the time, and I mumble through it.' I've done that too. I've fucked up so bad that I start laughing, and I can't recover from it. Usually, it makes everyone laugh. For the most part, it doesn't happen too often."

Blabbermouth: Who did you talk to the most when you were out of EXODUS?

Rob: "Lee [Altus, guitar] and I talked all the time, especially during hockey season. Lee and I would talk shit about hockey all the time, but I think after I left, I didn't talk to anyone from the band for a year. I went on with my life and repositioned my life, and then we kind of started talking. It was all good. I don't live with resentment for very long. I was angry and resentful for a while, but life is too short."

Blabbermouth: Gary has said that he wants to be in a band with people he can hang out with. Do you think it was more of the "business, not personal" angle when you were first let go?

Rob: "A little bit of both. I've been an EXODUS fan for my whole life. I was going to shows as a teenager. I got lucky being in the right place at the right time. I had enough talent to do the job. Before any of that, even a spark, we were friends right off the bat. It was like we knew each other our whole lives. Lee wasn't in the band; Rick [Hunolt, guitar] was still there, as was Tom [Hunting, drums]. We all got along great. I have a sick, twisted sense of humor, and I make everyone laugh. A lot of the time, I'll say the worst thing possible just to see everyone's reaction. That usually gets a laugh. That's always been there. Of course, it kind of dissipated through the years when I wasn't in the band, but when I'd talk to them, it was like I talked to them yesterday. This time around, the moment I got out of the car the first time and everyone was standing there, it was like not a day had gone by. It was great. On our first tour, we laughed every night. We were hanging out in the back lounge. It was just fun; a really good time, a lot of good laughs. That's the hardest part of touring: being crammed into a bus with everyone. You think you would get on everyone's nerves, but none of us did. I didn't argue about anything. I don't drink, do drugs, or party. Not that everyone does on the bus, but they drink, have a good time, and have a few beers. I hang out until I don't feel like it anymore. I read a lot on tour. I think I read, in those six weeks in Europe, 12 books. That's how I pass the time. I read, and I became a fabricator a few years ago. I watch a ton of welding videos and fabrication videos. I can spend hours doomscrolling through welding videos. [Laughs] When I'm home, I'm not really on my phone. I have a shop at home. I build cars, and when I'm doing that, I don't have a phone in my hand. I have all day where I'm doing that, and I'm busy. I might check it at lunch, then I'll go home at night. I have had a puppy for a few years; I found a puppy on tour when I was out with GENERATION KILL. She's become the center of my life. I get home after work, we play fetch, go for a walk, hang out with her, watch hockey, smoke a cigar, then I go to bed. Then, I start all over."

Blabbermouth: Moving over to "Goliath". The record has a lot of range, meaning there's a variety of tempos and even moods. On your side, do you think you're more effective on the mid-tempo stuff like "Violence Works" and "Summon Of The God Unknown"?

Rob: "If I listen to music, I'm listening to doom rock. I'm a desert rock guy, like CLUTCH, ACID BATH, ORANGE GOBLIN, KYUSS. I love QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE. I love the mid-tempo stuff because it gives you room to breathe. There's room to fluctuate the line. You can go up and down in pitch. You can phrase it differently. When it's fast, it's so fast that it's really hard. You're either low or high. The mid, that's when you're singing really fast, it's hard to have a pitch that varies from line to line. I try to do it as much as I can, but it's really the melody that floats in that. When it's the mid-tempo or slower stuff, the melody can move up and down. It can flow a lot more easily. With GENERATION KILL, I've shown that I don't have to scream all the time. I can sing. I can actually hold notes, but on the EXODUS records I've done up to this one, it was mostly fast shit, with the exception of 'Children [Of A Worthless God]', which is the one time I got to step outside of the box a little bit and do a clean chorus. On this one, I did clean all over the place. 'Violence Works', 'Changing Me'. Actually, the whole chorus on 'Promise You This' is all clean. It's a high clean, and I changed the register. A lot of the time on the older records, Gary wrote everything. There were a few songs that I wrote, but Gary writes the way he writes. It is always fast and hard-hitting. We collaborated; we sat down and talked about what we were going to do. A lot of times, on a few of the songs, like 'Summon', he let me find the melody. He wrote the lyrics, but he let me find the melodies and the pattern. That's my favorite song on the record. It's epic. We called it 'Epic In E' for a while. When I saw the lyrics, I said, 'These are fucking awesome.' I think that song is very powerful. 'Goliath' was more guttural and dark. 'Promise You This', Gary said, 'Can you think .38 SPECIAL / LYNYRD SKYNYRD?' I'm like, 'Fuck yeah!' [Laughs] That's how 'Promise You This' flowed. It's got some Southern twang — I brought out my Florida man. Even though I was born in Florida, I grew up in New York, so technically, I'm a Florida man. [Laughs] Once I started singing it, it just flowed. Then, '2 Minutes Hate' was Lee and me. We did that one together. 'The Changing Me', Lee and I wrote that as well. Those were just trial and error, see what works best. I think sang on the highest I've ever sang on 'The Changing Me', that chorus. I did it, and Lee came running and grabbed me and hugged me and said, 'That's exactly what I was thinking!'"

Blabbermouth: What do you think led to Gary opening up the songwriting?

Rob: "I know that when we were done and listening to the playback, he said, 'This is fucking awesome.' We were all very stoked that it was coming out the way we wanted. It wasn't rushed; we took our time with it. We talked about stuff. We tried something else when something wasn't working. It was really cool. When I talked to Gary, he said, 'It's the most collaborative, diverse record we've done.' Every song is its own little entity. Not that the other ones weren't, but this one feels different. I'm not sure why. Maybe because we're older and smarter? I don't know! [Laughs] It felt different. The songwriting was different. It feels different, and I'm super-proud of it. I think it's the best thing I've ever done."

Blabbermouth: A lot of people hold "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" in high regard. Do you think "Goliath" stands right alongside it?

Rob: "Yes, and I think it's because of the collaborative nature of everything. Also, Tom brings so much. Jack [Gibson, bass], too. Jack was unbelievable. I've watched Jack play for 20 years. When I watched him in the studio with Tom, I was blown away. Everybody blew me away. Jack is an incredibly talented bass player. It's mind-blowing what he can listen to once, learn on the spot, and adapt: 'That's not an F sharp; that's an F. Press record.' It was crazy. And Tom, too. Just to be able to stop on the fly and try something new. It was insane to watch, and then to watch Gary and Lee do their solos… as a guitar player, it made me want to quit. Why bother? [Laughs] All of it was amazing to watch. I'm super proud of it."

"As a music lover, albums have a moment in time. My favorite album of all time is QUEEN's 'News Of The World'. To me, it's their best album, but it was special because it was the first album I bought with my own money. I shoveled driveways so I could have enough to go to the record store. I bought THE CLASH, their first album ["The Clash"], and QUEEN. I went home and dropped the needle on QUEEN, and it resonates with me like no other album that I own. When 'Shovel Headed' came along, no one knew who I was. All of a sudden, I'm thrust into this thing I've never done before. Gary and Tom, Jesus Christ, can you imagine having a band of EXODUS's caliber? Then, 'Yeah, let's bring this guy in. We've never heard him. We've never seen him tour. We don't know if he can tour.' Can you imagine the insanity of these guys?"

Blabbermouth: Maybe it was because you were one of the guys already, since you were their guitar tech.

Rob: "That part was fine, but they didn't know what I could do. I laughed at them: 'You guys are nuts. What if I were a fucking douchebag? What if I sucked?' Then I went into the studio, the first time I've ever done it, and I blew my voice out the first day. I couldn't talk for three days because I didn't know how to sing. I didn't know how to do anything, and then I barely finished recording. Getting back to my point, when I heard 'Sad Wings Of Destiny', it became my favorite JUDAS PRIEST record. It's a moment in time. I was 16 or 17. I heard it, and it resonated with me. When I hear those songs, they hit me like that. I think 'Shovel' does that to people. I think that's why 'Bonded' is so special. It did that for people at a time—when I was 18, I was fucking drinking and hanging out with chicks and driving fast cars. You'd be cranking JUDAS PRIEST. Those memories resonate with me. It's like a good movie. It's like watching 'Road Warrior'. 'The Thing' or 'The Exorcist', when I watch those movies, I'm taken back in time. 'This movie is way better than that.' 'Fuck you! No, it's not.' [Laughs] I get why it's powerful for people. I get why people will never like what I do. They have their thing, and it's fine. If you don't dig it, you can't please everyone."

Photo credit: Jim Louvau