DUBLIN DEATH PATROL Featuring TESTAMENT, Ex-EXODUS Members: Debut CD Available

DUBLIN DEATH PATROL (DDP),the new band featuring TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy and former EXODUS vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza, is making its long-awaited debut CD available via its official web site.

Billy originally teamed up with fellow Dublin, California ragers Willy Lange (RAMPAGE, LAAZ ROCKIT),Souza and three of the Billy brothers as well as some other local Dublin boys.

The seeds were planted in or about 1980 with a Bay Area thrash band called RAMPAGE, featuring neighborhood kids from Dublin, California — Chuck Billy, along with his brother Andy Billy, Greg Bustamante, Ernie Boehm and Willy Lange. The guys were about 18 years old and had all known each other since they were about five. They grew up listening to a variety of bands — from LED ZEPPELIN, KISS, AEROSMITH to THE DEAD KENNEDYS and THE SEX PISTOLS — and were influenced by the sounds of the late '70s and early '80s.

This time period was a great time for a bunch of kids who lived out in the 'burbs, and the boys from Dublin with their long hair and their naïve attitudes would go to the clubs to rage and see THE DEAD KENNEDYS and whatever punk shows that trails through the Bay Area. Lange recalled, "We learned quickly that people in the big city were a little different." The boys from Dublin got into more than a few fights before any reputation was established, and hence the DUBLIN DEATH PATROL was born.

Most of the guys that comprised the "PATROL" were big boys with quite an edge to them. Willy stated, "We were out to make a name for ourselves and word spread quick that we were not to be fucked with!"

One legendary incident that gets brought up (and laughed about) is the time that Willy Lange was playing his first gig with LAAZ ROCKIT in the early 1980s and the boys from METALLICA were doing a radio show with Ron Quintana on a college station. Willy remembers, "Everybody used to listen to Ron on KUSF in the beginning of what now is known has the famous Bay Area metal scene of the early Eighties. Ron was talking about our show that night and the fact it was my first gig with LAAZ. Lars [Ulrich] and James [Hetfield] were making fun of my name calling me Lilly Wang. People were calling me and telling me this. Word got back toJames and Lars that the 'PATROL' were about to inflict maximum damage on them."

One day Chuck Billy and Greg Bustamante and Willy Lange were kicking back at their apartment when they received a call from Lars and he was begging that the DDP didn't fuck them up because they didn't mean any disrespect and didn't have insurance. Willy said he told Lars, "We never had any intention of fucking with them and that we were totally cool. That was the kind of reputation we had."

Lange remembered, "Backing up a bit when we first started RAMPAGE it was Andy Billy, Ernie Greg and myself, but we needed a singer. We already had two full Marshall stacks a bass rig and drum set but no singer. Chuck Billy looked like a good fit — a big, tall monster with an attitude, so we asked him to try. Chuck was playing guitar at the time but said, 'What the fuck?!? Let me try.' The first song we wrote was 'Circumcise Me'. It fuckin killed and off we went from one backyard or barn to the other playing our newfound trade on the unsuspecting suburbanites."

After about a year or so a band called DIAMOND wanted Willy to play bass for them and they were fairly popular in the Bay Area scene at about the same time Chuck was having doubts about his ability to be a frontman. One night Chuck, Greg and Willy were sitting on the side of Chuck's house smoking weed and talking about their band RAMPAGE when Chuck said he was giving it up that he thought he was a "clown." "We tried to convince him to stay they had just got into the Battle Of The Bands a couple of months earlier and we thought he kicked ass, but it seemed his mind was made up," said Lange.

Willy eventually left RAMPAGE to play with DIAMOND and Lange mused, "I guess Chuck wasn't a 'clown' after all. Zet was our main roadie slash biggest fan plus he had a car he new all the bands in the area and it seemed all the bands new him. He was also best friends with Phil Demmel and his brother was friends with Troy Lucketta. Little did we all know that from such a small little town 30 minutes east of San Francisco would supply such a powerful mix of metal legends. Chuck Billy, lead singer, TESTAMENT. Steve 'Zetro' Souza, lead singer, LEGACY and EXODUS. Phil Demmel, lead guitar, VIO-LENCE and MACHINE HEAD. Troy Lucketta, drums, TESLA. And the bass player from LAAZ ROCKIT, whatever his name is."

Lange continued, "In the summer of 2005, LAAZ ROCKIT got the offer to play a reunion gig in Holland at the Dynamo Open Air the festival all of us had played before." When Lange heard TESTAMENT were on the bill it was a no-brainer, so LAAZ ROCKIT dusted off the old gear and headed over the pond. Lange was blown away by how many young kids were clamoring for "old-school metal." He stated, "I was talking with Chuck over there about the possibility of getting our old crew together and play some killer tunes we had wrote but never recorded some 20 years ago. The new version of the DUBLIN DEATH PATROL was born then and there. From that point on to this day this project has been a labor of love, fun, and brotherhood.

"I think what we have done with this project is a true reflection of our influences from our first time together," he explained. "The covers that we picked are the bands that we emulated at the time. The originals have stood the test of time and with Vincent Wojno, our honorary brother's help at the controls, we are all very proud of what we have accomplished. Like Chuck Billy says all the time, 'If we wanted to put out the heaviest album of all time we could have. But putting out a 'MACHINE HEAD'-type album just wouldn't reflect our true beginnings."

Chuck Billy said: "I remember moving to Dublin, California in 1965 driving through a little town that didn't have much to it — one high school a few supermarkets. Everyone knew everybody in town through school or after school sports. I started playing guitar in eighth grade and stuck with it through high school. Back in late '70s I remember going to barn parties watching the local musicians get together to play some of our favorite covers. I wanted to play so bad and be in the music scene we started our first band called RAMPAGE."

The guys were young and competitive to start with. Chuck remembered, "We thought we would be the rough ones with attitude almost like we were punk rock or at least what we thought punk rock stood for. We used to drive to Oakland to Willy's truckyard to practice in the back of a 45-foot trailer. It was always a party booze and weed mostly. We played some local house and barn parties and began our own little metal cult. We left our mark where ever we went leaving the word RAMPAGE or just the page as we called it all over town. All the local musicians knew who we were. Steve Souza was my younger brother Andy's best friend and was always at the RAMPAGE rehearsals. I was there as support of the band when one day they said why don't you give it a shot so I did and I was the new singer. After discovering the Bay Area notorious venues, Ruthie's and Keystone Berkeley, we brought our attitude along as well.

"We all went different directions with our music. Willy joined DIAMOND which was an up-and-coming band and then moved on to join LAAZ ROCKIT and then almost METALLICA. I went to college and took some music theory, vocal, and guitar classes. Andy kept playing with local musicians. Greg went to work for Willy. Ernie started working in the family business. I also took private lessons at night. I started a few bands with friend until I got the call from Steve Souza who had just left his first band called LEGACY to join EXODUS. Zetro suggested I call Alex Skolnick and ask for an audition. That day has changed my life forever."

After the success these individuals had on our own over the past two decades in their various bands, the idea of getting together with all the old gang to revisit some old songs sounded cool. They invited anyone from Dublin who wanted to get involved with the project to hop on for the ride. The word spread fast.

Souza recalls how the idea to reactivate the ultimate DUBLIN DEATH PATROL came to him: "Originally it was Willy's and Chuck Billy's idea. The first I heard of getting this project together was at a Raider pre-season game in 2005. Willy was telling me his idea of DDP and getting the old RAMPAGE guys together. But this version would have Chuck and I singing on every song and include different musicians that grew up in Dublin to play on this record. Well, I was right in."

They had their first meeting at Hooter's in Dublin to discuss what the plan was.

After six months of writing, arranging and restructuring songs new and old. the guys went in to record the DDP album through strains and pains with Vinnie Wojno. Souza boldly claimed, "This is what we have to give to the metal world, a kick-ass, straight-up aggressive and in-your-fucking-face album of music by guys just from Dublin, California. Represented by members of TESTAMENT, LEGACY, EXODUS, VIO-LENCE, LAAZ ROCKIT, TESLA, HEIST and a group of headbanging Dubliners that deserved status. For fans of the Bay Area thrash whom I love and will always, I hope they dig what Chuck and I have done vocally on the DDP project."

DUBLIN DEATH PATROL is:

Chuck Billy (TESTAMENT, RAMPAGE, GUILT) - Vocals
Steve "Zetro" Souza (LEGACY, EXODUS) – Vocals
Willy Langenhuizen (RAMPAGE, LAAZ ROCKIT) - Bass
Andy Bill (SACRED DOG, RAMPAGE, GUILT) – Guitar
Steve Robello (OUT OF CONTROL) - Guitar
Greg Bustamante (RAMPAGE) - Guitar
Danny Cunningham - Drums
Troy Luccketta (TESLA) - Drums
John Hartsinck - Guitar
John Souza - Bass
Eddie Billy - Bass

For more information, visit www.dublindeathpatrol.com.