Ex-EXODUS Singer ROB DUKES Says 'Everything's Cool' Between Him And His Former Bandmates

Ex-EXODUS singer Rob Dukes says that "everything's cool" between him and his former bandmates, six years after he was fired from the group.

The San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal legends in June 2014 announced the departure of Dukes and the return of his predecessor, Steve "Zetro" Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.

Dukes addressed his current relationship with EXODUS during a June 9 chat with Rock Immortal Productions' "Rock Talk" live interview series. He said (see video below): "[Getting fired] was bad, dude. It sucked, man. I was in the band for 10 fucking years, and now, all of a sudden, they throw me out. It was about money, and that's really what it was — it was business, man. And sometimes business goes the way it goes… I was pretty angry. Anger it always your first emotion. I was hurt. These guys were my friends. We were brothers and family. It was really bad timing on top of it. But all that said, it all worked out."

Three years after he was fired from EXODUS, Dukes performed with the band during a July 2017 concert in San Francisco, California. He sang several songs with the group on the second of EXODUS's two-night stint at The Chapel in what marked the band's first headlining Bay Area club shows since late 2013.

"I got up to San Francisco and we sat at a restaurant — all of us — and we talked, and everyone said their piece, and then it was fine," Dukes said about reconnecting with his bandmates. "I did a couple of interviews — I did one on 'Opie And Anthony', and I was fucking angry, and I shouldn't have brought it up, but Jim Norton fucking asked me, and then I fucking just unloaded and I called them all douchebags. It was fucked up of me to do that, 'cause up to that point, I had been pretty good about just being professional and talking about my gratitude for the opportunity and stuff. I tried to keep my shit together and be professional, but I kind of lost it for a little bit. And then, soon thereafter, I called and apologized to them and just explained kind of why, and it was all good, man. And it's all good right now, man. I talk to those guys constantly. Me and Jack [Gibson, bass] talked the other day. Me and Lee [Altus, guitar] talk a couple of times a week. Me and Gary [Holt, guitar], we talk pretty consistently. Tom's [Hunting, drums] living way up in the fucking mountains, so I don't talk to him that often… So, that's kind of where it's at. Everything's cool. I wish them all the best in the world."

Dukes joined EXODUS in January 2005 and appeared on four of the band's studio albums — "Shovel Headed Kill Machine" (2005),"The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A" (2007),"Let There Be Blood" (2008, a re-recording of EXODUS's classic 1985 LP, "Bonded By Blood") and "Exhibit B: The Human Condition" (2010).

Dukes currently resides in Arizona, where he works as a mechanic specializing in car restoration.

Image credit: Gibson Guitar NYC