EXODUS's ROB DUKES Opens Up About Touring Lifestyle: 'You Miss Family Time' And 'You Sacrifice Alone Time'

In a new interview with Rocking With Jam Man, EXODUS frontman Rob Dukes talked about the "sacrifices" he and other musicians have to make while they are on tour away from their family, including missing milestones, feeling isolated and struggling to balance the road with home life. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I watched my [EXODUS] guitar player Lee Altus raise small children while he was in the band, and miss out on huge swaths of their life. I didn't see my dog for three months. And I miss my dog, man. My dog's a huge part of my life. It's not a child, but to me it is. I mean, I don't have kids, so it's the closest I've gotten [to having kids]. You miss family time. I think every human being, or most human beings, require a time to be alone and read a book or listen to music or whatever. And when you're on a tour bus for months at a time, you're in a very small, confined space with 10 or 11 people, including the crew and the band, and you get very limited amount of alone time. And then somebody's always where you wanna be. And then if you leave the bus, then there's fans and other bands, and those things are a sacrifice. You sacrifice that alone time, the time you need for yourself to do the things you wanna do. And then you miss family occasions, events, birthdays. Luckily, the upside to technology is that Zoom is an option and FaceTime, and you can stay in touch with family a lot easier than it was even 15 years ago."

Reflecting on how much harder it was to stay in touch with his family while on tour a couple of decades ago, Rob continued: "I remember going to... You'd have to find a phone store to get Wi-Fi, 'cause there was no Wi-Fi anywhere in Europe. So I would be in Europe for two months and not talk to anybody back home, very rarely, 'cause it was just difficult. But that's all gotten a lot better. But my dog doesn't understand a phone. When she hears my voice through the phone, she thinks I'm out the door and freaks out, so I had to stop letting her hear my voice, 'cause it would make me feel bad that she thought I was home and I wasn't. I didn't wanna disappoint her. But luckily she's not human, she's a dog, so the moment I did walk in the door off tour, she forgot about all the time I was gone. And the only one who really missed it was me. But being a musician, getting out there, just do what makes you happy and be honest about it."

EXODUS's twelfth studio album, "Goliath", came out on March 20 via Napalm Records.

The follow-up to 2021's "Persona Non Grata" marks the first EXODUS LP since Dukes's return to the band a year and a half ago.

In December 2025, EXODUS filmed music videos for three songs from "Goliath", including "3111". The clips were helmed by Jim Louvau, a musical and visual creative artist based in Phoenix, Arizona, who previously worked on EXODUS's music video for the song "The Fires Of Division" from "Persona Non Grata".

"Goliath" marks the first time in nearly three decades that an EXODUS album hasn't been mixed by Andy Sneap, who has acted as JUDAS PRIEST's producer and touring guitarist for eight years.

EXODUS's longtime singer Steve "Zetro" Souza joined the pioneering thrash metal act in 1986 after previously fronting the band LEGACY (which later became TESTAMENT). He remained in the band until their hiatus in 1993, but rejoined them for two years from 2002 to 2004. Dukes had joined EXODUS in 2005 (following Souza's departure) and remained until 2014, when Souza rejoined.

Dukes previously 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).

EXODUS played its first concert with Dukes in nearly 11 years on April 5, 2025 at the Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly at the Fillmore in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Although EXODUS rarely gets mentioned alongside the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX — the aforementioned "Bonded By Blood" LP inspired the likes of TESTAMENT, DEATH ANGEL, VIO-LENCE and many others to launch their careers and is considered one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time.