EXODUS's STEVE 'ZETRO' SOUZA: My Voice Is 'Pretty Much An Imitation' Of BON SCOTT

As part of Jonathan Montenegro's "My 3 Questions To" series, EXODUS frontman Steve "Zetro" Souza was asked to name his top three metal singers of all time. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I could go on forever; there's so many that I could say. But you have to give… For me, Bon Scott [AC/DC], Ronnie James Dio [BLACK SABBATH, DIO, HEAVEN & HELL] and, obviously, Rob Halford [JUDAS PRIEST]. But I then I could go Biff Byford [SAXON], I could go John Bush [ARMORED SAINT, ANTHRAX]. I have so many that I love and am influenced by — that I'm influenced by. They're such legends and they had such an impact on how singers like myself sing today, especially Bon Scott; I mean, my voice is a pretty much imitation of it."

When he is not busy touring with EXODUS, Souza plays occasional shows in the San Francisco Bay Area with his long-running AC/DC tribute band AC/DZ, in which he is joined by DEATH ANGEL drummer Will Carroll.

In addition to Souza and Carroll, AC/DZ's current lineup includes Dave Chapman on lead guitar, Joel Proto on rhythm guitar and Mike Butler on bass.

In an interview with Myglobalmind, Souza stated about AC/DC's singer change following the death of Scott: "You know, it took a while for everybody to get used to Brian Johnson after Bon. I was 16 when Bon Scott died, and I remember, I was, like, 'Oh, my god, what are they going to do?! That voice is that music.' He fitted that guitar, what they were doing; it was like a glove. How do you replace that? And then in time, Brian has become that, and out of everybody, I would have to say him and Bruce Dickinson [IRON MAIDEN] taking over from Paul Di'Anno did an amazing job in the transition."

Back in 2015, Souza told Southeast Of Heaven that he preferred the Scott era of AC/DC over the Johnson era. "There's no comparison," he said. "That's not to say that Brian's not any good. I respect Brian. Hell, he took over and if you think about it, he's been in the band three times longer than Bon. Bon, the way that he sang. The way he wrote that tongue-in-cheek stuff. Like 'Big Balls'. What's that about? It's about dance? It's about his balls? [Laughs] The metaphors in that song were just clever as hell, and it's hard to write clever."

EXODUS is continuing to tour in support of its latest album, "Persona Non Grata", which came out in November 2021 via Nuclear Blast Records.

"Persona Non Grata" was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudi and EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap. For the third time in the band's history, they returned to Swedish artist Pär Olofsson to create the album artwork.

"Persona Non Grata" is the follow-up to 2014's "Blood In Blood Out", which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers' first release since the departure of the group's lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukes, and the return of Souza, who previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.