Former EXODUS Frontman Talks HATRIOT On 'Metal Meltdown With Dr. Metal' (Audio)

"Metal Meltdown With Dr. Metal" show, which airs on Cleveland, Ohio's WRUW-FM 91.1, recently conducted an interview with former EXODUS and current HATRIOT frontman Steve "Zetro" Souza. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

On shopping around for a record deal for HATRIOT:

Zetro: "People think because I'm Zetro and I've played in these legendary bands in the past [that it would be easy to get a good record deal]. It just doesn't necessarily work like that. It's kind of 'What have you done for me lately?' I had to shop the demo, obviously… That was my hardest part, I was like, 'Am I gonna do this again?' I'm like 45 years old, I'm gonna start a new band. Then I gotta come up with a name, then we gotta come up with a logo, then we gotta get members, and write songs, and play shows, and do photos, and just all the things that like [yuck], that a musician that's been doing it as long as me, you're like [yuck]. But once I got it all done and at the point we are now, I'm so excited for it. I really am. It's great."

On teaching the youngsters in his band:

Zetro: "Every rehearsal is a lesson for them, because I'm going to tell them something to expect: 'This is what's going to happen to this, and then when we do this, it's going to be like this.' And so, I don't sugarcoat anything. I give it to them exactly like it is. It's not pretty, it never will be, it's just the business side of it and how it works."

On his work ethic:

Zetro: "I don't like the laziness of most musicians. It's really bad. If I could have run EXODUS or I could have run other bands, maybe it would have been a different story. The greatest thing about HATRIOT is that I get to run everything, I make the final decision. And I'm not a lazy person. I get everything done."

On leaving EXODUS:

Zetro: "Mentally, [I was] not in the right place at that time. They can take no blame for that. That was me. Unfortunately, that business wasn't doing as well at that time. And working like we were before, it was hard to jump out of a $90,000-a-year job to go make $30,000 a year so that everybody was happy. Plus I had little kids at the time, and it was just hard to do that. That's why I'm much more dedicated now to being able to do it because my children are in the band, everyone's older, and it's just time to do it again."

Interview (audio):

HATRIOT's debut album, "Heroes Of Origin", was released on January 25 via Germany's Massacre Records. The CD was recorded with producer Juan Urteaga (MACHINE HEAD, EXODUS, TESTAMENT) and features guest appearances by TESTAMENT's Chuck Billy and MACHINE HEAD 's Phil Demmel . The cover artwork, which can be seen below, was created by Mark DeVito, who has previously worked with MOTÖRHEAD and ANVIL CHORUS, among others.

HATRIOT is:

Steve "Zetro" Souza - Vocals
Kosta Varvatakis - Guitar
Miguel Esparza - Guitar
Nicholas Souza - Drums
Cody Souza - Bass

"Blood Stained Wings" video: