Former EXODUS Singer STEVE 'ZETRO' SOUZA: 'I Have Lived The Rock And Roll Star Life To Its Fullest'

Jason Saulnier of Music Legends recently conducted an interview with former EXODUS and current HATRIOT singer Steve "Zetro" Souza. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Music Legends: Would you say touring now is more relaxed and easier to do?

Souza: I think there is a lot more support between the bands these days. We are all helping one another on tour, not trying to compete against each other. Back in the day, we tried to outperform the other bands on the bill, but these days I think we all work hard to make a show successful, and a tour successful, not just one band. I don't think touring is any easier, necessarily. It's still a grind. In many ways, it is harder because we don't have the budget that we had back in the day. There are no five-star hotels and we may have to travel by van instead of being in a fancy bus. The economy makes it where we have to get back to basics a little bit, but that is cool. It makes the band play harder. Nobody gets spoiled.

Music Legends: What would be some of the craziest stuff you've seen on tour?

Souza: You'll have to wait for the book to get all the details, but let's just say I have lived the rock and roll star life to its fullest and have seen just about everything on tour. The craziest would probably be one time in Florida we had to stop a show because the barricade broke and a security guard got crushed. His legs got broke and he was damn near paralyzed. They had to haul him out on a stretcher, and he was apologizing to us for interrupting our set.

Music Legends: What were your earliest influences in life?

Souza: My earliest influence is probably my dad. He was a tough biker guy and he forced me to toughen up at an early age. There was nothing weak about the guy. Through him, I also discovered all my early music influences, bands like UFO, BLACK SABBATH, IRON MAIDEN, TED NUGENT, AC/DC, etc. He used to buy hard rock records for me when I was a little kid. That's how I got my first LED ZEPPELIN record, as well as many others.

Music Legends: Could you describe what goes on in a day in your life as a musician on tour?

Souza: It's a day-long grind. We are usually riding into town for the first part of the day. Afternoon is spent loading in gear and doing a soundcheck. The early evening will be spent doing some press interviews or maybe a fan meet-and-greet. After that, it is time to do the show. When the show is over and the crowd is gone, we still have work to do. We have to load the gear back up, get paid out by the promoter, and usually drive a couple hours to get closer to the next town. There's not a lot of sleep, and there's certainly not a lot of time for other activities.

Read the entire interview at Music Legends.