Former EXODUS Singer STEVE 'ZETRO' SOUZA Is 'Not Really Into Writing' New Songs With His Solo Project

Former EXODUS singer Steve "Zetro" Souza has released a new video via his Zetro's Toxic Vault channel on YouTube in which he discussed his upcoming first two solo shows, which will take place in Florida this weekend: at the Brass Mug in Tampa on September 26 and at Piper's in Fort Lauderdale on September 27. Zetro will also embark on a three-date tour of Australia in early February 2026.

Regarding the setlist for his solo concerts, Zetro said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'll be playing a lot of EXODUS, a lot of deep cuts, a lot of songs that I've seen you guys, over the years through social media, chime in about wanting to hear. So that's what you will see. Actually, some of you guys [on social media] are nailing some of the songs, some of them, but some of them I'm going to get to, 'cause I've actually answered on some of them about getting to 'em. So this will be an old-school evening of Bay Area thrash metal. I've even got a couple of very obscure [ones] because I think the LEGACY [pre-]TESTAMENT songs that I'm playing don't necessarily get played all the time anymore. I know one does, but I know the other three don't. And then I would have to say, out of the EXODUS songs that I have chosen, you've probably heard me — and I'm only gonna go on the last 10 years since I was back from 2014 until just six months, seven months ago — I would say there's maybe only three or four that you have heard me sing in the set in the past. Everything else has not been played for a long time. Some songs probably when the albums came out initially. I know one song I can't even remember playing ever. So that's gonna be kind of cool for the fans. But songs that I've seen that you guys have all chimed in on and said, 'Hey, when are you guys gonna play this?' 'When are you gonna play that?', which I think is gonna absolutely differentiate my set from, say, if you go see EXODUS, because I'm not necessarily gonna play the same songs. Am I gonna play 'Toxic Waltz' and 'Blacklist'? Definitely, of course. I'm not going to hold you back. But that's the thing — I'm picking the setlist. Absolutely. And I think you'll like what I've chosen. I think it's 16 or 17 songs total, so it'll be a good evening."

Regarding the possibility of making new music and including fresh material in his setlist, Zetro said: "I'm gonna be honest with you: right now I'm not really into writing or doing a new solo Zetro project with new songs. I feel that there's so much, or so many songs, that have not been played in years or have never been played that I think I'd like to make shows of that first. And maybe in a year or two down the road, if it seems right to do, I'll venture [into writing and recording new music]."

He continued: "You guys don't want to hear [new solo] Zetro songs [at these shows]. You're gonna be yelling out the stuff from EXODUS or the stuff that you know that I performed with LEGACY. And I do [the AC/DC tribute band] AC/DZ, so you might even hear some AC/DC songs. So there's a lot that I can do. There's songs in the EXODUS catalog that have never been played live. 'Architect Of Pain' has never been played live. It's 11 fucking minutes — probably why [it has never been performed live] — but, hey, [IRON] MAIDEN plays 'Rime Of The Ancient Mariner' and some of those other ones that are, like, 12, 13 minutes, so I'm not opposed to doing it. So, I'm implementing those songs, and I want to play all of those songs. And everybody I've heard forever [asking for] 'Cajun Hell', 'Verbal Razors', 'Chemi-Kill', 'Seeds Of Hate', all these songs that have not been played in years, and I wanna play them. And then obviously the demo songs that I did with LEGACY. I pretty much wrote the whole first [TESTAMENT] record, so I'll bring those songs too. 'Curse Of The Legions Of Death', I wrote that. 'The Haunting', I wrote that."

Souza's previously announced 10-date solo tour of Latin America, which was scheduled to take place in September 2025, was canceled by the promoter. The trek was slated to kick off on September 4 in San José, Costa Rica and end on September 14 in São Paulo, Brazil. At all the shows, Souza was expected to perform classic songs from his former bands EXODUS, TESTAMENT (Zetro was the lead vocalist for LEGACY, an early incarnation of TESTAMENT) and HATRIOT, as well as the Bon Scott era of AC/DC.

Backing Souza on stage at the Florida shows — billed simply as ZETRO — will be the following musicians:

* Zakk Frye (SLIKK WIKKED) - Rythm Guitar/Backup Vocals
* Kyle Smith (SLIKK WIKKED) - Lead Guitar
* Andrew Dewar (VICIOUS INTENT) - Drums
* Donny "Death" Weissinger (NASTY TRAST, HATE GRENADE) - Bass

Eight months ago, it was announced that EXODUS had parted ways with Souza and had welcomed back Rob Dukes.

Souza joined EXODUS in 1986 after previously fronting the band LEGACY (which, as stated above, later became TESTAMENT). He remained in EXODUS until their hiatus in 1993, but rejoined them for two years from 2002 to 2004. Dukes became the singer of EXODUS in 2005 (following Souza's departure) and stayed until 2014, when Souza returned.

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

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).