Hatriot
Thrash Metal Should Be Angry

01.04.2013

It’s been a long time since the name of Steve Souza, better known as Zetro, was in the news for the last time. A few years after his breakup with Exodus Steve got involved in Dublin Death Patrol, but their debut album "DDP 4 Life" (2007) did not make the desired impression on the target metal audience. Two years later, Zetro recorded an album with a mysterious project called Tenet, but it never had a follow-up. Only in 2011 the word of the cult U.S. singer’s new band spread over the Internet. The debut album "Heroes of Origin" by Hatriot – the name which Souza gave to his new band – saw the light of day in early 2013 and became a true reward for fans of Bay Area thrash metal for many years of loyalty and belief that Steve is still able to make a comeback. Hatriot songs will doubtlessly be a real treat to those who have never got used to Exodus with Rob Dukes on the mike and without Rick Hunolt on the second guitar, no matter how cool the records they have released after 2004 are. Thus, it was only natural that after Souza signed a deal with Massacre Records and got "Heroes of Origin" ready for the release, we tracked Zetro down and had a very nice chat about his current activities, future plans, and, of course, good old Exodus days…

Let’s get down to questions and, first of all, speak a little bit about the new record by Hatriot…

Yeah, my new band! A couple of years ago I met this guitar player, Kosta V., or Kosta Varvatakis. I loved his playing style and I could tell by his writing style that he was pretty much an old school thrasher, but still with a lot of new clips on him, clips that make him new school – there’s a blast beat, there’s some death metal influences in there, there’s a breakdown. I think Hatriot is considered old-school thrash, but with a little bit of a new twist on it. Just because I’m the singer, I was in Legacy which turned into Testament and I was in Exodus for so many years, and when you listen to it, you may think that I kind of kept to the formula. I didn’t stray away too much from the classic period thrash metal. Him and I were writing songs over a few years, in the last year we had the demo come out, it was on our website for probably about a year, and we signed to Germany’s Massacre Records last summer. We started recording “Heroes Of Origin” in August with Juan Urteaga, who worked with Testament, Machine Head and Vicious Rumors. We put down all of our songs and we knew that it was gonna come out in late January or early February. And here we are, gentlemen, with a brand new thrash record.

Why did you choose Massacre Records as your label? They are a prominent force on the European metal market, but we are not so sure about North America…

North America isn’t really metal right now. Honestly it’s better to try to establish grounds in Europe first, as well as in places like South America and Japan, where metal is still hot and big and will always be big. The United States is very trendy, very fab worthy if you know what that means, and obviously metal is not the next hot thing. It’s kind of how North America is – it’s not a big metal market, it just gives in. Even for all of us who live there it’s not a big metal market. I’ll give you an example – Machine Head: when they play in San Francisco, they play to about 2,300 people, and when Machine Head plays in Europe, they’ll start with 15,000 or 17,000 – no problem! It’s kind of where metal is in the United States. We went with Massacre knowing that they’re a German label, and that they would probably have a lot more to do with getting us out there and getting us heard than if we started with an American label.

Will Hatriot be an active live band, or do you want to focus more on studio work and play gigs from time to time?

We’re gonna be on tour! We haven’t set up anything right now, but we’re definitely going to. We’re in the process of hiring a booking agent in Europe and everywhere else, and then we’re going to start touring. I know that a lot of Massacre’s acts don’t necessarily tour, but they knew at the time of signing the deal that we had to tour, so they’re taking a different approach.

Will it be correct to say that Hatriot is your new full-time band?

Yes, yes! In fact, we already have five songs written for the next record, and they’re good songs, really really heavy. We’re not gonna waste any time, so we’ll probably start recording that record some time later this year. The record has been done for 4-5 months, and in rehearsal we got tired of playing “Heroes Of Origin”, so we started playing new songs. We still practice every twice a week, and we’re writing new songs, so we will be prepared for the next album. There won’t be any 1.5- or 2-year wait for the next Hatriot record, it’s gonna come out right away.

Listening to “Heroes Of Origin”, one can’t help feeling that this is a very angry record, the feeling of anger can be seen in basically every song…

Yes, this is an angry album, but thrash metal should be angry! That’s why it’s so fast and aggressive! Heavy metal isn’t nice or pretty, we don’t sing about love, we sing about ‘no love’ (“No Love” is a classic Exodus song from 1985 – ed.)! If I’m gonna write a heavy metal song, it’s gonna be brutal and bloody and heavy, that’s for sure.

Looking back, in Exodus you had some slower songs, some funny moments, such as “Cajun Hell”…

I think the next record will show a little bit more of that stuff. We have one song which we didn’t put on that record, and the reason why we didn’t put it on the record is because this record is so angry and so heavy, and it just didn’t fit all the other songs that we were doing. But on the next record, I’m sure, there’s gonna be a little more diversity, but it will still be very brutal, very heavy, very angry. We’re not straying away from that formula. I thing angry equals good heavy metal.

As far as we can see from the band name and some song titles, you like to use word-play a lot, don’t you?

Being in Exodus as long as I was in Exodus, I wrote a lot of very tongue-in-cheek stuff along with Gary Holt. I love word-plays, word-play is what makes it a poem. I have a song title for the next album, it’s called “Superkillafragsadisticactressofatrocious”, and obviously that’s from a Mary Poppins song, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, but I twisted it around, and made it brutal and angry. I like to do word-plays, I think that’s being clever when you’re writing lyrics. “Weapons Of Class Destruction” is derived from ‘weapons of mass destruction’, and “Globicidal” is about the third world countries that have suicide bombers that come into the market, so ‘globicidal’ comes from ‘suicidal’. I try to word-play very much, and I think that keeps the lyrics interesting.

Are there any lyricists in heavy metal or thrash metal that you really like?

Oh, Gary is a great writer for heavy metal. I love everything that Slayer writes. I write songs for Chuck Billy of Testament, so I like Testament’s stuff. I like a lot of the thrash singers, I think they’re all doing a good job, especially Dave Mustaine, and also Bobby Blitz – he’s writing great lyrics for Overkill.

Chuck Billy participated in the recording of “Heroes Of Origin”, he sang a chorus in "And Your Children To Be Damned". How do you like the outcome of this cooperation?

It’s always really good. I wrote two songs on “Dark Roots Of Earth”, I wrote two songs on “The Formation Of Damnation”, and him and I play together in Dublin Death Patrol. He and I work really well together, we know what to expect from each other.

In Dublin Death Patrol you play with your brother, and in Hatriot you play with your sons. Is it easy or difficult to be in a band with your family members? Apparently you are more of an authority for them than for the rest of the band and sometimes they may not dare to speak out their opinion…

My sons are very well-trained heavy metal musicians. Nicholas is an amazing drummer, and Cody is a great bass player. Have you heard the record?

Yes, we have.

What do you think of their playing? What do you think of the drums on the record?

They’re great, honestly. It was quite surprising to find out that the drummer is using blastbeats, that’s not so common in thrash metal. That was one of our questions as well…

We’re trying to make it a little different. We know that it’s classic thrash metal, but we didn’t want to make it so old-school that it would be outdated. You gotta remember that the guys in the band, other than myself, are 20, 19, 22 and 24. The bands they listen to are The Faceless, The Black Dahlia Murder, As I Lay Dying, any of the newer bands. They love The Faceless, they love that stuff. We’re trying to incorporate some death metal and some blastbeats along with thrash metal, we’re not reinventing it, but we’re progressing it a little better. I think that’s why Nicholas, Cody, Kosta and Miguel (Esparza) come in very well, because they’re big fans of heavy metal, thrash metal and all kinds of metal. If everybody’s so well-rounded, it makes for a good band, it’s not like one person writes only one thing, they’re very versed in everything that’s going on in heavy metal. Even though it’s not necessarily what we’re doing, we still know about it, so there might be a little bit of that element in there.

You have the satanic pentagram in the band logo. Does it mean that you’re a Satanist or at least anti-Christian?

(laughs) No, it means that I play in a heavy metal band. Pentagrams are heavy metal, that’s the way we look at it. It just kind of looks cool, and it has nothing to do with being a Satanist at all. I’m not into religion, I don’t believe in religion, but I’m not a Satanist.

What songs comprise the Hatriot setlist? Do you only play the material from your new record, or do you also do anything else from your past career?

If you’re being very good, and the crowd’s being very nice and good boys, we play other songs. Of course, we play Exodus songs, we play a Testament song, too. To be more specific, we play “War Is My Shepherd”, “Last Act Of Defiance”, “Reign Of Terror” by Legacy, and we play “Creeping Death” by Metallica.

A great setlist! We wish we could visit your show…

Well, we’re trying to come to Russia, my friends! When I play Moscow, you guys are gotta be there!

Let’s now go a little bit back to the “Impact Is Imminent” album (1990). When it was reissued in 2008, B-sides to the “Lunatic Parade” and “Objection Overruled” singles did not make it to the tracklist. I am speaking about Ted Nugent and Blackfoot covers. Why did you decide to cover those songs?

That was Gary, Gary decided to. Back in those days he was like I am for Hatriot now. Gary is the leader of Exodus, Gary always said what we were gonna do. When we went to do that album, the record label wanted some special B-sides, which is fine, which is great. Gary said, “Let’s do this song by Blackfoot, it’s called ‘Good Morning’, and nobody’s ever covered a Ted Nugent song, so let’s cover Ted Nugent”. That was Gary’s idea, solely.

Does that mean that Gary was also responsible for covering The Rolling Stones, War, Elivs Costello…?

Exactly! Gary said everything that we were gonna dо. I never had an idea when I said, “Hey, I’m gonna be able to do this, so let’s do this, let’s do that”. When I was in Exodus, and there was a cover or something like it, Gary came up with it. I never said, “Well, why don’t we do this song?” It was always, “OK, sure, no problem!”

On, “Impact Is Imminent”, there is a great song “Lunatic Parade”, and it’s there was a fan-related story behind it…

We were touring for “Fabulous Disaster” (1988) and it was the first time when we experienced that fans were following us on tour. They had their own money and their own bus, and we would be in Nashville one night, and they would be in Nashville, and then we would be in Ohio, and they would be there, and the next day we would be in another city, and the same fans would be there, they were following us. That’s how we got the idea for the song “Lunatic Parade” – they were kind of parading around and following us everywhere.

In your opinion, why did Exodus fail to reach a higher level of success in the early 90s after signing to a major label? In our opinion, you had all the potential to compete with Metallica or at least Megadeth…

I think honestly that when we signed to Capitol Records, that was the thing that killed us. I don’t think they really knew how to market a major thrash band, honestly we should have stayed with an independent label. There were people at the record label that just didn’t know what to do with heavy metal. Here we are, this total heavy thrash band Exodus, signed to a million dollar contract, and they just never did what they needed to do. Like I said, that was why we didn’t sign to an American label with Hatriot – they just don’t care about heavy metal over here, they don’t know what to do with it. I remember when “Impact Is Imminent” came out, we were supposed to go to Europe with Judas Priest and tour for 65 dates across all of Europe for “Painkiller”. And Capital Records said, “No, you guys are not going on that tour, you’re gonna go home and write a new record that we could market.” They sent us home, and that’s when we wrote “Force Of Habit” (1992).

Is it true that there was a sticker on the cover of “Impact Is Imminent” saying, “Four albums and still no ballad”?

Oh yeah, that was the way it was. And there’s still no ballad in Exodus! Look at the records they’ve done with Rob (Dukes, current singer) – and there’s still no ballad.

By the way, what do you think of the records they have done with Rob?

Great, they’re great records. Rob has his own sound and his own style, like Paul (Baloff, original singer) did and like I do, and you can’t make one better than they other, you know what I mean. They all have their own aura, they all have their own years to them, and I think that’s great. Rob did an amazing job by taking over from me when I didn’t wanna be there anymore, and that’s what helped keep the band going. Hats off to Exodus!

What is your current opinion of the “Tempo Of The Damned” album (2004)? Why was it angrier and harder than the band’s 80s records?

I think what happened with “Tempo Of The Damned” is that nobody had any money, everybody was broke, and we were very pissed off from being the originators of the sound, the mighty Exodus and at this point in our career nobody cared. I think that when we went to write the record, we were very angry, and that’s what happens when Exodus is angry and writes the record – you get “Tempo Of The Damned”!

Do you know what happened with the song “Crime Of The Century”?

Ah, I don’t know what’s there. They never released it, and I don’t know why they never released it.

As far as we know, it was because Nuclear Blast told Gary not to do it, because they feared a legal action from Century Media…

That’s right, exactly! Gary can’t stand Century Media, he hates them, and Nuclear Blast didn’t want any trouble with Century Media. The song was basically about getting ripped off by Century Media, and I guess that it would be true.

In 2001 you were invited to participate in the legendary “Thrash of the Titans” benefit show. However, you sang with Legacy, and Exodus brought Paul Baloff band for that reunion. Weren’t you feeling sort of jealous or brought down by their choice of singer…

I didn’t. I knew that I was gonna sing with Legacy, and I knew that Paul was gonna sing with Exodus. I’m never jealous, I’m very fortunate to play heavy metal music for almost 30 years now, and I played with so many great bands – Testament, Exodus, Dublin Death Patrol, Tenet. I keep myself very busy and I’m never jealous over things like that, I’m always happy for everybody if they succeed.

You said in an earlier interview that your father was an old school biker. Are you also fond of bikes? And what about your sons?

No, we’re musicians. They don’t ride motorcycles, and I don’t ride motorcycles. I did for a while, but I don’t anymore. I’m a musician, and I used to tell my dad that. My dad used to say all the time, “Steven, are you ever going to get a motorcycle?” I was like, “Dad, this is not what I’m into, you’re the biker in the family, and I’m the musician.” My brother John dabbled in both, he played in bands (Air Raid, Broadway, Metal Warrior) and he rode motorcycles, but he never got successful at either! (everybody laughs) I never really rode, I had a Harley for a couple of years, from 1990 to 1992, and then I sold it. I just went for something that I was into.

In general, what do you enjoy in life apart from thrash metal?

Ehh… heavy metal, all heavy metal! I also like various sports – American football, baseball, I watch that. I’m into fighting, boxing and everything, I do that, I love that type of stuff. I love horror – I watch scary movies, I collect scary stuff, anything that’s scary - “Dracula”, “Frankenstein”, “Bride of Frankenstein”, anything like that.

How did you like the horror memorabilia exhibition that Kirk Hammet of Metallica did at their Orion Music + More festival last year?

I never got to see it… OK, I am jealous of that! (everybody laughs) That guy’s got so much money, he gets to buy all the cool horror memorabilia and stuff like that. Yeah, I’m a little jealous about that. I never got to see the book he wrote, but I hear it’s really cool, and I heard that his collection is just amazing! I’m tattoed, all my arms are tattoed with Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Leprecon, I’ve got zombies on my arm… I love horror, classic horror! The song “The Violent Time Of My Dark Passenger” is based on… I don’t know if you guys get this television show in Russia, but we have an American television show called “Dexter”. That television show is about a serial killer, and he works for the police. He’s a blood splatter expert, but he’s also a serial killer, and it’s wild – I mean, this guy has to kill, but he works for Miami Metro Police as a blood splatter expert, so he knows the things to do. The show is into its 7th season by now, and in every episode he’s killing somebody. It’s either bad people who slip through the cracks of the justice system, or people who he just deems as nasty people. He puts them on a table, he ties them all down with plastic, and before he kills them, he tells them why he’s killing them. I love it, it’s great!

You said that in the 80s you listened to the most extreme stuff that is out there. And what about now – do you still follow the latest developments in extreme metal?

Yes I do. The only way to be a good heavy metal musician is to listen to heavy metal, so I have to listen to the new stuff, and I think that’s really good. Then again, my new band, the Hatriot kids, they’re all kids, so they listen to all the new bands, and that also opens my ears. Maybe a band would slip by me and I hadn’t heard them, and I’ve got Cody and Nicholas or one of the other guys go, “Hey Zetro, you gotta listen to this band, they’re great!” I’m a big man, but I’m also a student.

We’ve interviewed Sy Keeler of Onslaught a few years ago, and he said he also likes to seek out new bands, but he prefers ambient or progressive rock…

I guess if that helps you write good heavy metal, that’s great. I’m open to a lot of other types of music, but I don’t listen to any other types of music. I listen to heavy metal, I love metal! In my CD player in my car right now I’m listening to the best of Mercyful Fate, I’m way old-school right now when it comes to listening to stuff, but then I have the new Shadows Fall and the new Machine Head in my car, so I listen to what’s going on new, too. It depends on what type of mood I’m in. Lately I’ve been into this Led Zeppelin thing, I’ve been listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin.

Will there be any future for Tenet? Are there any chances of hearing another record from that band?

I doubt it, I honestly doubt it, because I want to do Hatriot full time, I don’t want to step into any other projects. I won’t be doing Dublin Death Patrol anymore either, Hatriot is my main band now, and I want Hatriot to be to me like Exodus was to me – that was my band, I didn’t play in any other band, I just played in Exodus.

As far as we know, you left Exodus because it was impossible to make a living out it. Do you have any full-time or maybe part-time dayjob now?

Yeah, I’m actually doing it right now, I just take a break to talk to you guys. I’m a construction foreman for the Union Construction Company in the United States. Heavy metal doesn’t necessary pay my living. I get money from heavy metal from time to time, but to actually survive I have to work a job. It’s kind of like trying to intertwine both of them, but it’s what I have to do. If you’re an American heavy metal musician, you probably have a job.

Have you ever received any offers from Russian promoters, in the early 90s or later on? Are you ready to play in Russia now, and what conditions would you demand?

Put me in a car, drive me there, and I’ll be there! I don’t need any conditions, I just need a stage and a PA, and I’ll play! I would love to come to Russia, I’d love for a Russian promoter to approach us to go there. In fact, when I was talking to you earlier about the Judas Priest tour that we were supposed to do, one of the dates was in Moscow, so I would have already been there. Yes, I definitely want to come there. If we come to Europe – Germany, Norway, Scandinavia – I definitely wanna come to Russia.

Hatriot on the Internet: http://www.hatriotmetal.com

Special thanks to Chuck (Hatriot management) and Tom Hack (Massacre Records) for arranging this interview

Kostolom, Roman Patrashov
February 19, 2013
© HeadBanger.ru