Steve “Zetro” Souza of Exodus tells Jen how keen he is for Soundwave.

I had the pleasure of having a chat with Steve “Zetro” about Chris Lilley and the characters he plays, LSD acid trips and whether his parents were hippy’s. It was not the usual interview however there was lots of laughs.
Hi Steven it is Jen from Music Injection, how are you going?
Hi Jen, how are you tonight?
Not too bad thanks although I’m about to have lunch.
I have heard that you have never been to Australia! I cant believe that! Why not?
It is because we never toured there when I was in the band. I figured that I wouldn’t pay to have a vacation there as eventually probably tour there. I was right! I am very excited I can’t wait to come and check it out and smell the Aussie air and I love Chris Lilley. Not many people in the States know him, I don’t know how big he is in Australia.
He is pretty big
They put his show on HBO in America and nobody really watches them, but my girlfriend and I love them. I love all the shows that he plays all the different characters.
I am a teacher as well as this job and the students he portrays a spot on. I have taught many “Jonah’s”
really? I love Jonah, J’amie is ok, my girlfriend loves J’amie but I love Jonah. The one where he did 2 brothers that were twins, Angry Boys I think it was called and he played a Rapper too, it was hilarious. I asked people around me, do you watching Angry Boys? and they all say “Who are you talking about?” I tell them to watch it because it is funny shit!
okay so I better ask you some questions!
Australian crowds are the best in the world, you will love the crowds especially in Melbourne for sure. We are the best city! Have you heard about how wild our crowds can be?
Yes because I have done my homework! I am in a band with Gary Hall who happens to play in another band that were there last year. And I asked our manager Chuck who is also another band and they both said that the festival is amazing and they treat you really well and you are going to love it, and have the greatest time. I’m looking forward to the time off and we are doing is sidewave in Melbourne I think we do don’t we?
Yes you do.
Yeah I think it’s Fear Factory and Terror Universal so we are doing a weekend show and one in the week so looking forward to that.
Out of curiosity Steve how to get your nickname “Zetro?
Acid trip. you know what LSD is unfortunately when I was 14 I was all whacked out on acid I didn’t say anything for about six hours and then I blurted out Zet ands the next Monday at school in the smoking section, back in the 70s and 80s there used to be smoking sections in school and my friends were like hey what’s up is Zet? and they said when you were on your acid trip or you would say was Zet. Then after that everyone started calling me Zet. Then about four years later there was a guy named Jethro who started calling me Zetro. And that’s where it started. and that is the origin of that young lady. (Both laughing)
I wasn’t really expecting that! (Laughing)
Well you asked and I gave you the honest truth! (about 30 seconds of laughing) usually people just give a simple answer and I wasn’t expecting that.
Why do you think that they lie?
Yeah they probably do. I am happy with the truth.
But I must say to you young lady don’t you go trying LSD because you don’t need to come up with nicknames like Zetro.
OK I won’t I promise.
A lot of people thought my parents were hippy’s.
It is actually quite a hippy name.
Tell us about your new album Blood In Blood out that was released back in October. Is the title about the lineup changes you have or a reflection of your first album?
It is all about the attitude, it takes all your blood to get into Exodus and it takes blood to get out of Exodus. The title of the album was made long before I rejoined the band from what I understand. So I wasn’t a part of that. The lyrics were already written except for one song, I only wrote lyrics to one song on the album Body Harvest.
What is the story behind you rejoining the band again after 10 years? How did you get back in the band?
I got a call from management asking me if I want to audition for a couple of new songs and they didn’t tell me why it went from there basically. So I did the songs and they came back to me and said I did a really good job we are actually considering having you back in the band and asked me if I want to come back to the band. So we had a big discussion as I did not leave on the greatest terms and a lot of that came out and we decided just to move forward. I really did not have much time to think about it.

For Soundwave, are you having trouble with your set list as you only have a 50 minute set? Fans will want you to play everything I am sure.
It is an hour, I found out today from our manager so that is two more songs, today I did my homework because yesterday I did an interview and they said I think you get 45 to 50 minutes so I called my manager to find out and he looked at the contracts and yeah we definitely get 60 minutes.

What can Aussie fans expect from your set?
We will play some of Blood in Blood out, we will play some of the older stuff, you might even hear some songs of the last three records, from the last 10 years. It is going to be a good blend of Exodus songs. We will be playing all the good ones!

You guys are an inspiration to so many younger bands, do you like them, any in particular? Yeah for sure, Warbringer, Havoc, Cattle decapitation, I love those guys, they are all great bands. Metal is moving in the right direction that it needs to go.

Sadly my time is up, this interview went really quick, it was great to talk to you about Chris Lilley, acid trips and I’m glad we got in a little chat about Soundwave. I hope you have a great time down here.
Yeah you guys stack interviews one on top of each other.
yes I’m very careful not to go over time. I look forward to seeing you in Melbourne, without your sidewave and of course soundwave.
Come and meet me, set it up with John.
Yeah will do.
thanks Jen have a great day I will see you in a week and a half!
Thanks Steve for your time.
Seeya.