Rob Dukes | |
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 Dukes with Exodus in 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | March 8, 1968 Florida, U.S. |
| Origin | New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Thrash metal |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Member of | Generation Kill |
| Formerly of | Exodus |
Robert Dukes (born March 8, 1968) is an American vocalist, best known as the former lead singer for the thrash metal band Exodus and current vocalist for his crossover thrash project Generation Kill. [1]
Dukes was born in Florida on March 8, 1968, living in Queens, New York City before moving to Nyack, New York, north of Manhattan. [2] He describes his parents as being "kinda hippies" [3] who regularly played records by artists such as The Doors, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix, which was the music he grew up on.
After parting with a band he was part of in New York, Dukes rode his motorcycle on a five-month, 11,000 mile trip to California, with no idea of career prospects. Despite considering a career as a scuba diving instructor, Dukes ended up working as a guitar tech after living in Hollywood for two months. He met and befriended Jeff Hickey, a longtime friend of Exodus. While working for Exodus, Dukes played a demo tape that he composed in 1996 to guitarist Rick Hunolt and drummer Tom Hunting, with no expectation of joining the band. After Steve Souza's departure in 2004, Dukes was asked to audition and ultimately hired as the band's new vocalist and would make his debut on the 2005 album Shovel Headed Kill Machine . He would appear on the next three studio albums, one of which being 2008's Let There Be Blood , a re-recorded version of 1985's Bonded by Blood .
On June 8, 2014, Exodus split with Dukes and reunited with Souza thereafter. [4] Dukes lashed out at his former bandmates and said that he had not spoken to them since his departure and addressed a 20-second phone call conversation he had with drummer Tom Hunting about the band's reunion with Souza. [5] He blamed Testament vocalist Chuck Billy and their management for his dismissal. [6] Billy denied responsibility, but suggested for Exodus to either find a new vocalist or return to Souza: "it made sense, but it wasn't me pushing it. It was just me presenting it to the guys, and the guys made the decision." [7] Dukes recalled that there was no passion in the music before his departure and also criticized the material that the band was working on at the time, calling it "regurgitated shit that we had just done and done over and over again". He then explained that he experienced pressure towards the end of his time in Exodus, as he became a newlywed and was moving into a new home. [8]
Dukes rejoined with Exodus on July 8, 2017 to perform with them as part of a two-night stint event in San Francisco. [9] [10] [11] He said that he's "totally at peace" over his firing and that performing with the band again "was a lot of fun, man; it was a lot of laughs. The show was great." He has since restored his friendship with the band. [12] In a January 2019 interview, Dukes took ownership over his role in his deteriorating relationship with Exodus, crediting his conversation with Megadeth bassist David Ellefson and T.S.O.L. vocalist Jack Grisham. [13]
Dukes, on hiatus from touring with Exodus, wanted to funnel his excess creative energy and aggression into something new. After the inclusion of Jason Trenczer, Lou Lehman and Sam Inzerra, the band began writing and recording their first album, Red, White and Blood, featuring several hit singles such as "Feast for the Wolves" and "Hate" as well as a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song "Wish" which enjoyed heavy radio rotation.
Due to creative differences with Inzerra and the untimely death of guitarist Lou Lehman, Jay Velez and Jim DeMaria (Heathen) joined and began recording their sophomore album, We're All Gonna Die, with producer Zuess (Rob Zombie, Hatebreed). Shortly after its release, the band embarked on a European tour with fellow Exodus member Lee Altus' band Heathen. The album spawned several successful singles, including "Prophets of War" which went to number one on Sirius Liquid Metal's "Dirty Dozen" and remained one of the top requested songs on the channel.
Following the success of their second album, drummer Robert Youells joined the band and they went into the studio, this time with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal to record an album with founding member of Run-DMC, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels. The project was initially titled "DMC Generation Kill" before becoming its own entity, later renamed "Fragile Mortals".
Currently, the band is recording the follow-up to We're All Gonna Die, teaming up once again with Zuess, and with new member Max Velez on bass, and Rob Youells returning as their drummer. The new album was expected to be released late 2021 and will feature several special guests including longtime friend and former Exodus bandmate Gary Holt. [14]
Dukes has stated in interviews that punk rock was his gateway into music in terms of angst and attitude: "it wasn't complicated music like metal was, three chords and scream...I can do that". He also plays guitar, claiming that he was "mediocre" but "having fun" at first, with Randy Rhoads as a huge influence, although it took him a month to learn Rhoads' acoustic piece "Dee" from Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz album. On his beginnings as a singer, Dukes said: "I found out I could sing sitting in my room with an acoustic. I liked Maiden and Priest but could never sing that well, then I found Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, S.O.D., Anthrax, Misfits and thought, 'I can sing like that'."
Slayer was an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax. Slayer's final lineup consisted of King, Araya, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt, who initially joined as a touring member in 2011 before joining the band permanently after Hanneman's death in 2013. Drummer Jon Dette was also a member of the band.
Metal Church is an American heavy metal band formed in 1980. Originally based in San Francisco, California, they relocated to Aberdeen, Washington the following year and briefly called themselves Shrapnel. Led by guitarist and songwriter Kurdt Vanderhoof, the band has released thirteen studio albums and is considered to be an integral part of the Seattle heavy metal music scene of the 1980s. They achieved considerable popularity that decade, with two of their first three albums entering the Top 100 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The band's early lyrical topics such as conflict and paranoia later expanded into philosophical, political and social commentary.
Testament is an American thrash metal band from Berkeley, California. Formed in 1983 under the name Legacy, the band's current lineup comprises rhythm guitarist Eric Peterson, lead vocalist Chuck Billy, lead guitarist Alex Skolnick, bassist Steve Di Giorgio and drummer Chris Dovas. Testament has experienced many lineup changes over the years, with Peterson being the only remaining original member, though they have since reunited with Skolnick, who had been out of the band from 1992 to 2005. Billy has been a member of Testament since 1986, when he replaced original singer Steve "Zetro" Souza, who had left to replace Paul Baloff in Exodus. He and Peterson are the only members to appear on all of Testament's studio albums, with the latter being the only constant member overall.
Paul Steven Bostaph is an American drummer best known as a member of the thrash metal band Slayer, initially from 1992 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019. His drumming career began in 1984 when he was 20 years old. In addition to Slayer, he has worked with bands such as Forbidden, Exodus, Systematic, Testament, and BlackGates. Metal-Rules.com describes Bostaph as "a true professional and one of the best drummers on today's metal music scene".
Exodus is an American thrash metal band formed in 1979 in Richmond, California. Their current lineup consists of guitarists Gary Holt and Lee Altus, bassist Jack Gibson, drummer Tom Hunting, and lead vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza. There are no original members left in Exodus other than Hunting, who has departed from the band twice, in 1989 and 2004, but rejoined in 2007. Exodus is also notable for including a then-unknown Kirk Hammett, who was the band's lead guitarist from its inception to his departure in 1983, when he left to join fellow Bay Area thrash metal band Metallica as Dave Mustaine's replacement. Holt has been most consistent member throughout various lineup changes and breakups, and is the only member to appear on all of Exodus' recordings. Much of the band's career has also been affected by feuds between both band members and record companies, two extended hiatuses, deaths of former band members and drug addictions.
Pavel Nicholas "Paul" Baloff was an American singer, best known as the original lead vocalist of the thrash metal band Exodus. He was fired from Exodus shortly after the release of the band's 1985 debut album Bonded by Blood, and sang with various other bands before rejoining Exodus in 1997. Baloff died of a stroke in 2002.
Charles Billy is an American singer who is best known as the lead vocalist for thrash metal band Testament.
Steve "Zetro" Souza is an American musician, best known for his work as lead vocalist with thrash metal band Exodus from 1986 to 1994, and again from 2002 to 2004. He rejoined Exodus for a third time in 2014. Souza is one of two singers, along with Chuck Billy, for the band Dublin Death Patrol. He also sings for the thrash metal band Tenet and was the lead singer for the thrash metal band Legacy. In 2011, Souza announced his new project, Hatriot. He stepped down as the frontman of the band in 2015, leaving the role of lead vocals to his son, Cody.
Tempo of the Damned is the sixth studio album by American thrash metal band Exodus. Released on February 2, 2004 via Nuclear Blast, Tempo of the Damned was Exodus' first studio release since 1992's Force of Habit. It was the last appearance of longtime vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza until his return for 2014's Blood In, Blood Out as well as the last appearance of founding drummer Tom Hunting until 2007's The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A. The album was also the last studio appearance of guitarist Rick Hunolt until the band's 2021 album Persona Non Grata, where he made a guest appearance.
Gary Wayne Holt is an American musician from the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the guitarist, bandleader, and main songwriter for thrash metal band Exodus and was a member of Slayer from 2011 to 2019, replacing Jeff Hanneman as a temporary guitarist due to an illness in 2011, and as a permanent guitarist after Hanneman's death in May 2013.
Heathen is an American thrash metal band originating from the San Francisco Bay Area, active from 1984 to 1993 and again from 2001 onwards. Despite never achieving commercial success, the band is often credited – alongside Exodus, Testament, Forbidden, Death Angel and Vio-lence – as one of the leaders of the Bay Area thrash metal scene of the mid-to-late 1980s, and they have gone through several lineup changes, leaving guitarist Lee Altus as the only constant member. To date, Heathen has released four studio albums: Breaking the Silence (1987), Victims of Deception (1991), The Evolution of Chaos (2009) and Empire of the Blind (2020).
Shovel Headed Kill Machine is the seventh studio album by the American thrash metal band Exodus, released on October 4, 2005 through Nuclear Blast. It's the first album to feature new vocalist Rob Dukes, after the departure of Steve "Zetro" Souza during the band's South American tour in support of the band's previous album Tempo of the Damned. It is also the band's first studio album not to feature Rick Hunolt on guitars, with Lee Altus as his replacement, and the only Exodus album to feature Paul Bostaph on drums after Tom Hunting's second departure as a result of the reoccurrence of the illness that prompted him to depart in 1989. Shovel Headed Kill Machine sold over 3,000 copies in its first week of release in the U.S.
Thomas Hunting is an American musician. He is the drummer and only remaining original member of the thrash metal band Exodus.
The Atrocity Exhibition... Exhibit A is the eighth studio album by American thrash metal band Exodus, released on October 26, 2007. It is the second album to feature Rob Dukes on vocals and Lee Altus on guitars, and it also marks the second comeback of longtime original Exodus drummer Tom Hunting. Hunting's last appearance was on the 2004 album Tempo of the Damned.
Generation Kill is an American crossover thrash band formed in Congers, New York in 2008 by vocalist Rob Dukes (ex-Exodus). After the inclusion of Jason Trenczer, Lou Lehman and Sam Inzerra, the band got to work on writing and recording the first album, Red, White and Blood. Due to creative differences, Inzerra left and Jim DeMaria joined. This lineup recorded their sophomore album, We're All Gonna Die, with producer Zeuss.
Blood In, Blood Out is the tenth studio album by American thrash metal band Exodus. It was released on October 14, 2014 through Nuclear Blast, and is the band's first album with vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza since 2004's Tempo of the Damned. The album also saw a reunion with original guitarist Kirk Hammett, who plays the guitar solo on "Salt the Wound". Blood In, Blood Out received generally favorable critical reviews, and it entered the Billboard 200 at number 38—the band's highest U.S. chart position to date. Exodus promoted the album with its first concert tour with Souza since he left the band in 2004, due to a feud with guitarist Gary Holt. This is also the only studio album the band released whilst Holt did double duties with Exodus and Slayer, the latter of where Holt had filled in for the late Jeff Hanneman until their disbandment in 2019.
Persona Non Grata is the eleventh studio album by American thrash metal band Exodus, released on November 19, 2021. It is their first studio album since Blood In, Blood Out in 2014, and their second to feature vocalist Steve "Zetro" Souza since he returned to the band that same year. This album also features guest appearances from former Exodus guitarist Rick Hunolt and guitarist Lee Altus' bandmate in Heathen, Kragen Lum, who both provide guitar solos on one of the album's tracks, "Lunatic-Liar-Lord". This is the band's final album to be released through Nuclear Blast, with whom the band signed in 2003.
Robert Youells is an American musician, fitness model, heavyweight bodybuilding champion, IFBB Pro bodybuilder, and actor. He is best known for his work as a voice actor in Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony (2009) and for being the drummer for the thrash metal band Generation Kill. He has also appeared on Saturday Night Live (2005) and Deadly Sins (2012).
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