Exodus lead singer Steve Souza talked about his worst performance with Exodusand and revealed the main reason behind it during his recent interview with Put Up Your Dukes Podcast.
Souza joined Exodus as their new frontman in 1986 after the band members fired Paul Baloff because of his addiction problems. The singer continued to work with the band until their break up in 1994, and he reunited with Exodus twice, which made him a signature member of the band.
During Souza’s early years, the band performed the supporting acts for Anthrax’s headlining tour, Headbangers Ball, which started on April 3, 1989, in Seattle and ended in Poughkeepsie, New York on May 12, 1989. However, the band’s New Orleans performance turned into a nightmare for the vocalist.
In his interview, the Exodus singer stated that he started drinking Hurricane cocktails that tasted like Slurpees before their shows. They contained a lot of alcohol, which Souza didn’t initially know. So, when he got on stage, the singer realized he had forgotten the song’s lyrics and was spinning, which made Gary Holt quite angry.
Following that, Steve Souza said that he was used to drinking alcohol then, but the Hurricanes ruined his performance in New Orleans. Therefore, this show became his worst experience, but he highlighted that he never gave a similar performance after that.
Souza said in his interview the following:
“I remember we were on the Headbangers Ball Tour, and we were in New Orleans. I love Slurpees — not as much anymore because of my transformation lately, but I love Slurpees. We got to the French Quarter, and Hurricanes are like Slurpees with alcohol in them. So I was drinking them, and I didn’t taste the booze, and they are high-alcohol-contented drinks.
I drank, like, five of them. On those tours, we were on stage at, like, 7:30 or something, eight o’clock. It was an arena tour, so it started early. Helloween went on, then us. So we were scheduled to go on at 7:30. And I went on stage, and I had to be the worst because I was so f*cking shitfaced; I couldn’t even remember the words, and I was spinning. It was just awful. Gary was not too happy with me.”
He continued by saying:
“I’d never been to the French Quarter before, so our manager was there with us, Toni, and she’s all, ‘Oh, let’s take a cab and go.’ I’m walking around. I’m, like, ‘Wait a minute. They’ve got drink places right on the street?’ I’m all, ‘F*ck me.’ I’m all, ‘What do you get that kind of tastes like a Slurpee?’ They’re all, ‘I have a Hurricane.’ I’m, like, ‘Okay. Cool.’ I’m all, ‘It does taste like a Slurpee.’
I had five of those — five of them. Now, if I drank half of one, I’d be throwing up, let alone five of them. However, I was 26 at that time, and we did party back in those days, so it’s not saying my body wasn’t like an athlete, physically ready for it. But that was probably the worst time on stage. Although I’ll say — and not to be arrogant — I try not to ever have bad shows, regardless of how much I need to prepare myself for it.”
You can check out the interview below.
