Generation Kill interview (Rob Dukes)

Generation Kill is the fruit of the collaboration between Rob Dukes (Exodus) and Rob Moschetti (ex-Pro-Pain). Their sophomore album is about to be released and we enjoyed it a lot more than their debut album, which triggered us to get in touch with them for an interview. Having Rob Dukes on the other end, we mainly discussed about "We're All Gonna Die", crossover thrash and its limitations.

Hello Rob! I am Vangelis from Greece's Rocking.gr. Since this is our first interview and you are a relatively new band, would you like to introduce Generation Kill to our readers?
I'm Rob Dukes, the lead singer of Generation Kill and Exodus. Rob Moschetti plays bass, guitars are Jason Trenzer and Jason Velez, and Jim DeMaria plays drums. We are old school metal heads who grew up together in the 80s. We started this band four years ago and here we are, making records and touring.

Your new album is coming out later this month. How has Generation Kill developed as a band since "Red, White And Blood"?
"Red, White And Blood" seems like a demo in comparison to this record. Zeuss really brought out our sound and we refined our songwriting to make exactly what we wanted to do. I think we wrote really good songs and live we are a beast of a band.

Although being the frontman of Exodus since 2005, you come from a punk / hardcore background, right? Is Generation Kill the most representative vehicle for your creativity so far?
It's a way to express my love for all kinds of music. I listen to everything except country. So I guess all of it has a place in my brain and this band lets me step outside the thrash that Exodus brings. I don't think Generation Kill is a thrash band. I think we just are a metal band. I think we play a lot of different styles without being dishonest. We write what we love and what we listen to.

Do these two albums contain of any older ideas that you haven't had the chance to materialize during the past years, or is there exclusively new stuff in there? Were all members a part of the composing progress?
This was all new. We started with nothing and wrote it all together.

"We're All Gonna Die" is quite a dark phrase for an album title. What does it symbolize?
Just what it says. It's a crazy time to be alive, the world is insane and very dangerous. I decided to write all the lyrics about real things and -even though "Vegas" and "Carny Love" were stories I made up- they were both based in true things that happen. Man is a virus.

The band's style appears vastly different compared to "Red, White And Blood". What influences would you say that are introduced in the new album, and how did you manage to embody them in your crossover musical frame?
I think we just took time to be focused. The first album was all over the place. It was recorded in my house at three different sessions with months apart. This album was written and recorded over three months in a row and was a full time job for everyone. Focused and honest.

I have to say that your vocal performance is solid, it's probably the best you've ever sounded. What was your driving force in order to deliver such a varied performance?
I wanted to try new things. Everyone knows I can scream, but I wanted to write good songs that had diversity. I wanted to sing and do harmonies. Like I said this is not a pure thrash band. We just play metal and we incorporate a lot of different styles. Stuff we love.

You've jumped from Season Of Mist to Nuclear Blast, yet you took over the financing of the recordings by yourselves. How did these changes and decisions affect the outcome?
Well, Season Of Mist were assholes. They didn't do anything for us and at the end they really treated us badly, so we walked away. Had no label. We paid for the album ourselves and then went on tour and played it. We went to Europe and played songs no one had heard before and people really seemed to like them. That led to Nuclear Blast signing us and treating us well. Plus while recording we had only ourselves to answer to, we did what we wanted without thinking about anything but what makes us happy. And now that we are done we are stoked to share it with people that love music and want something a little different that's going on in metal right now.

Could you tell us about the two newcomers in the band? In general, do you prefer the stability of a permanent line-up or the flexibility of an ever-changing one?
Permanent, for sure. I brought in Jim on drums because not only is he one of my best friends but he also shared our vision without limits. Jason Velez is just an amazing guitar player and songwriter. He has a great feel for how composition works rather than just writing riffs. He has a darkness that he brings which is cool.

I'm aware of the political aspect that Generation Kill brings through their lyrics. Can you give us a brief description of the band's political orientation?
All politicians are lying cocksuckers. They are destroying the world without any care for our future.

Do you believe that 'public awakening' is still a chance in your country? Do you personally try to promote things like different ways of thinking through your lyrics?
Yes. I hope. Not everybody reads the lyrics but I hope maybe someone picks up a book or watches a documentary and tries to see through the lies that we are fed from media.

What's Exodus' current status? What are you plans for the near future?
We're gonna record a new album in February.

That would be all from me, Rob. Thank you for your time. You can conclude this interview anyway you want...
Buy our new record. And enjoy it!