Certainly not. Well, now everybody sounds like they have throat cancer.

I’m just wondering where we went wrong. I miss the days of Exodus, Metal Church, Death Angel, Testament, and early Anthrax.

Yeah. America is a nation of trends. A couple of bands succeed and everybody tends to jump on the bandwagon. You’ve got a couple of bands that do it and do it well, and then everybody falls in line and wants to be the next thing just like it, instead of thinking for themselves.

Were you disappointed by the way the band was looked over around 1992’s Force Of Habit?

There was some resentment and bitterness, certainly. Part of getting to this album was getting over all that. Capitol Records did nothing for us. The sad thing is the sales we did on Force Of Habit in this market in this day and age on a label like Nuclear Blast would have been a triumph. If you sell 50,000 albums on an independent label, you’re doing fine, not a failure.

After Force Of Habit, you and the rest of the band had to go on to a regular life and get a regular job in order to survive, right?

When I got out of this f***ed up racket in ’93, I went straight into a normal life. I went and did that normal job thing and it’s actually quite humbling for the first time in your adult life to have to get your ass up and work and do what somebody says. When we first broke up, Rick [Hunolt] and myself were both working for a roofing company and Zetro was my supervisor, so I got a lot of perks. I remember Kerrang magazine did a ‘Where Are They Now?’ kind of thing. When they got to us they said, "Riffing in ’84, roofing in ’94," and that still stings. F***ers.

The truth is you guys aren’t the only band that had to go through that though.

Oh, f*** no. There are bands that were a lot bigger than we ever were that had to go out and work. There were bands that were unbelievably huge that had no money because they squandered and spent like there was no tomorrow. I was still able to pull in the odd royalty check, occasionally I’d get a healthy one, but not enough to count on. I’m lucky right now that this is my job again. This is what I do and I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn anymore, but I’m also honest with myself that I’m not going to be doing this for the rest of my life. This was our last and best chance to do this again, and that’s why we decided to get serious.

Were there plans to release a studio record after your reunion and tour with Paul Baloff in 1996?

Yeah, we had talked about it but our deal [with Century Media] was f***ed up. Things got so bad with our relationship with them that if I had a choice at that time of doing another album or never record another note, I would have never [recorded] again. Plus, I was going through personal problems at home, heading towards divorce, and so I had priorities that at the time I had to put first. The timing wasn’t right. I think if we had done this exact same album then, I don’t think it would be receiving a whole lot of attention. And, we’ve been through a lot of drama. We’re a walking, talking Behind The Music episode. All we need is a big, breakthrough hit album and we’re there. Drugs. Death. Breakup. Then if one of us dies in a firey helicopter crash, we’re in. Metal’s on the upswing and in ’97 it wasn’t.

After the 1996 reunion and subsequent breakup, what was the next point at which Exodus got back together?

We hadn’t played in awhile, when I got a call about doing the Thrash Of The Titans benefit for [Testament vocalist] Chuck Billy [in September 2001]. Of course I said yeah I’d do it. I’ve seen video and [our performance] wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. We barely rehearsed the whole set once before doing it and we were really f***in’ high on dope all the time. I mean, we were really high on dope that night. It planted the seed to do more shows but all we did up until Paul’s death was just milk it. We‘d book shows and do well but we played the same songs we could play in our sleep, and never varied. It wasn’t until Paul died that we decided to step up to the plate and swing. Before Paul’s death, the whole band was on the same downward spiral, with the exception of Jack, our bass player. It wasn’t until Paul died that we decided to clean up our own acts, get our shit together and get serious about this.

Did the drug problems develop post Force Of Habit?

Very post Force Of Habit. The whole band, we had always been drug users for years and years, but there was some moderation involved. We still managed to get work done and we managed to get work done without it. Then it gets to the point where it gets worse and you can’t get work done unless you have it, and then you don’t get any work done because of it. I’d say 2001 is when things, speaking for myself, had really gotten bad. I was able to function normally for appearances sake. Some people can’t do that. But I’m honest with myself. I know where things were and how bad it was, even if I could maintain a semblance of normality.

Paul passed away from a stroke, right?

Yes.

And was that, in some way, related to drugs?

Ah, I’m sure it was. Paul’s father died a year older than he did of high blood pressure and a heart attack. His mother died at the same age of a stroke. He already had the pre-existing conditions and then you couple those with alcohol and drug abuse. He was a ticking time bomb. He had two minor strokes prior to that but no one knew about it until the one that killed him. I was in the hospital discussing the shit with the neurologist. It all came together, all the little things. I knew something was kind of wrong with him because his speech had become really slurred. It was at the point where I’d be talking to him and I’d have to tell him, "Paul, slow the f*** down." I feel bad about it because I can only imagine the frustration on his part of not knowing why he’s not communicating well. The thoughts were coming out of his head, and he was always a fast talker but there were times I’d just nod and say, "Okay, Paul," and I still didn’t understand what he said. And you throw that in with a fifth of vodka and some speed, it’s hard to understand anybody. Then you throw in a couple minor strokes to boot, and you can imagine the boat I was in.

How did you get Steve ‘Zetro’ Souza to rejoin Exodus and sing on the new record?

We had two shows booked in Anaheim at the time of Paul’s death. I was just having a phone conversation with Zetro [telling him] that we were going to have to cancel them. He said, "That same weekend I’m gonna be in Anaheim taking the family to Disney Land." I said, "Well, you wanna do some shows after Mr. Toad’s Adventure." And he said, "Sure." We did it and it was a lot of fun because we were going through a lot of depression. For the first time in years, we were able to play a lot more varied set because Paul always had a hard time getting any of the other songs down. Two minor strokes certainly didn’t help him retain lyrical information. We did another show and then another, and then went to Europe in December 2002 and did a short tour. Zetro left when we got back because myself, Tom, and Rick were still f***ed up. He didn’t want to lay all his cards on the table in that situation, but I told him when we were over there that I was not gonna go back [to doing drugs], and when I got home I didn’t. After about a month, he heard how clean I was and I was writing all kinds of shit. We had a long conversation on the phone and since then we’ve been working better than ever.

Once I got clean and clear, and started seeing things how they really were, all the riffs came back. I thought I had writer’s block. That’s what I always thought it was, but it was just a haze of dope and lack of desire and motivation. I’ll be the first to say it, it’s amazing that we can do an album like this, this many years later, but I also came to the conclusion and realization once I got clean that I’m a bad mother-f***er. I‘ve got some monster riffs. There was a time that I doubted myself but I’ve got no doubts anymore. I’ve read reviews where they’re calling it the Bonded By Blood of this era. This album was a success and victory to me just the fact that it got made, so the rest is just icing on the cake.

Who handled most of the lyrics on Tempo Of The Damned?

I wrote most of them. "Throwing Down" and "Sealed With A Fist" were two songs from Wardance, a band Tom [Hunting – drums], Jack [Gibson – bass], and I had in ’96. I changed the title and wrote new lyrics for "Sealed With A Fist" but "Throwing Down," the lyrics were written by John Miller who sang for us then. "Impaler" was written by Paul. Zetro wrote "Forward March" and a part of "War Is My Sheppard," and I wrote all the rest.

What’s the opening track, "Scar Spangled Banner," about?

Just my general hatred for the U.S. government and their foreign policy. I’ve had to answer to a number of people, not that I feel I owe anybody an explanation for anything, but people have questioned my patriotism, whether the song was anti-American. No, I’m a f***in’ red-blooded American. I love this country for all its warts and bumps but I just don’t feel I should be intimidated into being afraid of criticizing our government because of 9-11. People have asked me if I’m a liberal, well, I hate all politicians equally.

And how about "Shroud Of Urine"?

The foul taste in my mouth organized religion and Christianity put in it. My opportunity to vent, rant, and rage. I’ve always been big on play on words. I try to be clever whenever I can, rather than just write some kill your mother shit.

"War Is My Sheppard" is the heaviest song on the record. Zetro even shows that he can compete with the young guys, throwing in a deathy vibe.

It’s really heavy. He put in the performance of his life.

Are you making a video?

Yeah, we’ve already shot two. "War Is My Sheppard" is going to air on Headbanger’s Ball. We shot that on a retired World War II aircraft carrier. It’s a floating museum and my former guitar tech’s father is the director of events, and we rented the entire ship for $750 for a day. The second is for "Throwing Down." That will air some date in the future.

And the U.S. tour?