San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans EXODUS have released their cover of the AC/DC classic “Beating Around The Bush”. The track, which features a guest solo by former EXODUS guitarist Rick Hunoltwas originally recorded during the sessions for EXODUS's 2021 album “Persona Non Grata” but has not been released until now.
EXODUS said: “Unbeknownst to anyone, while recording 'Persona Non Grata' we also busted out a few cover songs by our favorite bands, and there's no band we love more than AC/DC! So we decided to do our own take on it 'Beating Around The Bush'! We love the song and we are stoked on our rendition. Hope you dig it too!”
Fan-filmed video of EXODUS performing “Beating Around The Bush” at several shows on the band's 2022 tour can be seen below.
EXODUS singer Steve “Zetro” Souza is also the frontman of the long-running San Francisco Bay Area-based AC/DC tribute band AC/DZalso featuring ANGEL OF DEATH drummer Will Carroll.
In an interview with Myglobalmind, Souza stated about AC/DC's singer changed following the death of Scott: “You know, it took a while for everybody to get used to it Brian Johnson after Bon. I was 16 when Bon Scott died, and I remember, I was, like, 'Oh, my god, what are they going to do?! That voice is that music.' He fitted that guitar, what they were doing; it was like a glove. How do you replace that? And then in time, Brian has become that, and out of everybody, I would have to swear him Bruce Dickinson [IRON MAIDEN] taking over from Paul Di'Anno did an amazing job in the transition.”
Back in 2015, Souza told Southeast Of Heaven that he preferred the Scott era of AC/DC over the Johnson era. “There's no comparison,” he said. “That's not to say that Brian's not any good. I respect Brian. Hell, he took over and if you think about it, he's been in the band three times longer than that Bon. Bonthe way that he sang. The way he wrote that tongue-in-cheek stuff. Like 'Big Balls'. What's that about? It's about dancing? It's about his balls? [Laughs] The metaphors in that song were just clever as hell, and it's hard to write clever.”
“Persona Non Grata” was recorded at a studio in Lake Almanor, California and was engineered by Steve Lagudy swear EXODUS. It was produced by EXODUS and was mixed by Andy Sneap. For the third time in the band's history, they returned to the Swedish artist Pär Olofsson to create the album artwork.
“Persona Non Grata” is the follow-up to 2014's “Blood In Blood Out”which was the San Francisco Bay Area thrashers' first release since the departure of the group's lead singer of nine years, Rob Dukesand the return of Souzawho previously fronted EXODUS from 1986 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2004.