After being fired from a band he was part of in New York, Dukes rode his motorcycle on a 5-month, 11,000 mile trip to California, with no idea of career prospects.[http://digitaldarkness.net/dukes/] 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 long time 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 in case they needed a new vocalist. After Steve Souza's departure in 2004, Dukes was 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".