TESTAMENT Frontman Hopes Reunited Original Lineup Will Continue

TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy recently spoke to Mark Uricheck of NEPAtoday.com about the group's decision to reunite with their original lineup for several European dates and an appearance at the Louder, Harder, Faster Festival, which is slated for June 3-5 at Allentown, PA's Crocodile Rock Café.

Billy says that TESTAMENT's reformation of their classic lineup stemmed from a chat he had with the organizer of Holland's Dynamo Festival. "He was telling me how he got the [classic] lineup of ANTHRAX to play this year, they're headlining it," Billy says. "He said 'what are the chances of getting the original members of TESTAMENT back together?' I said I guess all I could do is ask and find out. All of us have been on good terms, we've been hanging out together in recent years. The first thought was, 'Let's try do a record.' That was the start of it all.

"We thought since we're not going to be doing a big U.S. tour, we'd take these shows (a short string of U.S. and European dates) and see what happens and take it from there. We're not making any future plans. We're just like, 'Let's do this and see how it goes.'"

Fans that turn out for this event are in store for a dose of classic TESTAMENT, the lineup including Billy, guitarists Alex Skolnick and Eric Peterson, bassist Greg Christian, and drummer Louie Clemente. Latter-day TESTAMENT drummer and former WHITE ZOMBIE member John Tempesta will also handle some drum duties.

"We're doing all songs that were written with this lineup," Chuck Billy says. "These are songs we haven't played in our set probably since we've had the original guys. It's going to be a unique set compared to what we've been doing since they've been gone. So, we're going to take a step back and play what we've done together."

Currently TESTAMENT is preparing for the tour with the original lineup, while having their eye on some new music. "We've been demoing some new stuff, and recording our rehearsals" says Billy. It's coming along. Like I said, we were thinking about doing a record with the original lineup next near, but if things go well we may just do it now after we get done with this trip.

"We're taking it one day at a time. I just hope all the rest of the original guys get that thrill and enjoyment of the songs we created. I hope it drives something inside of them like it does for me, that they all want to get together and keep doing this. I hope they enjoy it enough where we can keep doing this and have fun with it."