TESTAMENT Frontman Talks 'American Carnage' Tour, Next Studio Album And 'Big Four'

Glen Medley of M Is For Music recently conducted an interview with vocalist Chuck Billy of San Francisco Bay Area thrashers TESTAMENT. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

M Is For Music: I had the chance to see the "American Carnage" tour in Phoenix and TESTAMENT's performance was phenomenal. What are some of your personal highlights from that tour?

Chuck: Every day was a highlight. It was such a good tour. All of us have been long-time friends and it wasn't like any attitudes or any turmoil. It was just a really cool tour every day in and day out. The shows were awesome. Everybody was on their game and that's what it was about; everybody brought their "A" game to that show. You saw it, everybody had a good time, good show. It wasn't like an opening act and two headliners. It was like all of us were bringin' it.

M Is For Music: In early 2010, TESTAMENT hit the road with EXODUS and MEGADETH and played the album "The Legacy" in its entirety. How cool was it to play that classic album from start to finish?

Chuck: It was very cool. It's kinda not something that unless you're asked that you would do. I don't think that any of us would say, "Hey, let's play that record." We did it before in Europe a couple times. We played "The Legacy" and "The New Order" back to back. We knew how much fun we had with it, so when we were asked to play "The Legacy" on that tour, we said, "That's fine, we only have a forty-minute set time and the record is forty minutes. That's perfect so let's do it." It really brought back old memories. There are some songs that we haven't played for a long time. By the end of the tour, we really had the set down. That was cool; those are fun songs to play. It definitely gives a different feel to what you do in a live performance.

M Is For Music: In 2008, I had the chance to see TESTAMENT play two consecutive nights. The first night was supporting the "Masters Of Metal" tour with JUDAS PRIEST and HEAVEN & HELL in Phoenix in front of 20,000 screaming fans. The next night, TESTAMENT headlined a show at the historic Rialto Theatre in Tucson, which is a much smaller venue that holds about 1000 people. What is it like to switch gears from a larger venue to a more private venue from one night to the next?

Chuck: It's definitely a big contrast. During a big-stage show, you can't connect with the crowd like you can in a club show. Usually there's more lights and everything, and there's a spotlight, so you can't see anything. You're behind the monitor line performing. When you're at a club, for me, I clear the front edge of the stage. I don't like the monitors up front. I like it when I can get right up to the edge, just an arms-reach from the people. I actually don't mind it when people come up and stage dive, just as long as they're not thrashing the gear or disrupting the performance. The big shows are consistent every night. You go the small clubs and you're using a different sound system every night and it's inconsistent from night to night, so it has its pluses and minuses in all areas. Production is plus or minus and performance is plus or minus.

M Is For Music: Now that the "American Carnage" tour has concluded, will you will be heading into the studio to begin record your tenth studio album? What can you tell me about the forthcoming album?

Chuck: We're working on it right now. We're still in the writing process. It's gonna be what it's gonna be. We definitely want it in the root and in the vein of the last record. We felt very positive about the last record. If we can just write ten more songs as if we were writing "The Formation Of Damnation" still. I would love to put some more elements of blast beat drumming in the new stuff, like in "The Gathering".

M Is For Music: Are you going to work with Andy Sneap again during the production?

Chuck: Yes, we will.

M Is For Music: It's a recipe that seems to work well for you guys.

Chuck: Yeah, we work well with him. He knows the music and he knows us, so it works out.

M Is For Music: I was watching [VH1 Classic's] "That Metal Show" recently, and they asked the question that if the "Big Four" had room for one more band, who would it be? The co-winners in that debate were TESTAMENT and EXODUS. Obviously, that's very high praise. How big of an impact do you feel that TESTAMENT has made on music over the years?

Chuck: I definitely feel that TESTAMENT has had their own sound and style. From back in '83, when Eric [Peterson, guitar] and them started writing some of these songs; I definitely feel that Alex [Skolnick] and Eric's guitar style is part of it. And for me, when I got into the band, Alex was 16 years old and writing songs like "The Haunting" and "First Strike Is Deadly". To me it was like, "Holy shit, how is this kid writing this stuff?" To me, it was always them and their chemistry as songwriters. I think that in over twenty-five-plus years, I hear it out there in other bands and other styles and that's definitely part of it.

Read the entire interview from M Is For Music.

(Thanks: NJthrasher)