TESTAMENT Guitarist PETERSON: ' I Woud Love To Write With ALEX SKOLNICK Again'

TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson recently spoke to Sweden's Metalshrine.se about the new DRAGONLORD CD and TESTAMENT's upcoming reunion tour with guitarist Alex Skolnick, bassist Greg Christian and drummer Louie Clemente. A couple of excerpts from the interview follow:

Metalshrine.se: How come you ended up [recording the new DRAGONLORD CD] in Gothenburg [Sweden]?

Eric Peterson: "I wanted to work with Fredrik [Nordström of Studio Fredman]! The last record we worked with Daniel [Bergstrand] in Uppsala and we wanted to work with Fredrik this time. I'm a big fan of the stuff he´s done from all the way back with AT THE GATES to IN FLAMES and a lot more of these polished productions, like his own band. And also, he works with this guy Patrik J. Sten who's really up and coming and really really good and together those guys really even each other out. So it's really cool and that was just like an added bonus that he had someone working with him. But I didn't realise that he had such a big input in the sound."

Metalshrine.se: So, what's going on with TESTAMENT? I know you´re doing this kind of reunion thing in Europe with the classic lineup. Is that it? You're not gonna tour in the U.S.?

Eric Peterson: "I don't know! Chuck's [Billy, vocals] kind of picking and choosing of what he wants to do. So, I'm just going with the flow. This reunion thing came up faster than anyone had thought, but we had been talking about it during our reunion record and Chuck kind of pushed it to Dynamo [festival organizers in Holland]. He's friends with them, so the people from Dynamo told us about the ANTHRAX [reunion] thing so this thing kind of got pushed quicker than we had thought. It's gonna be cool, man! It's kind of a pleasant surprise and it's gonna be a lot of fun to get up there with those guys. Of course, we're gonna be doing more, well not more, but we'll be doing the older TESTAMENT stuff. That should be a lot of fun!"

Metalshrine.se: Where are you playing in Europe? Are you coming to Sweden?

Eric Peterson: "I'm not sure! It's ten days in May and the main one that was put together was the Dynamo Festival and then some others have come in. We were just planning on doing the Dynamo and a couple of others and now we've got offers from everywhere. So we're kind of going 'Whoa!' And recording-wise, I've actually been working on the TESTAMENT stuff before DRAGONLORD. There's been so many hurdles with TESTAMENT, just beyond our control. Different drummers, being in and being out and the whole member changing and then Smyth [Steve, guitar] quit to go to NEVERMORE. Just a lot of different things, kind of all making sense now, but at the time 'God, why is this happening to us?' But right now we're just...there was a lot of pressure on it and now we're just like, 'It'll happen when it happens!' I have seven or eight songs written and I'm just waiting for the right time to record them."

Metalshrine.se: Are you gonna record that with the classic line up, with Alex and Greg and those guys?

Eric Peterson: "I don't know! I know that I've got some good material and I know that at least half of it is killer. I mean, I like all of it, but Chuck's always kind of picky about stuff. One day he'll say it's killer and the next day he says he hates it. I'm just like, 'OK, we'll see what happens!'"

Metalshrine.se: Are you like the main writer or...?

Eric Peterson: "Yeah! It would be nice though...I would definitely love writing with Alex again. Me and Alex, we're kind of basically the birth of the sound of TESTAMENT. I have the kind of crunchy riffs and he has the Egyptian scales and the harmonies. Put those together and you have TESTAMENT! So, I don't know if that's where he's at now. Probably not, since he's more into jazz and all that stuff. I know I've matured a lot as a writer and I'm sure he'd appreciate it."

Read the rest of the interview at this location.