TESTAMENT's CHUCK BILLY Explains Why Now Is The Right Time For Him To Release His Memoir

In a new interview with Denny Spinks of Rock N' Roll Medicine, Chuck Billy, the frontman of San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal veterans TESTAMENT, spoke about his upcoming memoir, "Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments Of Chuck Billy", which is due on November 10, 2026 via Permuted Press. Regarding why now was the right time for him to tell his story, the 63-year-old singer, who was diagnosed with germ cell seminoma, a rare type of cancer, a quarter century ago, said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "At first I was approached to do [the book]. I didn't seek [it] out because I'm a private guy. I haven't really talked about a lot of my younger years and a lot of that part. It's always about the band and what's going on with the band. And so I thought, looking back, now having the opportunity and looking back and talking about or reflecting, especially once I started doing the book and looking at it as really therapeutic almost, and especially thinking, 'God, okay,' I was — I don't know — must have been 17, 18, staring at that BLACK SABBATH record wanting to… I don't know if it was music [I wanted to get into]. Maybe [I] just [wanted to be a] celebrity, 'cause I was a sports athlete. I wanted either to play sports or be a musician — not necessarily lead singer. I could play guitar back then. But that was kind of it, and I was, like, 'I would do anything in my life to be successful,' even if I had to live to, like, 38. And that was kind of how it all started. And so that's kind of when it all happened [with my cancer diagnosis] at [the age of] 38. I'm thinking, 'Wow, this thing that happened when I was real young is actually, coming to happen.' Yeah, it's just a trippy thing."

Chuck continued: "When I started talking about writing the book, I thought, 'Okay, well, shit, it's trippy because there's two mes, two Chucks' — the Chuck before I got sick and that whole years of starting the band up to that point, and then the Chuck that beat cancer and the band that reunited back together and started writing all these other records going forward was a different Chuck and different TESTAMENT.' So it was kind of an interesting pivot point of my story, but I kind of look at it and go, 'God, it all lays back on that 38 pact thing,' and here, shit, and I thought it was gonna happen. It didn't happen. But what happened was all these bands got back together, and, wow, what a trip. It's almost like you took one for the team to get shit started again. It's just this weird thing. So I thought it's interesting, especially at a time now. I'm in my 60s, and I see so many new bands, so many promoters, 'cause they gotta find who's next, who's the next headliners, who's the next generation. There's a lot of traffic, a lot of shit going on, and we've had a great, successful 40 years, and we're doing good and making great music. But I thought it was maybe an interesting time for me to kind of capture the story of the two sides of me and the two sides of the band. And especially the pivot point because the route I went to beat my cancer with the chemotherapy and the native healings with all the healers I went to was mind-blowing. And every time I tell it and think about it, the things I went through, it's unreal to me almost. And I thought I need to document and talk about that. I've talked about it in interviews and stuff, but I thought I really need to lay it down in the book and go back to the beginning and how it all started before I met Charlie, the first healer. So it was just something, I think — it was the right time. I had time to do it, and it was the right time to do it. I didn't know what to expect. I thought, 'Shit, man, I don't got two years to write this book. I'm gonna be busy as hell touring.' But I had some help. I had a guy, David Erickson, help me out, and we talked on the phone every day for, like, three or four months, and just chopped it up. And that was — like I said, again, it was therapeutic, man."

Asked if the book starts at the age of 38 when he was first diagnosed with cancer, Chuck said: "The book starts pretty much when I'm, like, eight months old. The whole premise of holding my breath starts when I was eight months old. That's kind of where my story begins, and that's kind of where the 'Holding My Breath' title comes from, and kind of is the theme that carries out throughout my life — in my personal life and in the business and in the band — that phrase of holding my breath. I don't wanna give it all away, but that's kind of what starts from then, all the way through, all my young years before I got into the band. And what I did to train and be in a band before I got into the band. It's all those years. All the stupid, crazy drug years and stupidity and just dumb things we did [when we were] young, and all the dumb drug stuff we did and we survived. And that's the part you don't get interviewed about when you're talking about the band."

This is not your typical rock memoir. Structured as two interlocking testaments, the book traces the full arc of a life lived at maximum volume — and then something louder than any riff: the fight to stay alive. The Old Testament plunges readers into the explosive birth of Bay Area thrash metal, the formation of TESTAMENT, the rivalries, the brotherhood, and the reckless, glorious chaos of becoming one of the genre's most powerful voices. The New Testament is something rarer and more raw — a frontman at 38, blindsided by a devastating cancer diagnosis, drawing on his Native American and Mexican-American heritage, spiritual healers, visions, and the fierce love of a metal community.

At the center of that community: the legendary 2001 "Thrash Of The Titans" benefit concert — one of the most galvanizing moments in heavy metal history — which rallied old rivals into brothers and helped ignite a genre revival while keeping Chuck Billy in the fight.

"This book is about two versions of me that are really just one story," says Billy. "The guy who thought he was invincible, and the guy who learned how fragile life really is."

Co-written with Dave Erickson, "Holding My Breath" delivers the unfiltered insider story of thrash metal's rise alongside a deeply human account of mortality, miraculous recovery, cultural identity, and chosen family. It is, equally, a gift to lifelong TESTAMENT fans and to anyone who has ever faced the unthinkable — and refused to let go.

The book features a foreword by Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST) and an afterword by Randy Blythe (LAMB OF GOD) — two of metal's most revered voices bearing witness to Chuck Billy's enduring legacy.

Billy is the powerhouse lead singer of TESTAMENT, one of thrash-metal's original Bay Area legends since the 1980s. He beat cancer in 2001 and came back stronger, weaving his Native American (Pomo) roots into his life and lyrics. He has been honored with a California State Assembly recognition for his positive influence on Native communities, was part of The Smithsonian's National Museum Of The American Indian's exhibition, "Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians In Popular Culture", and won "Best Music Video" at the American Indian Film Festival for "Native Blood".

From the relentless stages of Bay Area thrash metal to the brink of death and back, "Holding My Breath" is the unflinching memoir of TESTAMENT's iconic frontman.

Raised in a resilient Native American and Mexican-American family, Chuck Billy forged his path through rebellion, raw talent, and unbreakable stubbornness — becoming the powerful voice behind one of thrash's most enduring bands.

But at 38, a devastating cancer diagnosis threatened to silence him forever. With the fierce support of the metal community — including the legendary "Thrash Of The Titans" benefit that rallied old rivals and reignited brotherhood — Chuck faced grueling treatments, profound spiritual journeys, and the fight of his life.

This is the story of a man who discovered that true strength comes not just from holding your breath until the world bends — but from learning to breathe again. Stronger. Wiser. Surrounded by family, both blood and chosen. A raw testament to survival, music, and the unbreakable bonds that define a life in metal.

For more information, and to pre-order, visit chuckbillybook.com.

Back in 2012, Chuck told Legendary Rock Interviews that his cancer diagnosis was an accidental discovery that ultimately saved his life.

"I had started smoking cigarettes at that time," he recalled. "I had been smoking for about two or three months and I was just walking up the stairs in my house and just huffing and puffing and thinking 'Man, these cigarettes are just killing me. I gotta stop smoking. I can't breathe.' That was the first thing I noticed. I think I was just really fortunate and blessed and had an angel looking down on me because I probably would have just kept right on smoking anyway and I was the kind of guy that never went to the doctor. I probably hadn't been to the doctor since my high school physical to play football. One day, totally out of the blue, a real estate agent knocked on my door and told me that she had somebody who wanted to buy my house. My house wasn't even for sale but she just had someone she was talking to who had told her that they wanted to buy my house. I told her I wasn't interested but just wondered how much she'd sell it for and when she told me how much she could sell it for I was, like, 'Well, okay, if you can sell it for that much than maybe I am interested.' [Laughs] So she did. She sold it and at that time I was playing with these guys in Antioch which was about an hour from my house and hangin out in this really nice little country town with not a lot going on out there. So when we sold our house, I told my wife, 'Hey, let's move out there. It's quiet, on a river. Let's go there.' So, the drummer I was working with there was a guy from SADUS and his wife worked at a hospital there and recommended a doctor and my wife and I decided to switch doctors and dentists and everything and meet them and all of us go get a physical. The doctor called back and everything was fine with my wife, but they wanted me to come in for a CT scan on my chest and further X-rays. That's how they found it. So it was kind of like a fluke situation. If that lady never knocked on my door to sell my house I probably would have died and never see it coming because I had a tumor in my chest that was the size of a squash. It was growing off of my heart and pushing on my lungs which is why I couldn't breath. I didn't have any space in there for my lungs to expand."

At the time, he underwent chemotherapy and, being a Native American, Chuck utilized traditional medicine, including seeking help from spiritual healers. A year into treatment and recovery, he was declared cancer-free in 2002.