TESTAMENT's CHUCK BILLY On Post-Pandemic World: 'I Don't Think Things Are Gonna Swing Right Back To Normalcy'
April 29, 2020TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy spoke to RadioactiveMike Z, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM radio program "Wired In The Empire", about how he is dealing with the coronavirus crisis and what the touring circuit might look like post-pandemic.
"It's crazy, the times we live in right now and what we're going through," he said (hear audio below). "I know everybody wants to get back [out there], but I just don't think things are gonna swing right back to normalcy. People are gonna be cautious; everybody's gonna be cautious."
Asked if he thinks concert attendances will be affected once people are again allowed to come together in large numbers, Chuck said: "It works on both parties — the artists and the promoters of all these venues. They're gonna be timid, maybe not wanting to sink a bunch of money and paying lower fees, afraid that people aren't gonna show up. Things are gonna be weird at first, and I think fans will too. I don't think everybody's just gonna rush out and [be, like], 'Okay, ready set go.' A lot of people, hopefully they still kind of keep distance or at least wear masks and be precautious of things."
Questioned about whether he is still hoping to play some TESTAMENT shows in 2020, Billy said: "In my wildest dreams, I am, but what you're hearing down the line, things change every day. I'm just watching our summer unfold in Europe and we lost a date in Japan in September. We have some stuff we're working on in America in September and a European tour in November, but we don't know. So we'll kind of just see what happens."
TESTAMENT's spring 2020 U.S. tour with THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, MUNICIPAL WASTE and MESHIAAK, which was originally scheduled to run from April 20 through May 15, has been postponed.
TESTAMENT's new album, "Titans Of Creation", was released on April 3 via Nuclear Blast. The long-awaited follow-up to 2016's "Brotherhood Of The Snake" was produced by Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson while Juan Urteaga of Trident Studios handled co-producing, recording and engineering. Andy Sneap was responsible for the mixing and mastering of the album.
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