By Kelley Simms
GET UP AND GO!
Testament, 2016
the new year with a tour like this is awesome. Hopefully we’ll have a track that will
be released before the tour starts.
Mosh: Is there a tentative release date for
the new album?
Chuck Billy: Not yet. We’re going to be
doing a lot of fine tuning on the road
together, because we’ll have a lot of time on
our hands on that tour since it’s a headlining tour for us. We’ve been really trying to
get the record finished, and as soon as we
finish the tour we’ll go right into the studio.
After the Slayer tour, we’re not doing anymore dates so we can get the record done.
Mosh: How long have you been planning
the new record?
Chuck Billy: We’ve been planning it for
awhile. For whatever the reasons being, we
just haven’t gotten the songs together yet.
You can’t force it. We’re not going to put
out a record that we’re not 100 percent into.
We’re just really trying to fine-tune it now.
T
Riding the momentum of their brilliant Dark Roots of Earth album, Bay
Area thrashers Testament have been
busy writing for their next album. No true
thrashaholic can deny Testament’s achievements within the genre. Maybe they
weren’t part of the Big Four, which included Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth and
Anthrax, but along with Exodus, Testament
were right up there. Testament has been an
influential thrash metal institution almost
since the genre was first created. Forming
as Legacy in 1983, the Bay Area metal scene
was just burgeoning. Thirty-plus years on,
there’s no stopping Testament. The band’s
highly-anticipated
upcoming
North
American tour with Slayer and Carcass will
be one of the most exciting metal shows of
the new year. With the first of two Chicago
shows already sold out at the Riviera
Theatre, vocalist Chuck Billy opens up
about the upcoming tour.
Mosh: Testament kicks off its first tour of
2016 at the Riviera Theater on Feb 19. Talk
about the bill and the excitement of opening night in Chicago.
Chuck Billy: Chicago’s always been a great
city for us, and Slayer too. I think it’s a
great tour, especially going out with Slayer
and getting the opportunity again. We’ve
been friends and have toured with them for
a long time. It’s great that we’re close to
getting the record finished, and kicking off
34 illinoisentertainer.com february 2016
Mosh: How would you describe the new
material?
Chuck Billy: The unique and special thing
for me, especially since I’ve been writing
with Eric for almost 30 years now, Eric
always gives me something different. It’s
the same flavor of songs all the time. We’re
always saying, “How are we going to top
the last record?” And we keep saying that.
And somehow he keeps throwing those
riffs out. I have new songs that are a different chapter but again another different side
of Testament, too. I think they culminate
from everything we’ve done over the years
and where we are as a band. And like anything in life, the more you do it the better
you get at it. So I think we’ve fine-tuned
our Testament style and sound and don’t
follow the same mold.
Mosh: With the massive success of Dark
Roots, are you confident that you can top
it with this new one?
Chuck Billy: It’s hard to say. I never know
that until we put all the songs in sequence
and hear them. Because when we write, we
focus song by song by song. Until I hear the
final sequence of the whole record, that’s
when we finally say, “Whoa, that sounds
killer.” You sit down and listen to it as a
whole, as the songs play into each other. So
it’s hard to say at this point until I get to
that point where I can hear it all as a whole.
But that’s what I love. If you hear our
songs, a lot of the songs are all over the
place, they’re never in the same mold.
Mosh: What were the early days like starting out in the thrash scene?
Chuck Billy: It was so new that we didn’t
know what we were a part of, really. At that
time there was a lot of that scene going on
through Europe. You had bands like us,
Metallica and Exodus, who were created
before Metallica’s demo. Metallica came
out and was thrown into the Bay Area from
being in the punk/glam scene really quick
into this new thrash metal style music and
scene that started having the benefit of all
these venues; The Stone (San Francisco),
Keystone (Berkeley), Palo Alto, Ruthies Inn.
There were just so many places to see shows
all the time. So we didn’t know what we
were into. It was reflecting on what we went
through and where we are today and that
was a big part of a lot of bands. And I still
talk to a lot of bands that are influenced by
early thrash metal styles. So it’s cool that you
still get people that are influenced by it.
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