Although they never enjoyed the same level of success
that thrash acts Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica and Slayer (commonly referred
to as 'The Big Four') achieved throughout the late '80s/early '90s,
San Francisco's Bay Area based act Testament have more than made their
mark on the thrash scene over the last twenty plus years.
From the release of their debut album 'The Legacy' in
1987, Testament continued to build a formidable following that almost
saw the band break through to mainstream success, but it was the departure
of guitarist Alex Skolnick and drummer Louie Clemente following the
release of 1992's lacklustre sounding 'The Ritual' that began what was
an ever changing line-up for Testament throughout the years.
Since the release of their highly acclaimed album 'The
Gathering' in 1999, Testament have continued to tour sporadically throughout
the years with a number of musicians passing through the ranks (apart
from vocalist Chuck Billy and guitarist Eric Peterson), before reuniting
with the original line-up for a short European tour in May 2005.
2005 also saw the release of the CD/DVD 'Live In London',
the first release to feature the original line-up of Testament in thirteen
years.
Throughout the last two years, Testament have continued
to tour both the US and Europe, with Australia finally being given the
opportunity to finally see the thrash legends this month.
After a long thirteen hour flight from LA (which was made
all the more bearable with a couple of sleeping tablets), I caught up
with vocalist Chuck Billy immediately upon touchdown in Melbourne to
talk about the group's Australian tour, how new drummer Nick Barker
(ex-Cradle Of Filth/Dimmu Borgir) was working out with the reformed
line-up and how the progress of the group's long awaited reunion album
was coming along.
"Having Skolnick and (bassist Greg) Christian back
in Testament has been amazing. In particular, Skolnick adds that lost
element that Testament has needed. It's made us a lot more confident
because everyone knows their parts and knows what they're doing, so
it makes the shows a lot stronger. We're having fun and enjoying each
other's company too. I think it's just been a really good thing for
us as people. Most band's have bad split ups with the hope that when
they get together they can finally work things out as they go along.
We didn't have a bad break up as such but I'm glad that we've overcome
all the small problems we had in the past to come back together. Our
philosophy has been whatever happened, happened. We're all having a
good time and enjoying each others company. There are no dramas at all.
It's just amazing because we're all playing these songs that we wrote
some twenty odd years ago and they're all current today, kicking ass
and thrashing away! (Laughs)"
Although many have coined the regrouping of Testament
as a reunion, Billy doesn't see it that way at all.
"I think that we're beyond the reunion tour thing
now, especially now that we've decided to do an album together now.
It's simply a return to the original line-up and that's now been cemented
given that everyone's agreed to do the next album. A new album is definitely
going to be happening this year. Skolnick and Barker, who has been playing
drums for us since last year, have been up in the Bay Area working on
writing new material, so we are going to have an album out this year.
We have about five or six songs written so far with the aim of writing
about fifteen songs in total. There's one song in particular at the
moment that is right in the direction of 'The Gathering', but I would
say that it takes it one level higher. I mean it is just a brutal thrash
song. It's really, really good. It blew me away when I heard it. 'The
Gathering' is one of my favourite Testament albums, and this one song
had me saying to the other guys, 'Guys, if you could write ten more
of those, we're going to smoke 'The Gathering' big time!' (Laughs) It
would bring Testament up to a whole new level. Barker did such a great
job on this song too. I can't tell you when we'll start recording but
I can tell you that Andy Sneap is going to mix the new album. We actually
have time scheduled in April with him I believe. I mean he has a lot
of projects on the go at the moment because he's so in demand, so that
schedule could blow out a little bit. But we can afford to wait. He
knows metal, and he knows exactly what Testament is trying to do."
When asked as to whether Testament were feeling any pressure
to top 'The Gathering', especially given the return to the original
line-up, Billy claimed being in Testament was more about fun, rather
than trying to compete with the rest of the metal scene.
"(After a lot of thinking) Ah, I don't think it's
pressure any more because were a band who have reached a point in our
careers where we just play our own shows and do our own thing. We're
not trying to bring down any world barriers with this. We all do our
own things. We have some good musicians, and some good songs, and we
just go out there and play our asses off. If it were all about writing
certain music and certain sounding songs, we would be signed to some
other label other than our own. It's not like that for us. We have the
beauty of having our own label and doing what we want to do for the
fun of it."
It's been a long time between albums for Testament with
their last proper studio release being 1999's 'The Gathering', but as
Billy explains, it's all a matter of scheduling.
"It's just tough because Skolnick lives in New York,
Christian used to live in New York before moving to California, Barker
lives in the UK, Peterson lives in Sacramento and I live in the Bay
Area. So everyone's all over the place. That makes it really tough.
It's not like everyone else's band where the band can get together at
a local studio and rehearse for the night. It's not that simple so it's
something that needs to be coordinated carefully."
And of course there's Skolnick's busy schedule to work
around too as he splits his time between orchestral/progressive rock
outfit Trans-Siberian Orchestra and his own jazz outfit Alex Skolnick
Trio.
"We basically had to look at his calendar this year
and work everything out around his dates. I mean everybody has busy
schedules but Skolnick has his next year booked out in advance. So we
either have to get into his schedule really early or just play what
he has left. I mean he's committed to the band but this isn't his only
commitment. That's not to say that one project favours the other because
he has the same amount of commitment to all three of his projects, which
is nothing short of one hundred percent. But when you see him play with
Testament, you can see that it's music that he hasn't gotten to play
in a long time and he's absolutely just shredding the songs."
And then of course there's Billy's own side project Dublin
Death Patrol, which counts ex-Exodus/Legacy co-lead vocalist Steve 'Zetro'
Souza, Sacred Dog/Rampage/Guilt guitarist Andy Billy, Rampage guitarist
Greg Bustamante, Out Of Control guitarist Steve Robello, Machine Head/ex-Vio-Lence
guitarist Phil Demmel and Lääz Rockit bassist Willy Langenhuizen
amongst its vast line-up.
"The group has been around a long time (as far back
as 1997 when the group was given a thanks in the credits on the 'Demonic'
album), but its only really taken on a life of its own within the last
year. We've been writing and recording in the last year and we're currently
mixing our debut album right now. The album is pretty close to being
completed. We've had a couple of tracks on the band's MySpace page for
a while but you have to bear in mind that the Thin Lizzy track ('Cold
Sweat') wasn't mixed before going up there. But hopefully we'll be able
to put up a couple more songs in the near future along with getting
a couple of singles out there. They're being manufactured right now
as we speak. We'll start sending them copies out to the press around
the world real soon so they can check it out. Dublin Death Patrol is
more of a fun project. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel here.
People need to understand that it's just a bunch of guys that all come
from the same town playing together. We've all been friends for like
thirty-five years or more, all grown up together since third grade and
continued to be friends ever since. It's kind of a unique situation.
There are some guys in this band that did well within the business and
we have a lot of guys that played in the local Dublin scene here in
the Bay Area when we were growing up. So we kind of have the best of
both worlds. Our whole idea was joining those two groups together and
making an album with the guys we all grew up listening to. It's just
fun. We're hanging out, telling stories of the old days, and the old
parties, and it's been really fun! (Laughs) At one point, we had no
intentions of releasing the album we had recorded but then we reached
a point where we all thought the album sounded really good and we took
the whole thing a little more serious. So here we are. The album should
be out around the start of April. I think we'll release the album ourselves
on the Dublin Death Patrol website and then if somebody wants to come
along and pick it up, we'll see what happens next."
One of the more unusual names contributing to Dublin Death
Patrol's cover of Thin Lizzy's 'Cold Sweat' is Tesla drummer Troy Luccketta.
"Well Luccketta grew up in Dublin across the street
from Souza so they've been childhood friends. We're still big Tesla
fans and see them play from time to time. It's funny because Luccketta
had a studio in Hayward and that's where Testament and a bunch of other
bands recorded their demos - all with the help of Luccketta too. So
with that history, there was no hesitation in asking Luccketta if he
wanted to be involved and he really wanted to help out on two songs.
He kicked ass on both those songs too."
One member that has added fuel to the Testament fire in
recent times is drummer Nick Barker who replaced original drummer Louie
Clemente mid way through last year due to health reasons.
"I would say that Barker's a full time member. I
can't promise anything but he could well be here forever - as long as
we're still willing to have him! (Laughs) It sounds strange but we've
always said that about all of our drummers in the past but they've always
found greener pastures somewhere else! (Laughs) That's just the way
it goes I guess. So right now, Barker is in for the new album and the
full tour cycle. Beyond that, we'll see what happens."
With talk about studio work complete, I asked Billy about
the band's upcoming tour of Australia, what fans can expect up onstage
and what the band has planned for the months following.
"We're really looking forward to playing to Australian
audiences. Totally! We've been waiting to come to Australia for twenty
years. Fans can expect all the classic songs written from the era that
this band played together, and three songs from 'The Gathering'. So
there's a lot of old classics and the songs from 'The Gathering' played
with this line-up sound incredible too. It's funny because the first
rehearsal that we did together was a little shaky. But by the second
rehearsal, it sounded like we hadn't missed a beat. We just clicked
together and all the shows since have been the just the same. I think
people will see that. After the Australian tour is finished, we'll be
playing some of Europe, the US and South America from March through
to April, and then covering some more of Europe in July and August.
Then I'll be heading out with Dublin Death Patrol in Europe after that.
So this year is looking pretty busy for us. It's all looking good for
us. It's great to have the original guys back. And as long as everyone
is down with writing the new album, it's going to be even better. Skolnick
is excited to be playing metal again, and the rest are excited to be
back as well. I wouldn't say Testament have anything to prove but we'll
certainly keep stamping our place in the metal scene for some time yet."
I would personally like to thank Chuck Billy for his
generous time, and Mark Wilkinson at MW Entertainment for making the
interview possible.
For more information on Testament, check out - http://www.testamentlegions.com
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
