Latest / Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast / PODCAST: Episode 858 - Chuck Billy (Testament) on Para Bellum and the Next Era of Thrash

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PODCAST: Episode 858 - Chuck Billy (Testament) on Para Bellum and the Next Era of Thrash · Ghost Cult Magazine Podcast

• 0:00
  Chris and Eric working really hard on this record and Chris
• 0:03
  has probably spent the most time with Eric than any other drummer
• 0:07
  writing music. And I think, you know, Chris
• 0:10
  being so young and being of a different generation of metal,
• 0:14
  he just brought that new freshness or just as young
• 0:17
  energy to the project. And they were writing a lot of
• 0:20
  riffs and I was like listening to some of them going, wow, is
• 0:23
  that really a metal riff, you know, or some of them I was just
• 0:26
  like, huh, you know, like, I'm not sure.
• 0:28
  Like maybe that one's not going to make the record.
• 0:30
  And but they all made the record.
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  But again, in the end, that's what made the record.
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  Is it? It has a little variety of
• 0:37
  everything. And it's a little bit we've
• 0:39
  touched on throughout our whole career is on this record.
• 0:48
  What's up everybody? It's Kefi at ghostcoldmag.com,
• 0:51
  once again joined by the great Chuck Billy of Testament.
• 0:54
  How are you doing, Sir? Being good just got off the golf
• 0:56
  course and here I am. And you look it.
• 0:59
  I was about to say, you're looking very sharp for a
• 1:01
  Saturday afternoon. Almost high noon.
• 1:04
  No pun intended. Thank you.
• 1:06
  Yeah, man. So we're here to talk some more
• 1:08
  or less the eve of the the album drop for your newest album,
• 1:12
  Parabellum. 37 years in a career, maybe 40, almost 40
• 1:16
  years of testament. Oh my God, where does the time
• 1:20
  go? But you know, I've always felt
• 1:21
  that the band was very like supremely consistent
• 1:25
  historically. And Parabellum is phenomenal.
• 1:29
  And where I wanted to start was I was getting a lot of vibes
• 1:33
  that there's a lot more grooves on this record.
• 1:36
  There's also some like outstanding fast thrash, but
• 1:39
  there's so many good grooves on here.
• 1:41
  It really took me back to like Low or Demonic, which are my two
• 1:45
  of my favorite Testament records beside the earliest stuff that
• 1:48
  you've been on the road doing and so and celebrating.
• 1:51
  So, yeah, I mean, what a what a killer album.
• 1:54
  And you know, you know, such a, you know, it's like a fresh
• 1:57
  thing. We need some fresh thrash for
• 1:59
  25, you know. Well, thank you, you know, and
• 2:01
  it's it's it's funny, like I'd mentioned Chris and Eric working
• 2:04
  really hard on this record. And Chris has probably spent the
• 2:07
  most time with Eric than any other drummer writing music.
• 2:11
  And I think, you know, Chris being so young and being of a
• 2:15
  different generation of metal, he just brought that new
• 2:18
  freshness or just as enter young energy to the project.
• 2:22
  And they were writing a lot of riffs and I was like listening
• 2:25
  to some of them going, wow, is that really a metal riff, you
• 2:28
  know, or some of them I was just like, huh, you know, like, I'm
• 2:31
  not sure. Like maybe that one's not going
• 2:32
  to make the record. And but they all made the
• 2:34
  record. But again, in the end, that's
• 2:37
  what made the record. Is it?
• 2:39
  It has a little variety of everything.
• 2:41
  And it's a little bit we've touched on throughout our whole
• 2:43
  career is on this record. But then some, especially with
• 2:46
  the black metal stuff, you know? Yeah, Eric definitely let the
• 2:49
  black metal riffs fly. I know, I know.
• 2:52
  That's not skull. So like, I know Eric's passion,
• 2:56
  that stuff. We chatted a bunch of times
• 2:58
  about all his influences there. So yeah, it's like, you know, a
• 3:01
  new palette, a new color to paint with, which is awesome.
• 3:03
  I go back with Dovis. When I lived in Boston, I used
• 3:06
  to put on charity metal shows. And Dovis is one of his first
• 3:10
  bands was Sonic Pulse, which is a super cool, thrashy band, kind
• 3:13
  of mega testament Slayer, you know, kind of vibes.
• 3:16
  And he was phenomenal back then. He's so talented and he was sort
• 3:20
  of like the Swiss Army drummer for the for the time because you
• 3:24
  know, how drummers do. You always got to replace the
• 3:25
  drummer sometimes, as you well know.
• 3:27
  And but yeah, man, I really I've been taken back like old school,
• 3:32
  like a really great mix of types of songs.
• 3:36
  No2 songs are alike. No skips.
• 3:39
  This is a a really phenomenal, you know, job here by you guys.
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  And like I said, grooves is a thing that I think is like a lot
• 3:46
  of bands try to groove, but they can't, they don't have the
• 3:50
  swing. And I think some of that is
• 3:51
  Dovis and some of that is Digiorgio.
• 3:53
  Of course, being a finger style bassist myself, I think there's
• 3:56
  something about that that you get pocket in better with a
• 3:59
  finger style bassist. You know, just such a killer
• 4:02
  record. And again, like you said, just
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  very diverse and and anything is possible.
• 4:05
  What a great time. Yeah, I mean, I think and the
• 4:08
  biggest part of that record is, is having enough balls and nerve
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  to put out a song like Meant to be.
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  You know, first of all, because you know, I know we've been kind
• 4:17
  of all those ballads that we've had in the past.
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  We've shield away from live. I don't know why.
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  Maybe it's like, well, maybe these metal heads aren't going
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  to get it or maybe they don't want to hear it.
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  We're scared of what they're someone was going to see say.
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  But last year we were doing a practice What you preach tour,
• 4:33
  playing some acoustic songs, but we played from the ballad to the
• 4:36
  legacy to Trail of Tears. We played everything and the
• 4:40
  crowd really enjoyed it. So we're kind of like, you know
• 4:43
  what, maybe there's something to this.
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  And it kind of opened me up like when I first got that song said,
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  you know, this totally reminds me like a return to Sereni.
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  Just had this really emotional feeling to it.
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  And we just said, let's go for it.
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  Feels good. Let's let's let's do it on this.
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  Record right on. I think I saw A Trail of Tears
• 5:00
  once in my whole like life of seeing Testament especially, I'm
• 5:04
  going to say right around Formation of Damnation.
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  I followed the band around a little bit and I saw like 3-4
• 5:09
  shows across the country and that was the tour I think had
• 5:14
  like, hey, we're going to do something we don't always do.
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  Hopefully, hopefully you like it and everybody let.
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  Me. See how I introduced it?
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  Probably like hey. Exactly.
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  And then and then it was right back to over the wall or
• 5:23
  something. You know, something hit him over
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  the head fast, you know. So that was a good time.
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  It was a golden time when we got Testament back after the hiatus
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  and your illness and everything. But yeah, what a fresh
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  parabellum, which of course, you know, I was going to ask about
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  lyrical topics. Parabellum is the second-half of
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  the, you know, if you want peace, prepare for war quote
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  from Latin that is attributed to a philosopher, Vigitus.
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  I think I probably said it wrong.
• 5:48
  Just one couple sips of coffee today.
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  So I got to get I got to step up my game.
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  But yeah, that's the famous quotes attributed to a lot of
• 5:55
  things. But yeah, there's such
• 5:56
  interesting times. And I'm going to circle back to
• 5:59
  meant to be in a second, but any particular themes on this record
• 6:02
  you wanted to hit on? There's definitely some pointed
• 6:05
  references. Well, they definitely has
• 6:07
  general theme of like war, you know, from songs like, you know,
• 6:12
  Havana Syndrome, which is a silent weapon.
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  You know, there's the song and it and it kind of we step back
• 6:18
  like on meant to be that, you know, people would first listen
• 6:21
  to that think it's a love song between two people, but it's
• 6:23
  actually me, a love song between humanity and the planet.
• 6:27
  So if you actually go back and listen to the words, you'll
• 6:29
  actually go, Oh yeah, they are talking about the human, the
• 6:32
  relationship we had. But in the end, we're still
• 6:34
  here. Meant to be as you man evolving.
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  I I've went all over the place kind of lyrically on this one.
• 6:42
  I approach every song one at a time.
• 6:44
  Those guys are writing so much riffs.
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  I had it so much this like to work with us like OK slow down,
• 6:50
  slow down. You know, just you know, this
• 6:52
  all can't be the same and in the beauty of me work with guys like
• 6:55
  Steve Souza and and Dell James writing lyrics, it's always nice
• 6:59
  to have somebody else and something to bounce them off of
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  and always to go, OK, let's push the envelope and try this and
• 7:07
  put make this into a metal song. You know, that's always the
• 7:10
  challenge. But I think the way we
• 7:11
  approached each song individually, each song stands
• 7:14
  on its own lyrically and musically.
• 7:16
  Like you said, it's a non skip record.
• 7:18
  You just got to hear each one for what they are.
• 7:21
  It's a good idea to unmute myself when I want to talk.
• 7:24
  I was wondering, I know you write sometimes with Cetera.
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  I didn't know if any of the stuff he worked on with you made
• 7:29
  the record. I know there was that fun
• 7:31
  Instagram post that went like kind of viral in the metal
• 7:33
  community of the two you guys sitting down with a notepad and
• 7:36
  pens and coffees. Like your metal dads are writing
• 7:40
  a new album together or you know, for for each other so.
• 7:44
  Well, it's funny because that was on tour with Exodus, and I
• 7:46
  think it was that night before maybe that he got the news that
• 7:50
  he wasn't an Exodus anymore. So I'm thinking, OK, because
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  because Zet was supposed to help me write some lyrics before they
• 7:56
  went on tour, but he's like, I'm going on tour or, you know, we
• 7:59
  didn't have time. So right when he got home, when
• 8:02
  I seen the news, I'm like, shit, that's that's not busy.
• 8:05
  Hey Zed, I just seen the news, got some lyrics.
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  I know you're not busy. I'm coming over.
• 8:10
  So we wrote like 3-3 songs and one of them made it, the other
• 8:13
  two didn't make it. Witch Hunt was the one that made
• 8:16
  it on the record that we wrote. But again, me and Zed we've
• 8:19
  wrote. Have we been doing it together
• 8:21
  for 2025 years as well? And Dell James 2530 years we've
• 8:25
  been working together. But I, I like having another
• 8:28
  opinion and another set of eyes and another brain helping me
• 8:31
  think it through, you know? Right on.
• 8:34
  I know he had to postpone his tour, but I am looking forward
• 8:37
  to seeing Zetro get back out on the road and doing like
• 8:40
  everything from his career, including legacy stuff and Alone
• 8:43
  in the Dark and stuff that he hinted at doing.
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  So I'm hoping he's going to do some of that.
• 8:47
  And you know, we wish him the best here.
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  He's always been solid and and very supportive of what we do,
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  and Witch Hunt is one of my favorite songs on the record
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  actually. I'm glad, I'm glad that made it
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  because that's a killer song. It's so good.
• 8:59
  Yeah. And if you listen to it, you
• 9:00
  kind of hear a little Zetro in that in the versus style, you
• 9:04
  know? Right on.
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  I wonder if you have to kind of like a, you know, when you when
• 9:08
  you're doing words that he can help construct with you if you
• 9:11
  start kind of taking on like, you know, Zetro phrasing or you
• 9:15
  know, Zetro's got his delivery, you have yours.
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  They're not that dissimilar, but they're definitely not the same.
• 9:20
  You know, maybe you would, you know, it's good to, you know,
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  you're pushing yourself as a, as a, as a vocalist and an
• 9:25
  interpreter also. Right, Yeah, Zetro styles really
• 9:29
  like that, that that, that, that, that, that were mine.
• 9:31
  I try to do that, but be a little smoother.
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  So yeah, on that song, I definitely adapted set style
• 9:37
  that has really short attack on lyrics and that's the way that
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  one came out. But when I heard it back, I'll
• 9:43
  go. That's total.
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  That total reminds me, like he could have wrote that for an
• 9:47
  Exodus lyric, you know, or, or style.
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  But yeah. And the other two, you know, I
• 9:52
  went in the studio ready to record them and it just didn't
• 9:56
  sit right. Like, I think it was the song
• 9:59
  High Noon I changed. And the other song I wrote was
• 10:03
  with him, another song I wrote with him that I had to go
• 10:07
  rewrite again. And it's one of those things
• 10:09
  where, you know, I could have very easily just settled and
• 10:13
  said, OK, I'm done. I don't let's move on.
• 10:15
  The songs had so much different styles in them.
• 10:18
  It didn't sit right. I knew that, OK, I, you know,
• 10:21
  I'm not just going to give up. I got to push push it a little
• 10:24
  more, which this record, the way it came together lyrically and
• 10:28
  the way I worked, I use it the the way we did it on Titans of
• 10:31
  Creation. On Titans of Creation, I didn't
• 10:34
  challenge the rifts. I just took the riff and try to
• 10:37
  do my best, which actually challenged me and and pushed me
• 10:40
  to an uncomfort zone, which actually made me write and and
• 10:44
  push myself to the to the limit a little more.
• 10:46
  So I was happy with the way Titans came out.
• 10:49
  So I went in the same mindset, like I'm not going to think
• 10:52
  about. I'm just going to take the songs
• 10:54
  and and do the same thing, not challenge the riff, just give it
• 10:56
  to me. Even though sometimes when I
• 10:58
  listen to a gun, wow, that's not a metal riff or that's not
• 11:01
  that's going to be on the new test record.
• 11:02
  I don't know. But in the end it worked, you
• 11:04
  know? Amazing I I now I'll circle back
• 11:07
  and say meant to be is going to be the track that I think a lot
• 11:11
  of people get maybe caught off guard is not fair to say, but
• 11:15
  they're going to be, you know, they're going to have to take
• 11:18
  time to absorb it. It you know, it's it develops,
• 11:21
  right. It's a simmer to a boil and I
• 11:23
  think it's a phenomenal track. And I was getting kind of like
• 11:26
  fade the black vibes or cemetery gates by Pantera.
• 11:29
  You know, just this like a little epic and you know, the
• 11:32
  guys can do, you know, very proggy things.
• 11:35
  Everybody in the band is, you know, masterfully talented upper
• 11:38
  echelons and music talent, right.
• 11:39
  So like you could do anything. But I think the choice to create
• 11:43
  a song like this, I I hope it gets heard live.
• 11:46
  I hope people latch on to it. Maybe a music video, I don't
• 11:49
  know, but it's it's pretty epic. Yeah, we're going to.
• 11:51
  It's funny you use that word epic, because when Eric would
• 11:55
  went to New York to Alex's for the first time ever to work with
• 11:58
  him, he came back and I asked him how to go and he's like went
• 12:00
  great. You know, we worked on some
• 12:01
  stuff. I'm like, well, let me hear it.
• 12:03
  And he's like, well, we're not done and we're still working on
• 12:05
  it, but work working on this thing, it's going to be epic.
• 12:08
  And I said, dude, man, that's, that's a pretty strong word.
• 12:10
  Epic, huh? But it was once I got the riff
• 12:13
  and the music, I'm like, wow, that takes me back to like a
• 12:15
  return to Serenity and total classic Testament with them two
• 12:18
  working together. It was epic.
• 12:21
  I was a little nervous because it was an 8 minute song.
• 12:23
  I'm thinking, wow, there's a lot of lot of lyrics here.
• 12:25
  And, and then once I found my place lyrically and I didn't
• 12:30
  hear the rest of, I thought maybe when I wrote it that man,
• 12:32
  I, I, I, I'm not done. I need to write a lot more
• 12:35
  lyrics. It wasn't the case because Alex
• 12:37
  and Eric just took it to this guitar lead journey after the
• 12:41
  lyrics in that middle section. Really some leads and styles
• 12:45
  I've never heard in testament and Alex and Eric really took
• 12:47
  that to a different level. And then bringing it back down
• 12:50
  at the end it, it just turned out so good, you know, and, and
• 12:54
  in the end it wow, it did turn out epic.
• 12:56
  And it was so good that we, we sat and said, you know what,
• 12:59
  maybe we should try some strings on here or string quartet or
• 13:03
  something. And then Alice said, Hey, I know
• 13:04
  David Eggers. I could see if he could wants
• 13:07
  to, you know, work on it and David was very excited to do it.
• 13:11
  And I think without any direction he came in and just
• 13:14
  nailed it. The way he bends his notes on it
• 13:16
  and just and moves within the riff.
• 13:19
  Perfect. And it's it's just one of those
• 13:21
  songs. I think you don't have to be a
• 13:23
  metal head. Even if you're not a metal head,
• 13:25
  you're in. And if you're a metal head,
• 13:26
  you're probably going to like the track because it's just
• 13:29
  really emotional. Just it's something about it.
• 13:31
  Right on. I'm so glad it's a real show.
• 13:33
  I'm so glad it's Edgar's a real cellist.
• 13:35
  Not that, you know, listen, if you can't afford a cello, you
• 13:37
  know person, they'll come in and arrange and record and you use
• 13:40
  sense or whatever or samples fine.
• 13:43
  Like no, no shade. But like, I love that it's a
• 13:46
  like at this point in this historic bands career, we're
• 13:49
  getting like an actual cello player to come in and do the
• 13:51
  part so good. Yeah, it's an amazing job, so
• 13:55
  good. And that just opens doors for
• 13:57
  the future to like, not be scared to put yourself out there
• 14:00
  like that. Right on.
• 14:01
  Don't be afraid to be sensitive, people.
• 14:02
  It's OK. Know your feelings.
• 14:04
  Be vulnerable. People like that makes you
• 14:06
  relatable. You know, everybody, I'm glad
• 14:09
  you were talking about Eric and Alex.
• 14:12
  Everybody. You know, I mean, Alex's leads
• 14:14
  on this thing. Or Bananas.
• 14:16
  But Peterson, who's very accomplished, doesn't give
• 14:19
  himself nearly enough credit as a soloist and and harmony
• 14:22
  player, has some great leads on here.
• 14:24
  You can pick him out finally. I think now you can really pick
• 14:27
  him out of each song when he comes in and the trade off and
• 14:31
  it's it's terrific. Yeah, You know, I think Eric,
• 14:35
  you know, he's never been the outspoken guitar player, always
• 14:38
  the unsung hero, and he writes all the music.
• 14:40
  But Alex gets a lot of that accolades because he's so good.
• 14:43
  I think, you know, it's always been a little chip on Eric's
• 14:45
  shoulder, I think just being that.
• 14:47
  And he's always like, you know, pushed himself to, like, make
• 14:50
  room for him to play his solos in the current records a lot.
• 14:53
  And I'm glad he has because he's came a long way.
• 14:56
  He's gotten so good. And some of the record, I was
• 14:59
  like, oh, was that Alex or Eric? You know, I mean, it's some of I
• 15:02
  had to really kind of listen and go, wait, that's not Alex's
• 15:04
  tone, that's Eric, you know, so I had to pick those out like
• 15:06
  yourself. But again, Eric, his riff
• 15:09
  riding, but his solo playing just is a notch up on this
• 15:13
  record. I don't know if it's because he
• 15:14
  didn't have to really tell Chris a lot, you know, Chris just got
• 15:18
  in there and did it, you know, with his guidance.
• 15:20
  But I think maybe that just opened up more room for him to
• 15:23
  focus on his parts too, you know?
• 15:25
  Word. I love that.
• 15:25
  And, you know, maybe Peterson has such a poker face, maybe
• 15:29
  what he needs to do, work on his guitar faces a little more like
• 15:32
  Alex does. Maybe he's been doing it since
• 15:34
  he's a teenager. So he's got it down, Knock, he's
• 15:36
  got it on lock, right? But like maybe Peterson just
• 15:38
  make a few more faces when you take a lead bro.
• 15:42
  Yeah, well, I think he's he's just he's opening up as a
• 15:45
  person. He's just been always just been
• 15:47
  shy and and, you know, not the guy that step up for interviews
• 15:50
  and all that stuff to where now he sees what it's done to him
• 15:55
  for so long being that way that now he's like, you know what, I
• 15:57
  can't do that. A guy.
• 15:59
  I want to be known. I want people to know that I'm
• 16:01
  the the backbone for this band. I need to get out there.
• 16:04
  So I'm glad now he's taking the time to step up.
• 16:08
  He's shooting videos, he's talking in interviews and he's
• 16:11
  he's making it known that, hey, I'm the main guy here, you know?
• 16:15
  Right on. I love that and I love that for
• 16:17
  him. We we had an in person
• 16:18
  interview. I remember those about 10 years
• 16:20
  ago back in New York City and I remember that he seemed a lot
• 16:24
  more relaxed even then, like he was like just much more chilled
• 16:27
  than I have. I met the band a bunch of times
• 16:29
  as a fan before I was a journalist.
• 16:31
  So, you know, super fun, super fun time and and I'm really
• 16:34
  proud of him and I'm proud of all of y'all.
• 16:36
  This record is is a banger. Of course I got to talk about
• 16:39
  another incredible cover by Cantor, right.
• 16:43
  Like, holy shit. It does seem to have the a
• 16:46
  little bit of the practice what you preach color palette, like
• 16:49
  the yellowish orange, but such a beautiful piece of work.
• 16:53
  And again, I the band has always been so good at visuals.
• 16:57
  It's it's like refreshing to get real artwork done by a real
• 17:01
  person. No AI, nothing against, again,
• 17:03
  people who are broke or need to rely on AI, but it's super nice
• 17:07
  to get like the realness of this record come through in the
• 17:10
  artwork. What's funny you say that?
• 17:12
  Because originally we with the first song lyrically and
• 17:16
  musically was Infanticide AI. So Eric right away is like, OK,
• 17:20
  that's what the album's going to be called.
• 17:22
  While working with Elleran on the cover.
• 17:24
  Now me and Eric kind of knew that, you know, we wanted to
• 17:26
  bring the nuclear explosion because we had a legacy flyer
• 17:31
  back in the start of our career that started out with the
• 17:33
  nuclear explosion with the legacy guy pushing the buttons.
• 17:36
  And last year we we just got this inflatable legacy guy with
• 17:40
  the hands ready to push the button.
• 17:41
  So we're like, let's kind of recreate that flyer and not the
• 17:44
  nuclear image, but we didn't want to open the door for people
• 17:47
  to criticize and say, well, it's beautiful.
• 17:50
  Is this album cover AI? Oh, did they use AI to help
• 17:53
  write these lyrics? You know, and so we just wanted
• 17:56
  to shut that door and say no, no, no, no.
• 17:58
  That that and the sketches I seen it didn't really make sense
• 18:02
  with the title AI went was going along and when we came up with
• 18:06
  Parabellum prepare for war. Wow, that fit perfectly with the
• 18:10
  with the that and the angelic Angel with the missile wings.
• 18:13
  I thought that was brilliant that he came up with that.
• 18:15
  It's it's so beautiful looking, you know, and I can't wait to
• 18:19
  see it on stage in the backdrop. It's just going to be like,
• 18:21
  whoa, holy smokes, gonna look awesome.
• 18:23
  And it did like you said when I first seen it, because all of
• 18:26
  our records have a different color palette.
• 18:28
  This one just popped out like, whoa.
• 18:30
  It is kind of like practice what you preach.
• 18:31
  So vivid and bright and refresh, you know?
• 18:34
  That was it, man, was it super nice to see.
• 18:37
  It's going to look super cool on shirts and merch and and the
• 18:39
  vinyl and everything. I'm very excited about that.
• 18:42
  And shout out to Nuclear Blast, always doing a great job on on
• 18:45
  the packaging. You've been with them for a long
• 18:46
  time. And and of course our pal
• 18:48
  Kristen who set us up. Super Thanks.
• 18:50
  And yeah, obviously you've been doing this anniversary tour vibe
• 18:55
  for a while now. We have a new record coming out.
• 18:57
  So how much of the new record do you think we're going to get to
• 19:00
  here live initially? A lot.
• 19:03
  We're going over to Europe next week and we're going to, we're
• 19:05
  playing two out of the gate and we're going to add a third one
• 19:08
  in there before the end of the tour.
• 19:10
  So we start rehearsals tomorrow again and we're talking.
• 19:15
  We already got those 3 new songs that we're going to put in down.
• 19:17
  So now we're going to start playing with some of the other
• 19:19
  ones just to see how they feel live.
• 19:21
  Because you know, that's always the problem.
• 19:22
  You're like, oh that's going to be a great song live.
• 19:24
  And you get in the studio to rehearse it, you're like, it's
• 19:26
  just not hitting as good as the record.
• 19:28
  And so these songs, I think are going to hit really well live.
• 19:32
  I could not agree more. I think that's actually 100%
• 19:37
  right. And Shadow People, which I
• 19:38
  didn't mention was the second single and it's a banger also.
• 19:41
  So it's just a lot of bangers. People, brace yourselves, gird
• 19:44
  your loins. It's going to be a very exciting
• 19:45
  time for some new thrash metal in 2025.
• 19:48
  It's hard to believe it's like a genre that is 45 years on is
• 19:52
  still, we're still getting leaders, putting out fresh
• 19:55
  things and you know, new bands up and coming bands getting
• 19:58
  signed all the time, doing fun things.
• 20:02
  So it's it's a very refreshing time to be a fan of metal.
• 20:06
  Well, you know, it's, it's kind of like a full circle.
• 20:08
  You know, it's not like we're trying to replicate what's
• 20:11
  current and the new bands are doing, but we're we're inspired,
• 20:15
  you know, to take what these guys have done with what they've
• 20:19
  been inspired off us and creating new styles of metal,
• 20:22
  which full circuit takes us back.
• 20:24
  And that's why I think maybe like Chris being so young, being
• 20:26
  a part of that brought that a little that to this band right
• 20:29
  now with this record where, you know, it doesn't sound like
• 20:32
  we're just rehashing riffs and and we don't sound like a band.
• 20:36
  It's been around 40 years just going through the motion.
• 20:38
  We're still enjoying the that we're being challenged and I'm
• 20:41
  still enjoying that. I'm finding different textures
• 20:44
  and layers of voices that I haven't used before, you know,
• 20:47
  because maybe some of those other records, Erlon were one
• 20:49
  sided in One Direction, in one feeling where this record's got
• 20:53
  everything. And you know, I think we're
• 20:55
  confident enough to like, you know what it is and it is a
• 20:58
  finished song because Eric even said, you know, but maybe you
• 21:00
  should go back and sing that again.
• 21:01
  I think maybe I don't know if that just like sounds like it's
• 21:04
  the demo. I'm like, no, I just hear it
• 21:06
  that way. It's just the way it's got to go
• 21:07
  in. And then over time it grew and
• 21:09
  he's like, you know what, you're right.
• 21:10
  It, it, it, that it, I don't hear it a different way now, you
• 21:13
  know, So I'm just excited that we did accomplish something
• 21:16
  like, because you're always trying to raise the bar and
• 21:18
  outdo yourself. And, and I think Eric and them
• 21:21
  did it on this record. And I, I joked to the Eric, it's
• 21:24
  like, we've been lucky. We've been writing some really
• 21:26
  good records. We're due to write a shitty
• 21:28
  record. When is that going to happen?
• 21:32
  I doubt it man. I don't know.
• 21:33
  I've been a fan for from the beginning.
• 21:35
  I doubt it. It could be a shitty record.
• 21:36
  But I will say this, interestingly enough, you know,
• 21:38
  thinking about the friendship and the partnership with you and
• 21:40
  Eric and and Skoll also going all the way back, you know,
• 21:44
  we've had a tough summer. Us metal heads, right?
• 21:46
  Lost Ozzy, Brent Hines, tragically, Thomas Lindbergh.
• 21:50
  These are all people you toured with, festivals.
• 21:53
  You knew them, you know. Do you ever worry about like,
• 21:56
  there's an end to testament someday?
• 21:58
  Do you not think about it yet? Is it too soon?
• 22:00
  About it. But you know, all we all say is
• 22:03
  the minute we're not having fun or can't perform 100%, that's
• 22:07
  when we'll throw in the towel. But I don't think if anything,
• 22:10
  we're aging like wine. I think we're just kind of we
• 22:13
  know what we do. I think we've been doing it long
• 22:15
  enough that, you know, it's the way I look at it is like if
• 22:19
  you're a weight lifter and you've been lifting weights for
• 22:21
  four years, you're probably going to be pretty fit and
• 22:23
  strong. And that's the way I look it as
• 22:25
  metal. You know, we've been doing it so
• 22:27
  long and, and doing different variations of it.
• 22:29
  I think we got a good grip on who we are as testament, but
• 22:33
  we're inspired by what's going on.
• 22:34
  But we don't want to be. We want to just try to make
• 22:37
  testament, you know, advance in our own world, you know, And I
• 22:40
  think we've done it over since the gathering.
• 22:42
  I think that's been our accomplishment since then of
• 22:45
  every record we've done. It's just we keep raising the
• 22:47
  bar up. Word, I love the gathering.
• 22:49
  I still listen to it every couple of weeks.
• 22:51
  I find myself hearing those tracks 3 Days in Darkness and
• 22:54
  DNR and you know, true believer, Oh my God, such a so, so great
• 22:59
  and hopefully still in the set list some of those things.
• 23:03
  Dovis can totally play all the Lombardo stuff, by the way.
• 23:06
  No, no, you know, we love Dave here.
• 23:08
  So you know, again, I love that kid and I'm really proud of him
• 23:11
  and all of you for this record. Parabellum last question, I
• 23:14
  always like to end these with a wild card question.
• 23:16
  This records coming out during spooky seasons, Halloween time.
• 23:19
  Do you have any favorite family Halloween traditions?
• 23:22
  Do you, you know you'll be on tour?
• 23:24
  Probably. But you know, do you do?
• 23:26
  What do you do? What do you do?
• 23:27
  I get. I get home October 26th, so
• 23:30
  right before Halloween and the last three years I haven't had
• 23:34
  got to decorate. I go crazy.
• 23:35
  I have a haunted house in my garage at that you can walk
• 23:38
  through one door and out the next and I have it totally set
• 23:41
  it with animated creatures moving.
• 23:43
  So when I first moved into that my new house here, it used to be
• 23:48
  the the neighborhood haunted house.
• 23:50
  So all the kids when I first moved said, hey, are you guys
• 23:52
  going to have the haunted house like the old guys?
• 23:54
  I'm like, OK, I guess I got a whole tradition.
• 23:56
  So I started buying all these animatronic figures and put
• 24:00
  together a haunted house and I go off crazy.
• 24:02
  I put on the whole costume. I scare the shit out of kids
• 24:05
  when it comes Halloween. And the last three years I
• 24:09
  haven't done it so that the neighbors have been every year.
• 24:11
  Are you going to be Oh no, I'm not doing it.
• 24:13
  Oh no. So this year my wife said I'm
• 24:16
  leaving next Thursday's. Like you're setting it up this
• 24:18
  year before we leave, just so the kids know when we get home,
• 24:22
  you can finish it up, get the garage set up and have those
• 24:25
  kids come to the haunted house. So yeah, I do it.
• 24:28
  I miss it. My neighbors throw Halloween
• 24:30
  parties all around the neighborhood.
• 24:32
  So it's it's going to be on this year.
• 24:34
  I love the idea of Chuck and family scaring the shit out of
• 24:37
  all the neighborhood kids. That's perfect.
• 24:40
  And play them some testament while they're there.
• 24:44
  Shock, man. It's always a pleasure to talk
• 24:45
  to you. Thank you for being very
• 24:46
  supportive of what we do for a very long time.
• 24:49
  Congratulations on Parabellum, October 10th on Nuclear Blast
• 24:53
  Records. Good luck on the tour.
• 24:54
  Be safe, be well, be healthy and we'll see you.
• 24:57
  We'll see it. One of the shows for sure.
• 24:58
  Thanks. Man, thank you.
• 24:59
  We'll see you.