Chuck Billy
He’s an undisputed titan of thrash who shows no signs of surrender after 40 years in the pit. Testament vocalist Chuck Billy joins us to discuss the remastered versions of “The Legacy” and “The New Order,” the upcoming Klash of the Titans tour with Kreator and Possessed, new drummer Chris Dovas, the band that changed his life, memories of the 2008 Metal Masters Tour and the hilarious pranks of Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell.
Created and Produced by Jared Tuten
what's up everybody metal Dave here along with my co-host Jason McMaster bringing you another episode of the talk louder podcast today we are joined by one of the Titans of thrash metal Chuck Billy from testament is with us today and man he's got a lot going on they have a they've remastered their first two albums the legacy and the new order those are coming out July 12 so a couple days after you view this episode or listen to this episode you can look for those remastered versions of the first two testament albums a tour is about to kick off they're going out with creator and possessed Chuck shared a lot of historical stories with us we heard some great stuff about Phil Campbell from motorhead and yeah and the two of you haven't seen each other in a while so it's kind of cool that you guys got to connect yeah you know we're we're not close at all for the record but he's such a we we have so much respect for each other and of course you know Mike I'm fairly close with Gene Hoaglin so the years he was with I'm sure that my name came up and me and being gene talked about testament a lot during his time with them and yeah Chuck's just been over the years he's just been fantastic and we've been sort of in and out of each other's circles for a long time but yeah it was great to see him he looks you brought it up he looks fantastic and he's it's crushing it he doesn't look 62 years old he looks 42 and I mean is that a different it's quite a difference we kind of think about it it's quite a difference but I don't know I'm just so glad that testament is you know a Bay Area legend I would say they were a complete if not a forefather they were right there when all of that was budding and happening because that scene and you know how I get when we start talking about the Bay Area thrash scene is all of that and we brought that up with Phil Demel as well that's shit is so important to what was what happened in New York what happened in Texas what happened in Canada what happened you know the new way of thinking about playing fast with precision stop start riffing which is you know was called speed metal and then thrash metal and then it broke the mold so they were a big part of the movement it's obvious I'm not telling anybody anything new but yeah so good to see him and hear that they're celebrating the first you know the old school stuff and re-issuing and I think fans who who weren't even around who got the you know are finally going to hear it in the right way yeah exactly those albums again drop July 12th that's the remastered version of the legacy and the new order the North American tour kicks off September 12th that's with creator and possessed they're going to do some European runs before in North American dates and and Chuck told us because they are sort of celebrating those first two albums the set list is going to weigh heavily on the early stuff so that'll be a nice treat for all of you old school testament fans yeah and looking forward to that also because Chuck I mean he mentioned he brought it up actually that he had that bout with cancer I think everyone here is aware of that but he looks fantastic you and I have seen him in recent years he sounds great he still performs well on stage so it's just great to see him in such good spirits and good health and we were happy to have him today he could only spend 30 minutes with us but we crammed a lot of information in there yeah there was no one in fucking around so I think people are going to be excited about this episode yeah yeah happy to have him with us today Chuck Billy on the talk louder podcast Chuck thanks for joining us man you've got a testament is releasing two remastered albums your first two albums the legacy and the new order from 1980 in 1988 respectively and I understand that they're repackaged I saw some of your unboxing videos and they were really cool the vinyls like this splattered colored vinyl you've packaged everything with all these extra photos and liner notes and stuff so when you're digging back through the old shoe boxes full of photos and handwritten lyrics and flyers and stuff like that to put something like this together which of those things what piece of memorabilia jumped out at you and brought back all kinds of like really cool memories a lot of it you know actually what where I got a lot of this was our original manager attorney retired and he sent me like decades of paperwork and boxes of files I started digging through them and I found like original contracts and the original letters they sent to megaphors you know pushing our demo as the legacy you know if you're interested contact us and just all this stuff like holy smokes he kept everything you know so it was just kind of cool I was like you know what this thing this needs to be shared and then I started digging through my old boxes and finding original lyric sheets photos of the studio sessions just a lot of cool stuff that you know I've been seeing in 30 plus years just been sitting away and tucked away so it was kind of you know when we were asked let's you know share what you got like okay let's see what I can find and to both me and Eric surprise we had a bunch of cool stuff so nuclear blasts like let's make a 20 page booklet you know and put it in there so that's what we did we just anything that was all flyers a lot of original lyrics like I said the original contracts and all that are right there so it's pretty cool for a fan point of view just to see how it started you know what what it took to like send to these labels back then there no internet none of that stuff just all letters go through the mail and wait for response has Jason likes to say back when you had to lick a stamp right exactly the when you listen back to the remastered versions is there a musical element that stands out as vastly improved obviously everything is improved but is there any one particular musical element maybe your vocals or the good or the sound of the guitars is there anything in particular that's been vastly improved from the remastered well for me just just from from the old one to where it is now obviously technologies came a long way and you know doing our first record two records we didn't know any better we didn't to us we were just happy to hold it in our hand and say hey we got a record you look at this very cool and it sounded great to us back then but over the years you know especially when I hear it on radio it's so compressed and so squashed and so small and that was the big thing we really wanted to improve because I couldn't really listen to it was just tough like man I just wish it was better and we knew what we were doing and I believe around 2002 or so we actually went to Atlantic and asked if you know we can remix these records and they originally said you know no they're not don't want to be involved so we're like let's just go rerecord them you know and own them so that's what we did and that kind of sparked you know getting Alex and Greg and Louie the original guys back into the band again for a few years so just you know that whole thing just kind of revitalized the band at that point and you know and we went to this year now because after 35 years we retained the rights back so now we licensed through nuclear blast and we tried to remix but we still couldn't find the masters Atlantic doesn't have them the studio don't have them Alex Perry Alice who recorded he shipped him to Johnny's the and so they're lost so I received a box of stuff from Johnny years ago and I just didn't look through it and I looked through it and I found the mix is unmastered on half inch tape so I'm like okay let's take those and go remaster them it's obvious obviously gonna sound better than it did back then yeah and you know in the process when we sat in the studio in the Asheville and did this you know it just opened way up I mean it's just the volume all those effects we put on the records back then kind of dried up in the new mastering just it just something to it just unleashed compression and it sounds much better I just wish we could have re-bixed it's still all yeah I was gonna I was gonna ask is going through this process is there another album in your catalog or albums that you would consider remastering or do you feel like the rest of the catalog sort of caught up with the technology and they were captured as good as they could have been at the time and you're satisfied with them well yeah I mean over the years I mean the next record coming up for us we are gonna get back the rights in August is practice what you preach and you know we listen to that we put I actually have those two inch tapes and we put them up and they still hold up to the mixes we might you know probably remaster again maybe tweak it but we want we want to keep you know it's sounding original we don't want to change much to it especially starting from that record forward after that everything we're just gonna kind of let it roll how it comes out you know I think for the first two records we really wanted to kind of improve because those are the ones we just didn't know better and you know as you start doing records you want to just improve every record so I think over time they just kind of improved as we went along yeah well you mentioned a second ago you know when you when you're young and dumb and you you don't know any better and you're just happy that you make look we made a record you know and you're just a punk kid do you still feel that way even that you've you know made a ton of you know how how to ton of releases and just you know it's it's now your your dream job and and it's just it is a job and you know you write songs and you go in the studio and you know but on on on the the release day or the day the unboxing if you will like Dave mentioned do you still get that rush the same rush we do because you know you always love to have you're always challenged yourself when you're making record after record and I I believe in 2000 you know I 2001 I had cancer and I lost all my hair just I just looked in the mirror and didn't see the same person I thought okay my music career is done I'm going to spend time on my family and this is it and we made that record and and had the original band get back together in 05 and at that point things kind of changed because you know I felt like man I'm kind of blessed right now I'm actually getting to play music again but actually with the original guys and something felt like okay we're gonna go into this like we're gonna finish something together that we started that's kind of the approach we went and at as we were playing till 2008 when we decided let's make a record it wasn't about impressing the press or bands it was we were just all having a good time together and we're doing it together that the songs really were for us they're really if we are happy we really didn't care what anybody thought about the records or the reviews or none of that shit we're just like we're so blessed that we're getting to do this and make a record together this is awesome and then it just kind of kept going we always never wanted to talk about the future like is this gonna end well what's our plan you know what how long want to do this we didn't want to do that we want to just say let's just date one day at a time and just enjoy the moment and I think that's really kind of over the last records has been the mindset for us you know and we're just very lucky that shit it's been 20 something years later we're here still doing it with that mindset so that's fantastic records and you know it's a whole different thing you know yeah yeah that's that's I mean I was expecting you know the answer to be fuck yeah and you just blew my mind because I apologize I had forgotten about you getting sick and then coming back and then the band sort of you know the nucleus sort of like magnetically by some crazy force of nature got it all together when you were coming back from you know you're the dark place and yeah wow and so it's not it's not only yes Jason I get that rush every time there's a new record it's like every day that I'm together with my old school brothers and it's like a it's like the fuck yeah it's like new record day every day so yeah congratulations every day and you know it's funny you know bands have spans have squabbles yeah bands argue and squabble with each other I'm telling you we've never had an argument we've but you know the biggest argument maybe he's putting a set list together that's about it but there's never been any problems or issues I think when we were young we broke up it all just happened too fast we did four records in a row it was constantly on the road everybody was young thought we're gonna be rock stars and was a party hard like a rock star and it just kind of came to a point where enough was enough you know we needed that to go away from each other and and then over time me and Eric just kept it going and finally we found our way back together yeah you know and Alex has been back you know and Louie would still be here but he's got arthritis and he can't hold the sticks anymore and Greg decided to lead but we'd still be here if everybody is still going how to go you know yeah but I think as as the music has progressed bringing in like awesome drummers that we've had and guitar players we work with it's made us grow as a band and continue to progress as far as making music you know yeah you have a new drummer currently a guy who's much younger than you guys I've never really heard of him I don't know his background but from what I've understood from what I understand he's kind of brought some new life to you guys and the one thing I will say about you guys have had some amazing drummers over the years just incredible the best of the best but the the catch is always that those guys can't necessarily stick around long term because they have other commitments so maybe tell me if I'm correct here does the new guy not only bring some great skill to the to the to the throne but is there some chance that he may provide some stability because he's got you know he's not going to get the phone call from Slayer or you know or white zombie or Rob zombie or test or the cult or whoever well we never know but you know we joke like okay you gotta at least stay in the band 10 more years you know I'm 62 now okay okay if I get 72 and I'm still rocking like this I'll take it you know so we joke about that but he just turned 25 not too long ago he's a young youngster but he graduated from the Berkeley School of Music very smart kid very we're in the studio now recording I didn't realize how technical he was with Pro Tools and everything and and he's he's probably one of the top drummers we've ever had and he's he's young but he's an old soul and when we found him because we knew Jean was leaving that we started getting auditioned videos and we really liked his plane but we couldn't see his face he just played with his hair in his face and down so we thought you know maybe he's our age you know or close to it and um Lombardo couldn't uh fill it well Lombardo in it being back in the band and then he couldn't do a tourist week say let's call Chris see if he can fill in maybe it's a good chance to kind of jam with this this guy and we came out like wait you're what 25 or 24 at the time like okay but his plane we couldn't deny it he was just an amazing drummer and he doesn't act 20 his age he he's an he's an old soul but he's really um stepped it up for because Eric's the main songwriter and he really pushed Eric and Eric really asked a lot from drummers so I think just because Chris was such an amazing drummer the songs that we wrote for this new record I think a lot of newer younger bands are doing some great things with some real fast and brutal stuff Chris is bringing that to testament a little bit now and it's like it's kind of like a full circle where we started somewhere and here we are today kind of creating even stuff that people would think is current today and and uh holding up with like the bands that are you know doing very well these new bands that are coming up so it's exciting it's great and we kind of you know me and Eric would joke the other day we're like going did you ever think you know 62 you're gonna be thrashing this hard and seeing that heavy like not at all you know but here we are and we're doing it and we're enjoying it and again it's just enjoying the moment man do we have a timeline for the new album we hope to get it all recorded by the end well we leave June 11th our July 11th for Europe so we hopefully to get everything in the can and then we have some breaks between tours if anything we need to do at that time we'll finish up but it all falls on the label scheduling slots the guy who's gonna mix it when they're open so we're not a rush you know the label is not pressuring us they're just like hey when it's done it's ready we'll get it going but we want to get it going because you know we've been we've decided to release our last record right when the pandemic started and I don't know it was the best decision we thought well people are at home maybe they sit home and play it all day you know but we didn't think it was gonna last that long and two years later we're like holy we're still not on tour you know and and now we're touring a two-year-old record you know yeah so we had a few years out of that to tour on and then now it's like it's time for some new music that should happen to a lot of people you know they got this record and they got to sit on it or roll the dice and just put it out see what happens yeah thank God that everybody who had a record sitting there loaded in the chamber and then the world shut down I'm extremely happy that everyone most everyone said fuck it and just put it out there so everyone would feel alive at least audibly you know and be able to press play on something I think record sales went up I think radio heavy radio was doing really well I think people still got paid because it was extra you know airplay and sales people's catalog was selling because of the lack of touring I think so yeah that pandemic really switched from physical vinyl or CDs to digital yeah you know it's a it's a digital you know thing and you know unfortunately for us like our Atlantic contract which they still have we didn't even talk about online sales or digital back then when we cut these contracts so our digital digital roll rates were terrible you know awful you know so now today giving them to nuclear blasts we're we're doing well with the digital and digital is just taken off I mean our label just I don't use Spotify and I do now but I didn't our label came up to us and said you know the digital's are doing great do you realize what you don't spot them I said I have no idea so he pulled it up and I didn't realize we have like almost 3 million listeners a month and I was like wow that's that's crazy and he said here now Google this power put this band up put this band up like wow we're actually doing very well digitally so it really opened my eyes that it was a whole different thing but those things like that tools help us put together the best set list because we see what people are downloading we see what they want and so we're trying to give them what they want yeah you have a tour coming up I think it kicks off in North America in September with creator and possessed and that's an awesome bill right there oh yeah and I understand that you're focusing on the the remastered first two albums so it's going to be sort of an old school set of testament tunes which sounds awesome it is it's we're going to be doing that from now until the end of the year on all the tours we have we have we leave and we do Europe and we have some behemoth shows this summer but we're doing a combination of the legacy new order songs that just that set we come home do the creator possessed to our same thing and then we go back to Europe with creator and anthrax at the end of the year same same set so it's just it's going to be fun because those songs we don't really need a rehearse for those you know we just did Milwaukee Metal Fest we like guys we got one practice like why we know those and you know I didn't need the teleprompter or anything like for the sets when I put them together because so many songs I haven't remembered and played I have to study them and get them back in my brain for about a week but those ones they just come back like that you know all of us just they're right there and when we did the set like sounds like we've been playing these like a while like we're on tour so we know it's it's fun to play it brings back great memories and you know that that's the songs we really spent a lot of time at the beginning just would shed them and make sure they're right so that that's a good representation of who we are for sure well when you're young too and that's your young material I mean did you guys practice multiple days every you know every week did you have like did you practice like three or four days a week because I know I did when I was that age it's like my whole reason for living was going just going and hanging out with my guys and rehearsing the songs over and over like three four days a week yeah we probably did you know probably five or six because you know I came into the band I was playing us like 23 and the other guys weren't even 21 yet so we're all living our parents house and everybody wanted to get out of that house and no better place to go to the studio and they know Chuck's going to buy beer and there's going to be beer there and they're all going to be drinking under age and smoking weed and making music and doing what they love so that was the best reason to get out of there and let's just go to the studio and hang out jamming and just drink all day and party that that's what it was all about you know and and by that we really put in our time you know fine-tuning these songs yeah agreed speaking of tours I remember when you guys went out with Judas priest on their painkiller tour and I thought wow that is a huge opportunity for testament that's that's major major major and then you've gone on to tour with a lot of the big heavyweights of course but looking back on some of those historical tours which one would you say was the most memorable or most fun for you? I'm gonna have to say I think it was I think it might have been called the metal masters but in 2010 with black Sabbath Judas priest motorhead and testament I have a that was amazing if I may interrupt I have like a giant like the heavy plastic banner material that's like I don't know 12 by 8 from that tour that was an amazing promo yeah for us to be in you know the presence of my heroes was awesome you know in 92 or 3 Alex's farewell tour we toured with with Sabbath with dio sing and cross Europe so we really got close and really got tight and you know for him to have us out there and motorhead we became great friends with every all them and then of course free so it kind of made sense how we maybe we got the gig because we all did some times with them and we all got along great and maybe we're the right choice at the time and it was such an honor but it was it was it was a lot of fun with a lot of jokes being played a lot of pranks Phil Campbell's hilarious it's quite the jokester I can go on for day stories about that tour it was it was it was different every day had something different going on yeah I saw that in San Antonio yeah that was it we we saw that that tour and that was amazing God that's been a that's been a while back now yeah 2010 I believe yeah yeah that was that was amazing the my favorite Phil Campbell story is he he says to me he goes Jason you know I really like you man you're you're a great guy even though he never bought me a drink so total total Phil Campbell right there so totally I mean I remember one of the first days off we're like at an embassy suite or something and he was down at the bar and I see I'm like I'm gonna hang out with Phil I go down there and he's sitting at the bar cracking up I'm like what's going on with what's so funny he's just having a time in his life with himself you go sit down sit down mate and then he goes look at the elevator so he's I look up and he's looking at the other people are getting in he has a little he taped a little fart box up in the elevator and he's got the button for it so oh every it's a glass elevator so every time someone to hit the button it's all people and they're all looking around and especially when people are in there and don't know each other he's just having the best time by himself entertaining himself I was just like oh my god I gotta hang out with Phil more often so me and him came quite chummy and we started playing practical jokes on each other throughout the tour and the final show I might have been in there in the Bay Area he hired he bought a horse actually and rode a horse out on stage let me back up first of all sometimes he'd show up to the gig fully in a dress wig and makeup first the whole deal the whole nine yards first time I seen him do that he was coming down leaving the hotel getting an attack say I'm like dude what's going on Phil where you going he goes I'm picking up my girls she's at the airport so he's dressed up to go pick up a girl at the airport bring her back and you know I remember Dio bottom the wig and I think the dress and so that last show here he comes wearing his wig wearing the dress the whole get up on the horse and let me's behind pushing a broom and Phil's got his poncho pulling the horse across stage and because we were trying to top each other the whole that last week and that was the final show and I was like oh my god he pulled off the biggest prank in the world actually riding a horse across the stage as shit across the stage it was hilarious and then I think that same show he had 2000 newspapers he handed out for the front row and when Greece came out the whole crowd just put up newspapers reading the paper as they came out you know it's he had the best brain it was just it was it was one of them tours like you I hated that last day it's like I can go on forever doing this oh that's awesome that is awesome I know we've only got a couple more minutes with you but I wanted to ask you before we let you go what got you hooked on rock and roll what album or concert or TV appearance or what was it that made the bug bite you well I think it's probably like every musician I hear it was my first kiss concert when I was 12 years old aunt dropped us me and my cousin off in San Francisco at the show and I didn't smoke weed and I first time I see smelled weed and people are smoking weed around us and we made our way down and I think I got a shirt with jean simmons spit blood on me and it was something like oh my god spitting fire spitting blood just this demon up there and it really captured me so after that point I was in my garage of the backyard with my tennis racket trying to be jean simmons you know and originally I wanted to be a guitar player started playing guitar early and apparently I wasn't good enough so I had to switch up to trying to be a singer meaning my way to do that but of course I think it was probably kiss you know so but I was always a guitar player I loved UFO Michael Shankers like one of my favorite guitar players of all time and then Lizzie I'm big than Lizzie fan love that stuff so and I still listen to that stuff today like you know I'm not much of a modern day go out by and see what's current I listen to what brings a smile and bring some cool memories back to me yeah yeah that's what it's for yeah thank you so much for your time today man we really appreciate you look fantastic I'm so glad to see that you're healthy and you're and you're sounding great and you're looking great and we'll look for you in Texas when that tour rolls through and good luck on the new album I'm sure it's going to be a burner tightens of creation was great so we're looking forward to that as well thank you Chuck on behalf of my co-host Jason McMaster on Metal Dave along with our special guest today Chuck Billy from Testament on the talk louder podcast [Music]
