Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice spoke to Testament's singer Chuck Billy in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on September 30th. Check out the interview below.
On the upcoming Metallica Tribute show in Florida and the legacy of Jon And Marsha Zazula
Chuck: "I'm gonna be at that show as well, I'm gonna go down there. I own my life to (Jonny) because he signed the band and gave us a chance to be recognized as a band first of all. And even after the first two records on Megaforce Records, we and a handful of bands went to Atlantic Records but still we kept in contact a long time over the years. I'd say maybe it was eight years ago we started a management company together. So I got to speak to Jonny and Marsha all the time, every day, and me and my wife spent a lot of vacation time with them either in the Bahamas or Mexico, or they would come stay at our house. So we really had a close bond. The thing about Jonny was, even up to the last few days of his life he's was always been a guy thinking of something; 'You should try this...' or 'Hey, this is an idea,' till the end. If he thought of something he made it happen. And of course, we got to reap that benefit of being on Megaforce with Jonny, a true legend. And Marsha, she was actually the one behind Jonny. He would have the idea and she would say, 'Jonny, you're crazy' or 'Yeah, let's do it.' Marsha was really the boss. I love them both. Metallica is doing a great thing in Florida with Raven. I'll be there. I'll be supporting them. I'm there in spirit for Johnny and Marsha."
On the status of his long awaited solo album
Chuck: "I've got a lot of tracks from different guitar players that have sent me tracks but there's so much to be done in Testament. I'm still promoting this record (Titans Of Creation). It's not time; that's just something I want to do eventually and hopefully fit it in after. Right after this tour we have time off until April, so we're gonna go right away and start working on the new Testament record."
On the new Testament studio album
Chuck: "October 15th is the last show of this tour, so we'll work right up to Christmas and then right after New Year's we'll get right back at it. I know Eric (Peterson) and Alex (Skolnick) have been working and jamming together, and I hear there's an epic song that's been created. I haven't heard it yet but I hear it's epic, that's all they say. It's epic. That's the word they throw at me so we'll see. I think Testament will always stay in the vein of Testament and not follow trends or follow what's hip today. We want to kind of stay Testament because I hear it from fans when you talk to them. They always say, thank you for being who you are for so long, so we just have to continue that."
Remaining dates on The Bay Strikes Back Tour 2022 are as follows:
October
3 - Ft. Wayne, IN - Piere's
4 - Milwaukee, WI - The Rave
6 - Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings Theatre
8 - Calgary, AB - Palace Theatre
10 - Vancouver, BC - Commodore
12 - Ventura, CA - Majestic Ventura Theater
13 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
14 - Reno, NV - Cargo
15 - San Jose, CA - San Jose Civic
