On a recent episode of The David Ellefson Show, Testament frontman Chuck Billy revisited memories of his band's first U.S. arena tour in 1990. The trek was a milestone, pairing Judas Priest as headliners, Megadeth as main support, and Testament as openers. But according to Billy, the experience wasn't without its early tensions.
"Well, I remember we just flew in from doing big tour over in Europe. And I guess the biggest memory is the band you played in. [Laughs] No offense, Dave, but the other Dave [Mustaine, Megadeth leader]… I don't know if you remember that tour… Because things were growing for us, we had ordered a brand new Voelker drum riser built on a riser.
"All these cabinets showed up, backdrops. And I don't know if you remember, Dave [Mustaine] pulled them from us all on the start of that tour. He'd seen it and he said we couldn't use all of that, so we couldn't use our riser, backdrops and stuff," Billy recounted.
Billy went on to explain that his bandmates urged him to speak up. "And my band nudged me on, because every day K.K. [Downing, then-Priest guitarist] or [Glenn] Tipton [Priest guitarist] would come in and say, 'Hey, you guys good? You guys need anything?' And [my bandmates would] be elbowing me, 'Dude, say something, say something.' I'm, like, 'No, no, no.' And then one day [they went], like, 'Dude, just go talk to Rob [Halford, Priest singer], please.'"
Reluctantly, Billy did just that: "So I went in there and I told Rob what was going on, and that day he was, like, 'What? That is ending today.' And he went in to production and said, 'Testament gets everything up there. Get their drums up there, get their backdrops, get everything up there.' And when we went on that night, I know Dave [Mustaine] was side stage by the monitors — not you, Dave; the other Dave — and his arms were crossed. And he was just having a fit that we were having everything again. And it was crazy, but that was the biggest start of that tour for us."
Despite the friction, the experience was transformative for Billy: "'Cause things were starting to happen, and we were, like, 'Oh, man, we just bought this big show to play for Judas Priest and Megadeth, man.' And in the end we got to use it, and it ended up being great and it was amazing."
Looking back, Billy still highlights it as one of the biggest moments of his career. "That was probably the highlight, opening up for… Myself, I played Judas Priest songs on guitar all through high school. They were my biggest heroes ever. And that tour was just like a dream come true for me."
This wasn't the first time Billy revisited the story. During a 2020 appearance on Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn's No Fuckin' Regrets With Robb Flynn podcast, he recalled similar frustrations.
"For the Priest tour, we decided we were gonna spend some time on production. We bought a big, fancy Voelker Rack drum set. We bought two new scrims, full-on backline — the whole deal. Nice-looking show. And we get to the first show, and Dave Mustaine sees us have it up, and he says we can't use it. [So] we had a little problem the first week of the tour."
He went on to explain the financial and emotional strain: "I was pissed, because we just spent all this money, and those were the days when they were hand-painted backdrops — these backdrops were 15, 20 grand; they weren't cheap then. So we were, like, 'We're coming out to represent. Priest tour in arenas, man. We're coming out.' But Dave threw his weight around and said we can't use all of our new stuff. So for the first week, we were, like, tails between our legs, playing."
