Bay Area thrash band Testament has a long history, starting up in the old days when the Bay Area was a hive of great community and even better thrash. The band has a core of dedicated fans worldwide, and so it has been very exciting to see the old line-up once again for the band’s latest album The Formation of Damnation.
The band has gone through lineup changes over the years, and has coped with many things approaching disaster: vocalist Chuck’s cancer being one of them. Paul Bostaph, the band’s drummer, has only recently come back to the fold, but having known the rest of the band since the very beginning, he considers them part of his extended family. And even though he talks about the early days with fondness, he doesn’t miss them or wish he could go back to that time. In fact, he thinks that metal is being given new life by the generations that are now getting into metal and the new wave of thrash in particular.
“I was, like, 20-years-old, I had no care in the world. Every night you’d go out to see a great band play and it was a lot of fun. I do miss them, but I don’t believe you can ever go back: it’s all about what you’re doing right now. I think that now I see something different and possibly more exciting. Instead of being a kid now I see kids in the front row; new generations are turning onto a style of music that was deemed dead, and it’s given it new life. Heavy metal really will never die. It goes underground, but it doesn’t die.”
The band’s latest release, The Formation of Damnation, comes nine years after their previous studio album. It’s a long time in anybody’s books, but there are a lot of good reasons why the recording took so long. “Well, part of it was that Chuck had got cancer,” Bostaph pointed out. “They recorded and then they went on tour, and then Chuck finds out he has cancer, then Thrash of the Titans came up.”
The Thrash of the Titans festival, for the readers out there who may not have heard of it, was an enormous benefit show held in San Francisco on 11 August 2001. It was put together as a co-benefit for Testament vocalist Chuck Billy, who was diagnosed with the rare germ cell seminoma, and Chuck Schuldiner, of Death fame, who was also battling cancer at the time. It focused primarily on Bay Area Thrash. Thrash of the Titans was also responsible for getting the thrash band Death Angel back together and back on tour.
“I always say that Thrash of the Titans almost single-handedly reintroduced thrash to the world, coz all these bands got together again, and everybody looked around and went, ‘Hey, this was really good’, you know?”
Other reasons for the delay were band line-up changes. “The band had gone through some line-up changes between The Gathering and this album. Steve Smith left for Nevermore in 2004, right when the band started writing for the new record. I was still with it but it wasn’t happening fast enough and I got bored and moved on. Then they gotta find a drummer. After all was said and done and after all this time, it happened for a reason: the original lineup got back together, and then we were out playing live shows. Everyone wanted to see the lineup. So between cancer, lineup changes and all the excitement, we sat down and finally got to do a studio record.” I asked Bostaph how Chuck is these days. “Yeah, he’s good. He’s healthy, and he beat his cancer,’ Bostaph said delightedly.”
The band had a really strong idea of where they wanted to go with The Formation of Damnation, which meant that they didn’t over-write for it. They had about two tracks left over, of which one is likely to make it to the next record. The band didn’t put a lot of pressure on themselves to create a great album, and didn’t maintain any expectations about how the record would be received by critics. Bostaph also notes that he isn’t so burned out by the process that he didn’t enjoy it once it was done.
“We were into what we were doing and were excited about it, and that’s what made the music good. When we listened to it, were like, ‘Wow, this is pretty good.’ This one I’m not burned out on. As far as critics go, we never have any expectations. Critics do what they do. We did a listening party in London at the Crow Bar, which if you don’t know it is a heavy metal bar. There were members of the press there. It was like being at school taking a test! I didn’t bring a notepad but everyone else did; there were guys taking notes. Everybody said it was a great record; that it was amazing; that they were blown away. We never expect anything because there’s always someone that’s not going to like it.”
Tracks from the album were leaked early on the internet, an act that is becoming extremely common, and is causing consternation right throughout the music industry. Bostaph said that he wasn’t surprised that it happened, but that he wished it wouldn’t, mainly because it screws everyone involved in the industry.
“My reaction is, ‘Who’s the guy that gets the idea that’s cool? Did somebody pay you money?’ That really screws the band, you know. I don’t understand that mentality at all. There are a certain amount of people who get the album and we know who they are, so why do it? We all – the press, the bands, the labels – are in a small industry. Some of us make a living from it, some don’t any more. I’m not gonna condemn anyone, but they are screwing us, screwing the industry, and they need to think about the consequences.
“It’s also really up to the fans to decide: if you’ve got $15 to buy a pint of beer, why don’t you have $15 to buy your favourite band’s record? If you think, ‘Why should I put this guy in a mansion?’, what makes you think I’m living in a mansion? But I mean, the bottom line is that you gotta be able to deliver live, and if you can’t play live, then it’s come full circle.”
Testament is coming to Australia this September. If you are keen to see this awesome thrash band, you need to get to these shows. As Paul Bostaph says, “I’ve always loved Australia. The fans are amazing. I can’t wait to get back out there.”
Testament Australian Tour dates:
25 September – The Arena, Brisbane
26 September – The Hi-Fi Bar, Melbourne
27 September – The Metro Theatre, Sydney
