TESTAMENT's CHUCK BILLY: Why I Auditioned For SEPULTURA

In a brand new interview with Eonmusic, TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy confirmed that he auditioned for the lead-singer position in SEPULTURA when Max Cavalera quit the latter band in 1996. “Yeah, around that time was right before [TESTAMENT made] the ‘Demonic’ record, so we had finished our Atlantic [Records] contract, and we were shopping for a new deal,” Chuck explained. “We didn’t really have a deal yet, and at the last minute, I just said, ‘You know what? Maybe I should try to find a band that’s solid, that’s going to keep touring and continue on,’ and at that point, SEPULTURA was taking auditions, and I think it was at the end [of the audition process] that I decided, ‘Screw it, I’m going to do it.’ I think I did three songs; I did ‘Refuse/Resist’, I did ‘Territory’, and I wrote my version of ‘Choke’, and gave it to them. But by the time I had delivered, they had already made their decision for [the appointment of new singer] Derrick [Green], which in the end, was probably the way it all should have worked out.”

Asked if it would have been a strange feeling to be performing with a new bunch of guys after playing with the same band for most of his career, Chuck said: “It would have been, yeah. I don’t know if I was really prepared, and if they would have said, ‘Okay, you’re in,’ I would have said, ‘Well, let me think about that!’ I don’t know what I would have done. I just did it on the spur of the moment, like, ‘Fuck it! What have I got to lose?!'”

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser spoke about Billy‘s audition for the band during a 2015 appearance on “The Jasta Show”. He said: “Chuck [laid down his vocals over] the [demo version of a then-new SEPULTURA song called] ‘Choke’ … Because we sent the instrumental [version] of a new song [to prospective singers to record their vocals over]. We didn’t want anyone to sing ‘Roots [Bloody Roots]’ or ‘Refuse/Resist’, because we didn’t want a clone. We wanted somebody to bring new ideas, to bring SEPULTURA to a different path, to a different level. And Chuck Billy, he did… He used more of the guttural [vocal style on his audition tape]. And it works. Because, recently, we did a ‘Metal Allegiance’ jam at NAMM in Los Angeles, and we played some SEPULTURA stuff with Chuck Billy singing, and it was great, man — it was great. So he did a great job. But, you know, he’s Chuck Billy; he’s TESTAMENT. We wanted somebody new.”