In a recent episode of the ‘Talk Louder’ podcast, Testament frontman Chuck Billy was asked about the album, concert, or TV appearance that had such a big impact on him that it made him want to play rock and roll. The singer revealed it was KISS’ Gene Simmons and explained how he affected both his childhood and his career later:
“Well, I think it’s probably like every musician I hear. It was my first KISS concert when I was 12 years old. My aunt dropped me and my cousin off in San Francisco at the show. I didn’t smoke weed and [it was] the first time I smelled weed and people were smoking weed around us. And we made our way down, and I think I got a shirt with Gene Simmons spitting 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.”
He recalled pretending to be Gene Simmons after seeing the band live and revealed how he became a singer even though he initially wanted to be a guitarist:
“So after that point, I was in my garage of the backyard with my tennis racket, trying to be Gene Simmons. And originally I wanted to be a guitar player. I started playing guitar early and apparently I wasn’t good enough. So I had to switch up to trying to be a singer, make my way to do that. But, of course, I think it was probably KISS.”
Who Else Influences Billy?
Though his biggest inspiration was KISS, other names influenced Billy a lot too. He added in the same interview:
“But I was always a guitar player. I loved UFO. Michael Schenker’s one of my favorite guitar players of all time. And Thin Lizzy — I’m a big Thin Lizzy fan. I love that stuff. And I still listen to that stuff today. I’m not much of a [fan of] modern-day [music]; [I don’t] go out and buy and see what’s current. I listen to what brings a smile and brings some cool memories back to me.”
A New Record Is Coming
Testament is working on a follow-up to their 2020 album ‘Titans Of Creation,’ and they plan to release it in 2025. Last month, Billy told The Bone that their next album will likely have 11 tracks and include some covers. He added:
“We’ve took off from November last year to write the record. It took a while. We just got in the studio in May and June. So we’re finishing up. And right now, once we leave [for tour] in July, we won’t really have time until December, which is a good thing. We’ll be busy, but we’ll have like a week or two between tours to do any extra overdubs or anything. We’re gonna live with the record, which is really the first time we get to do this, because usually we’ll record it and it’s written in stone where now we know…”
See the interview down below.