Testament’s Chuck Billy wants to tour with Metallica one day.
“I think my number one on my checklist is to be able to go on tour with Metallica, a band that grew up in our scene, our area, paved the way for this kind of music,” the singer told Andrew McKaysmith of the Scars And Guitars podcast when asked what goals he still has after nearly four decades with his band.
Billy continued, “We’ve never had that opportunity to perform a tour with them. We might have played a couple of shows and festivals over the time, but never got to tour. There’s a lot of history there that I really don’t know the answer why we never have, and maybe you could pose that question to them one day — why not? — and maybe I’ll get my answer someday what the reason is.”
“But that would be my number one, because I always look up to James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman] as a vocalist, his style, whenever I write music. Even to this day, my go-to is, ‘What would James do on this song? What would he do for this?’ So they’re a big inspiration for me. I’m glad that they’re forging forward, putting in the time and not giving up either after this many years,” he then shared.
This isn’t the first time Chuck reflected on his wish to tour with Metallica. In 2021, he appeared on The Jasta Show and said, “Whenever I’m asked, ‘What is the one band you wish you can play with?’, it’s always Metallica. It’s, like, we grew up with these guys [in] the same era, but we never went on tour [with them]. I think a few years ago, we did three shows in Germany [with them] on a festival.”
Then, the rocker talked about their conversation with Metallica, “It was funny, ’cause our band walked in and their band was walking, and we all kind of met in this hallway. And [we were], like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ It was a like old friends seeing each other. I think it was James [Hetfield] or Lars [Ulrich], they said, ‘Oh my God. Look at you guys. You guys all still got your hair. You guys are big.’”
“‘Cause Steve [DiGiorgio, Testament bassist] and Gene [Hoglan, Testament drummer] are all six-[foot]-two, six-[foot]-three. But it was great seeing ’em. And we’re actually playing [at the] Aftershock [festival in Sacramento], if that happens, in October. They’re kicking off four nights there, and we’re kicking off the first night with them. So that’ll be good,” he added.
In a 2017 interview, James Hetfield named some of his favorite thrash bands outside the Big Four of the 1980s. He mentioned Exodus, who were part of the San Francisco Bay Area scene with Metallica, and also Testament.