Matthew Parker of MusicRadar.com recently conducted an interview with guitarist Eric Peterson of San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
MusicRadar.com: 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of TESTAMENT‘s debut album, “The Legacy”. What were your initial expectations of the band?
Eric: “[Initially], none. I just wanted to put a record out. Then when [second album, 1988's] ‘The New Order’, came out, we had a seven record deal with Atlantic Records and we just thought, ‘If we can live out that term, that would be awesome. We were watching a lot bands around us fold on their second or third album. We realized how hard it was. The playing is the easy part, it’s just everything in between — that’s what breaks bands up. I don’t think it’s the music at all, it’s the chemistry. It’s dealing with all of the downtime in between the two hours you’re onstage.”
MusicRadar.com: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned in your years as a musician?
Eric: “Just being consistent and sticking to your blueprint. It’s easy when other bands come into the scene that are like a whole new different style to go, ‘I wanna be like that now!’ But we have a following and we’ve got to be like, ‘This is how we are!’ It’s very important that you stick to your guns. When you’re a thrash band, it’s not a good idea to add rap, or start wearing trippy clothes — the fans can see right through that crap.”
MusicRadar.com: Alex Skolnick has been back with the band since 2005. Has the way you divide guitar duties changed over the years?
Eric: “The duties have changed a little bit. Alex is still the lead guitarist, but I’m starting to do a little more soloing now. As players, we’ve all grown a lot. Alex has got a lot of influences and it really, really shows in his playing. When you hear his leads, you know it’s him. But when Alex left the band I started taking on more. The other guitar players that I jammed with, first Glenn Alvelais and then James Murphy, were all like, ‘Dude! How come you don’t play leads? You’re killer!’”
MusicRadar.com: So that gave you the impetus to start developing your leads…
Eric: “It wasn’t like that before. No one said to me, ‘Play leads!’ It was just ‘Alex is the lead guitar player, you’re the rhythm. This is how we’re doing it.’ When Alex came back I said, ‘I’m not going to step on your toes — we’re not going to fight for solos here — but it’s just going to add more to it.’ And he was like, ‘Totally, dude! You should totally do that.’ That was a real breathe of fresh air, because the old way would have been, ‘Well, I’m the lead guitar player.’ We’ve all grown up now and it’s such a better band [for it].”
Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal of Metal Assault recently conducted an interview with guitarist Eric Peterson of San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below. Metal Assault: Finally, there is a release date for your new album, “Dark Roots Of Earth”. It must be a relief, considering how long this album has been in the works.
Eric: Yeah, it’s been a record in the making for quite a while, but it’s finally coming out now. There were a lot of hiccups and stuff, because there was a lot of scheduling to take care of. The last time that we pushed it back, we decided to put out some covers and some bonus stuff at the same time as the regular record, so that way the fans can choose what they want to purchase. So it got pushed back again because we wanted to do these covers, which actually turned out really, really awesome. We’re really excited about the covers. I think it’s worth the wait, and once people hear the record, they’ll be like, “OK, I don’t remember why, but this is killer!” [laughs]
Metal Assault: Obviously, the main reason for the delay was the lack of time, and also because you got on so many tours, but in terms of the songwriting, was there any big change while the album was being delayed? Or did it stay the same throughout?
Eric: No, it had nothing to do with the writing. It was just a lot of scheduling. We kept having tours pop up every four months that we were committed to, and we didn’t want to cancel those. So we just kind of kept going in and out of the studio. At one point, we were actually done and the record would have come out in May, but again the record company wanted some covers for the special edition. So we all decided against putting the record out and then put a bonus one out three months later. We didn’t the fans to be like, “Wait, I just bought the record. Now I have to buy it again?” This way you can choose. You got the regular record or the special edition. The one with the bonus material is way better, because it’s got three really good cover tracks we did in a way that we actually kind of gave birth to these songs again, I think. And it’s got an extended version of a song called “Throne Of Thorns”. It’s got a DVD on it with the making of the record, it’s got some additional live tracks from our last tour, and it’s got this really cool guitar thing where me and Alex [Skolnick, guitar] show all our guitars and the rig that we’re using. So it’s a lot of fun. That version is really good. And the album is also going to be out on LP, which is perfect for this album because you really have to buy the vinyl to capture the vibe of this artwork.
Metal Assault: At the time of this interview, I haven’t been given access to the album, so I have to ask you this. How does it compare to the previous one in terms of the overall sound?
Eric: It’s in the same vein, definitely. But if I have to compare it to any records, it would be a hybrid of “The Gathering” and “The Ritual”. What I mean by that is, musically it’s heavy like “The Gathering”. It’s really riff-heavy, it’s got a lot of melody to it, and it has the fast brutal stuff. Then it’s also got the slow heavy stuff. But vocally, and in terms of the way the songs are arranged, it’s like “The Ritual”. This record is a lot more melodic than anything we’ve done. “The Ritual” was like an easy-listening kind of TESTAMENT record, but super melodic. We had “Return To Serenity”, “Electric Crown” and some really good songwriting, but the drums were kind of … too easy, you know. There were some really good songs on there, but it lacked the heaviness of “The Gathering”. So, I think with those two ideas put together, the most melodic and the heaviest side of TESTAMENT mixed all together, you have “Dark Roots Of Earth”.
Metal Assault: You talked about the drumming. Do you think Gene Hoglan‘s return, at least for this record, helped you in that aspect?
Eric: Definitely. The songs were all written before Gene came in, and the beats were kind of were what they were already. But Gene came in and just played them better than they were anticipated. Like I said, you can have songs written and the beats all programmed or whatever, and the ideas are there, but it depends on what drummer is going to play them. Like for example, the song “Native Blood” is a catchy, melodic song, but it’s got a blast beat in the chorus. So it depends on who’s going to do that blast beat. It just happens to be Gene Hoglan doing it, so it’s going to sound pretty authentic and pretty brutal.
Metal Assault: Now this is something pretty much all fans want to know. What’s your permanent drummer situation? I know Gene‘s been touring with you on this run with ANTHRAX, but what’s going to happen after that?
Eric: We’re trying to make it such that Gene can stay with the band, and I think Gene wants to stay with TESTAMENT, but he’s got other things he’s doing. Just like Alex, who’s doing his jazz stuff and we try to work out scheduling, and I’m also starting DRAGONLORD again. A new album is being recorded right now and it’s going to come out soon. So we all have different stuff that we’re trying to do, but when it comes to TESTAMENT, when we schedule stuff we all have to stick to the plan. So that’s kind of what we’re aiming for, to make a schedule that’ll work for everybody. We do have the first tour in Europe for three weeks in August, and Gene is not going to be available for that. So that’s where we kind of learned our lesson. The communication between the management wasn’t spot on, and it kind of got messed up. Gene signed on for our Europe tour, but then he wasn’t aware that DETHKLOK was starting earlier or later, or whatever it was. So from now on we’re really trying to nip it in the bud. That’s out plan, at least. Drummers in TESTAMENT have always been a curse, but they’ve also always been a blessing [laughs], because the records are coming out better. For me, getting to write with a Dave Lombardo or with John Tempesta or Paul Bostaph, and now me jamming with Hoglan again, it really has inspired me with the music that I’ve written. Once I found out that I was going to get Gene, I really honed in on everything I wrote and went, “OK, I can actually get super fast double bass here on this part.” When I wrote with Paul, I was thinking of doing something here and there, but then I would think, “Oh, he doesn’t like to play that kind of beat. So I won’t do that.” So I was kind of compromising on stuff, but with Gene, there was no compromise. I just did everything that I wanted to do.
San Francisco Bay Area metallers TESTAMENT are working on a video for the song “Native Blood” from their forthcoming album “Dark Roots Of Earth”. Guitarist Eric Peterson tells Greece’s Rock Overdose webzine, “We’re gonna film it in an Indian reservation. It’s about people who were oppressed in life. We haven’t done [a video] in a while, so we’re kind of excited about that.”
TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy previously stated about “Native Blood”, “[It's] basically a song about my Native heritage. It’s almost like a protest song, that the Native Americans have a voice that needs to be heard — that’s the chorus of the song.”
“Dark Roots Of Earth” will be released in North America on July 31 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD was produced, mixed and mastered by acclaimed British producer Andy Sneap (ARCH ENEMY, NEVERMORE, ACCEPT, EXODUS). Special bonus tracks were recorded, mixed and mastered by Juan Urteaga (CATTLE DECAPITATION, HEATHEN, VILE, SADUS) at his Trident Studios. The cover artwork for the effort (see below) was painted by Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with ATHEIST, SIGH, ANACRUSIS and GWAR, among others.
“Dark Roots Of Earth” jewel case CD track listing:
01. Rise Up
02. Native Blood
03. Dark Roots Of Earth
04. True American Hate
05. A Day In The Death
06. Cold Embrace
07. Man Kills Mankind
08. Throne Of Thorns
09. Last Stand For Independence
“Dark Roots Of Earth” CD/DVD track listing:
01. Rise Up
02. Native Blood
03. Dark Roots Of Earth
04. True American Hate
05. A Day In The Death
06. Cold Embrace
07. Man Kills Mankind
08. Throne Of Thorns
09. Last Stand For Independence
Bonus:
10. Dragon Attack (QUEEN cover)
11. Animal Magnetism (SCORPIONS cover)
12. Powerslave (IRON MAIDEN cover)
13. Throne Of Thornes (extended version)
+ Bonus DVD
“Dark Roots Of Earth” vinyl track listing:
Side A:
01. Rise Up
02. Native Blood
03. Dark Roots Of Earth
Side B:
04. True American Hate
05. A Day In The Death
06. Cold Embrace
Side C:
07. Man Kills Mankind
08. Throne Of Thorns
09. Last Stand For Independence
In a recent interview with Decibel magazine, Billy stated about “Dark Roots Of Earth”, “We [recorded] it at our place in Oakland and at Trident Studios and Andy [Sneap, producer] came out and did all the recordings with us — as much as he could — and then we finished off some vocals and guitars at Trident studios. I think over the years Andy really knows the sound of this band, and kinda knows what we want. We’ve mixed stuff with Andy, so I think he knows without has having to be there physically with him what we are looking for. And I just haven’t heard anybody in metal come out with any better mixes! Honesty!”
Regarding some of the other songs that will appear on “Dark Roots Of Earth”, Billy said, “There’s [one] called ‘True American Hate’, which was kinds inspired by when we sent all our troops overseas there, and we were just seeing in the news when all that was going on a lot of young kids, under 10 years old, out there with their families burning American flags. And that was a pretty shocking thing to see, to see that generation, a kid that young being taught to hate that much. It makes you think what’s going to happen, 10 to 15 years from now when the majority of these kids have just been raised to hate? It struck me as a little odd. There’s a song called ‘Cold Embrace’, which we kinda hoped we’d be able to pitch the song into one of the ‘Twilight’ series movies; it’s a song about a girl becoming a vampire and never being able to see the sun again. ‘Dark Roots Of Earth’ is kind of a play on the band we have together, just like a metaphor, like TESTAMENT is a tree and all of us in this group are really embedded in the planet, in the earth, the environment and our surroundings. It was kind of a play on that. ‘Rise Up’ is more of a war song, like you’re preparing yourself for war, going into battle. There is a lot of cool stuff there.”
Due to a “serious injury,” TESTAMENT drummer Paul Bostaph was unable to take part in the recording sessions for the CD and was replaced by Gene “The Atomic Clock” Hoglan (DARK ANGEL, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD, FEAR FACTORY, DETHKLOK). Bostaph has since announced his departure from the group.
When asked if Hoglan — who is currently touring with TESTAMENT — will become a permanent member of the band, Billy told Horns Up Rocks!, “We’d like him to be, but I think right now we’re just taking it tour by tour. We don’t know yet. We just kind of unexpected had to do this tour before the record came out, so we haven’t really thought about it yet.”
Regarding how different it is playing with Gene compared to working with Bostaph, Chuck said, “We played with Gene before on our ‘Demonic’ record [1997], so we knew exactly what Gene was capable of and what he would bring to the table. We knew that it would definitely bring a different style of drumming, ’cause Gene‘s a different player than Paul. I think it just worked out. Eric [Peterson, TESTAMENT guitarist] had a lot of the [basic drum patterns] already done [for the new album], and Gene just had to kind of put his style on it.”
TESTAMENT’s Eric Peterson recently conducted an interivew with Dave Reffett of Guitar World, an excerpt follows:
When Testament was first coming up, what was it like going from a lesser-known band to a huge success? Did it feel like it happened overnight?
“Looking back, I always say we were a day late and a dollar short on some of our fame. But at the same time, we were pretty lucky. I was in high school and I started a band – and that band is this band. I just got lucky with people and I think what I was playing and what I made up, and I wasn’t following the trends.
At that point, everybody was dressing like IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST. Almost every band looked like that, and everybody had names that were EXCITER or METAL MANIZ or all these trendy names copying your favorite bands or whatever.
That’s when I was like kind of trying to do my own thing and I was incorporating GBH and listening to MOTÖRHEAD and THE SEX PISTOLS and trying to mix it with metal. It wasn’t until when my friends were in a band called RED-HOT or something stupid, they got this gig and said, ‘We’re going to play with this band from LA and they are really killer. Can you help us roadie tonight?’ I was like, ‘Alright.’ So I went to check them out and it was a band called LAAZ ROCKIT and a band called METALLICA.”
To read the interview in its entirety, click here.
Testament will release their new album, The Dark Roots Of Earth, later this year.
Their next concert is scheduled for July 31st in Italy. To view the band’s complete tour schedule, click here.
DRAGONLORD, the California-based black metal band led by TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson, has inked a deal with Spinefarm Records for the release of its third album, tentatively due this fall. Peterson states, “This time around we’ve created some pretty mature-sounding symphonic blackened thrash. It will have more of a melodic touch to it and memorable song structures. It’s still gonna be heavy as hell, but it’s gonna be a well-rounded record. New songs ‘Kings Frost’, ‘The Devil’s Insight’ and ‘Battle At Mordor’ will surely raise the hairs on your back!”
In a recent interview with Maximum Metal, Peterson said about the upcoming DRAGONLORD CD, “We were supposed to record in December or January. Good news is that the record is almost written. I’m really excited to get started. The first few records were good but I didn’t get it how I wanted it to sound. The new record is really gonna hit home for me and for my version of what I want it to be. I’m mixing my style with black metal and it’s important to have it work fluidly. [It's] gonna be great — really melodic and grown-up sounding without losing any of the edge that I want to bring to the album.”
DRAGONLORD‘s sophomore album, “Black Wings of Destiny”, was released in the U.S. in October 2005 via Escapi Music. The follow-up to 2001′s “Rapture” (Spitfire Records) was recorded and mixed by Fredrik Nordström (HAMMERFALL, DIMMU BORGIR, ARCH ENEMY) at Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden.
