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By Aniruddh "Andrew" Bansal
August 16th 2010, Los Angeles CA
August 16th 2010, Los Angeles CA
Andrew: You guys had 10 days off after the Canadian leg of the American Carnage tour, and you toured Australia in that period. What was it like, going from Canada to Australia and then back for the US leg of this tour?
Eric: There was a lot of jet lag going on (laughs). But it was pretty good. The Canadian tour went really well and now the US leg is going even better.
Andrew: You changed the set list completely as compared to the tour you did with Megadeth back in March. Is that something you did on purpose to give something different to people who are attending both shows?
Eric: Yeah we did the Legacy tour on the first tour we did this year with Megadeth and this one here, we are just getting 40 minutes so we didn't really want to focus on one record. We thought we'd mix it up a little bit and try to play different songs. But this set is pretty good too.
Andrew: I believe you allowed the fans to vote for the set list on the band's myspace page. Did you keep the same set or changed it up a little bit from what they voted for?
Eric: We are always intrigued by what our fans are thinking, but at the end of the day we have to be happy with what we're playing. I think everybody is liking what we've picked on this tour.
Andrew: On that Legacy tour you jammed with Glen Drover [who filled in for Alex Skolnick]. What was that like? I think he pretty much fit in because you had toured with him before as well.
Eric: We had done one-off shows with him here and there. In particular we did stuff in Mexico. He was Alex's pick in case Alex is unavailable because of all the different projects he is involved in, but that tour in particular that we did in Glen was more than just two or three shows. It was the whole tour and yeah, we had a good time with him and it was fun.
Andrew: How did you feel performing the Legacy in its entirety on that tour?
Eric: It was a lot of fun. It's our first record. We had done that record in Europe in a couple of special shows, but after playing it in America and playing it every night, we could really feel and see why we had success with that record. I thought that we had improved so much since that album, but it felt like the contrary. It was like wow I can't believe we wrote this stuff when we were so young (laughs).
Andrew: You've been writing a new album this year. How far has the process gone? Are you almost done with it?
Eric: Not necessarily as a band, but as far as ideas go, there are definitely enough ideas to make it happen. But as far as putting the whole band in the mix and putting it all together, that's something that'll happen when we get home.
Andrew: Chuck [Billy, vocalist] said in a recent interview that you are writing with the same mindset as 'Formation of Damnation'. Would you agree with that?
Eric: That's a nice thought (laughs). I think what he meant was that we're very happy with that record and that would be a good take off, or a good starting point. But you can never copy the same record. I think that's where our mindset is at, with the style of music and playing that kind of sound. But as far as writing that record again, I don't think that's going to happen. It'll be close to that. I think that would be safe to say.
Andrew: Alex [Skolnick, guitarist] has decided to leave Trans Siberian Orchestra. I guess that must work out well for Testament because he'll have a little more time?
Eric: Yeah if it turns out that way, that'd be great!
Andrew: This year you've toured with Megadeth, Slayer and Exodus, all three of whom have great new albums out. Would you say that thrash has come full circle in 2010?
Eric: Yeah, definitely. I think all the bands that you mentioned are very, very back on their game and look excited to play this style of music at its best. They are searching for their best sound, specially with the recording technologies and stuff like that, just getting the best sound they can get. But I think all the bands are very hungry and excited for their second wind basically, as we are.
Andrew: One thing I found funny about that Legacy tour was, you played the song 'Into The Pit' in an all-seated venue.
Eric: Yeah, that was more of an entertaining song that night (laughs). It doesn't help when it's an all-seated venue, but it's still a good time, still a good song to listen to.
Andrew: Can we expect a headline tour after you release the album, early next year may be?
Eric: Definitely. We have some ideas being put together as far as something a little bit bigger than just headlining, putting together our own mini thrash festival. We'd like to get some bands together involved in it. That would be great if we could have Testament, Exodus, Death Angel and Forbidden. I love touring with Megadeth and Slayer, specially Megadeth. We get along with them really good. I think it's a good match.
Andrew: Talking of festivals, you'll be doing the 70000 tons of metal cruise in January. Don't you think it's something unique, metal on a boat?
Eric: I don't know how I feel about that (laughs). I have mixed feelings about it. I think it's a cool idea, depending where we are in our recording cycle. It's right around when we'll be recording and mixing. So we'll have to see how it plays out, but the idea sounds pretty cool.
Andrew: When you were growing up and starting out as a guitarist, who were some of your guitar heroes?
Eric: Back then it was players like Tony Iommi, and Eddie Van Halen of course with the first Van Halen record. Joe Perry and Brad Whitford [Aerosmith] were a big influence for the bluesy kind of stuff. Definitely Iron Maiden's Dave Murray and Adrian Smith, and KK and Glen from Judas Priest were very big influences on me. And then later, people more in my genre of guitar players like Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield and the Whitesnake guys, specially Doug Aldrich. He is a great, great solo player. There are so many of them. Frank Marino from Mahogany Rush is a great player and so is Michael Schenker. The Scorpions had so many great guitar players when I was a kid growing up. So I would say all of these have had a big impact on me.
Andrew: A couple of questions outside of Testament. You have a black metal side project called Dragonlord. There hasn't been an album for the past 5 years. Is there anything happening with that band these days?
Eric: Yeah, time flies (laughs). I swore that I was going to have a record out in two years, but it just didn't happen. Things have just been so busy with Testament. But as far as any Dragonlord fans out there that like what I did with the two records, pretty much the music is written and done for the next one. We have to find a home again because both labels that I was on, specially the last one Escapi Records kind of fell off the planet and I just kind of got lost in the shuffle there. It was kind of a bad experience in the music business for Dragonlord. But besides that, the products came out really well. I would think realistically Dragonlord might be recording something this winter and may be a release close to the Testament release next year. So that's good news for people. A lot of people ask about that, so I appreciate that.
Andrew: You did a guitar clinic in Hollywood last year. So for the guitar geeks out there, are you planning on doing anything else this year or any time soon?
Eric: That was the first time I did it and I really wasn't prepared. I was kind of embarrassed. Now that I've done it, I'm like ok now I know what I do. I would probably imagine after the next record comes out, I'll do those again and I'll have a better formula and a better plan of how I would actually do it again. That was a good learning experience for me. They were happy and appreciative to have me there and let me be the guinea pig (laughs). That was a lot of fun.
Catch Testament live on the American Carnage tour:
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Check out Testament's official website.
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