Testament's Chuck Billy participated in the podcast "No F * ckin‘ Regrets With Robb Flynn"conducted by Machine Head’s lead singer and frontman Robb Flynn. Among the subjects covered was the first Testament tour in the USA in 1990. Testament was opening for Judas Priest and Megadeth at the time. Judas Priest was the headliner and Megadeth played right before them. On this interview, Chuck Billy reveals some interesting details about said tour:

"For the Priest tour, we decided we were gonna spend some time on production. We bought a big, fancy Voelker Rack drum set. We bought two new scrims, full-on backline — the whole deal. Nice-looking show. And we get to the first show, and Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) sees us have it up, and he says we can't use it. So we had a little problem the first week of the tour."

Chuck Billy continued:

"I was pissed, because we just spent all this money, and those were the days when they were hand-painted backdrops — these backdrops were 15, 20 grand; they weren't cheap then. So we were, like, 'We're coming out to represent. Priest tour in arenas, man. We're coming out.' But Dave threw his weight around and said we can't use all of our new stuff. So for the first week, we were, like, tails between our legs, playing. And all the guys in our band said, 'Chuck, you seem to be friends with Rob Halford. Go in there and tell him. He keeps telling you guys, 'If you guys need anything, just ask.' Go in there.' And I'd had it. And I said, 'You know what? I'm gonna.' So, I went in there. It was, like, three or four days into the tour. I go in the Priest dressing room. I said, 'Hey, Rob. You got a minute? I need to talk to you.' I go, 'I don't know who to talk to, but I'm gonna come to you. And if it's your guys' decision, hey, I'm down with it, but I thought I would just bring it up. We bought all this stuff for this tour to put on a nice show, and the Megadeth guy says we can't play, 'cause they said you guys wouldn't let us use it.' And he was, like, 'What? Who said that?' Right there, he went and got his tour manager and said, 'Get in here.' Rob said, 'Do you know anything about this? Them not letting Testament not use their gear?' The tour manager says, 'No.' And Rob goes, 'You make sure tonight they get the damn gear up there.' So we had a full-blown show. And who comes sidestage to watch the show? There goes Mr. Mustaine. Mr. Mustaine is standing there, just pissed off — he just had that look. And we were looking over just, like, 'Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Dave.' We were putting it on, throwing it down. And that's how that tour started."

"This was, like, our first step into an arena: 'Oh, man. Maybe we're making it. We're doing it.' And to get shut down the first time, we weren't having it."

Chuck Billy says the tour with Judas Priest was a great experience nevertheless.

"They always came in the dressing room, every day, and said, 'How are you guys doing? Are you guys good? Do you guys need anything?'" he said. "And we were just too shy to ask. We did find out that they really were who they were. They stepped up and made it happen, and we had the full show the rest of the tour, man — and full sound at that point too."

Source: Blabbermouth

Watch and listen to the full interview with Chuck Billy below:

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