Interview with ALEX SKOLNICK, lead guitarist with thrash metal legends TESTAMENT

admin February 5, 2020 Artist Interviews

Hello Alex, Davey here from Maximum Volume in Australia, How are you doing?

Very good, my friend. How are you?

Yeah, I’m doing awesome. Now, firstly, I didn’t even know you guys had a new album coming out until I did a bit of research on the internet before this interview. So the new album is coming out on the 3rd of April, and it’s titled “Titans of Creation”. And the band also dropped a single off there today called “Night of the Witch”. Tell us more about the upcoming album?

Yeah, we started planning an album last year, actually sorry, not last year, the year before, 2018. And we were sure we would have it finished and released at the very least, at the beginning of 2019. But then we got invited on the Slayer tour, one of their final ones. So we couldn’t say no to that, what a huge honor!

Oh, definitely!

Yeah! So that took up the whole summer, so that delayed things quite a bit and then by the time we were really writing, getting it together, it was 2019. So then we were sure we would have the album out last year, and more tours came up (laughter ) and great festivals. And then just been time to manufacture it. This made sense to put it out this year.

Okay, cool. How could you describe the album compared to say the last couple of Testament albums?

I think it’s a little bit different. It’s definitely got some of that flavor, but it’s got a few sounds that are different. I think it’s got a little more variety. But it definitely sounds like a Testament record, that’s for sure.

Excellent! So it’s been a long time since you guys have been in Australia, almost six years. It was back in February/ March 2014 for the Soundwave Festivals. The big news for all your Aussie fans is that you’re going to be here in March for the Download Festivals in Melbourne and Sydney, and a headline show in Brisbane. What can we expect from these upcoming shows?

Well, we’ll do some new songs. And also we’re working in a lot of songs that we haven’t played for a long time, which is a lot of fun. There’s actually even a couple tunes that we’ve never played. So yeah, we just been having to really change up the set. So, there’s going to be something for everybody, music from all different periods of the band.

So with the headline show in Brisbane, are you going to make that a little different to the festival set?

Yeah, you get to play a little longer for the headline shows. So the headline show, we’ll mix it up a bit more. So the festival set will be a good sample of a lot of things to come.

Okay, no worries. Now, back in December, you guys headlined the Silence Festival in Nepal. It’s the first time you guys ever played there. I mean, for a band that has been playing and touring for what, over 30 years, that sort of experience has got to be pretty mind-blowing.

Oh, absolutely! Yeah it’s amazing, I don’t think anybody thought that there would still be interest in this kind of music. And every year or so there’s a new generation of fans that are into it. It’s just been really… a real pleasant surprise. And it just feels current, somehow. The music has developed and the band has developed and it’s great.

Next week you guys are kicking off “The Bay Area Strikes Back 2020” tour in Europe with Exodus and Death Angel joining you across 27 dates. What an absolutely awesome bill for a thrash tour!

Well, it’s been talked about for a while. All the bands are friends and every combination of those bands have played together, all three. So it’s almost like our big four, except it’s the little three (laughter )

Yeah, definitely. I remember interviewing Chuck a few years ago and he was saying something about the new four or something along those lines. There was Exodus, Death Angel, you guys and I can’t remember who the other band was.

Yeah, the Big four were there first and it makes sense, but these are all bands that sort of followed. I mean, in a way Exodus was there early on, with Kirk Hammett, but by the time the band was touring on the national scene, by that time Metallica was already off and running and they really, just from the time they emerged on the national and international scene, they were the next wave, the second wave, the same wave as us.

Yeah the second wave, that’s cool.

A couple of months back, you guys released some interesting items with merchandise for the band, a whole bunch of different design hockey jerseys, which is really cool. Are all the guys in the band crazy hockey fans or sports fans?

Some of them, I’m not at all (laughter ), full disclosure. And I don’t think Eric is, Gene Hoglan definitely. Chuck a little bit, not so much hockey, more basketball and American football.

Speaking of sport, we’ve seen that you got to play the National Anthem at a Chicago Bulls game. Just you and your guitar, that’s huge!

Yeah, that was a lot of fun. And that definitely made me pay a little more attention to basketball, at least. Actually, it was a lot of fun just to feel so connected to the game and that was when I was actually in Chicago for another show for Metal Allegiance and it worked out perfectly. They needed someone to play the anthem that night, and I’d always wanted to do something like that and it was just great. It was great to play for so many different types of people, they responded. It’s just a very diverse audience. A few of them recognized me, “Oh yeah, I know who he is.” But there were a lot of people who had no idea, “Who are you?” (laughter )

You’ve been playing guitar most of your life, do you get a slight hint of nerves doing something like that when you’re up there by yourself?

Yeah absolutely, I can’t deny that. In a band situation you can sort of cover your mistakes, but that’s a very different scenario because it’s just you, there’s no do-overs. It’s just a set amount of time and everyone is paying attention to you.

Anything new in the works for the Alex Skolnick Trio?

We’ve recorded some new tracks. I’ve got some tracks coming out with guest artists which we’ve never done, we haven’t done much of. We’ve done it live but haven’t done it very often. And also because it’s going to be such a busy year of touring with Testament especially an album cycle, it’s going to make more sense to do singles. So I’m actually planning to do at least one single, but there may be more than one, and then it will be gathered for an album to happen next year with the trio.

Excellent! Lastly, any more Metal Allegiance material on the way?

Nothing new currently. We just had a great live show in Southern California at the NAMM Convention which we do every year. We started talking about it but it’s still a little early.

Thank you so much for talking with us today Alex. We are really looking forward to these upcoming Australian Testament shows, and the release of “Titans Of Creation” in April.

You’re welcome, I’m really excited!

Interviewer/ Writer: Davey Rintala

Get your Download Australia 2020 tickets here: https://www.downloadfestival.com.au/tickets