Shocker: Testament’s Chuck Billy Recalls a Moment Dave Mustaine Was a Catty Bitch
Everyone knows that one person that will do what they can to stand in the way of your happiness or success. Maybe they’re just unhappy with their lot in life so they want to bring you down too. As metalheads, would you be surprised if Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine was that guy to someone else? Probably not. That’s why a story shared by Testament frontman Chuck Billy during a recent episode of The David Ellefson Show rings so true.
According to a story shared by Billy (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), it all started 35 years ago during Judas Priest‘s ‘Painkiller Tour’ back in 1990. The supporting acts were Megadeth and Testament, with the latter being the opening band each night. Now, Billy and the boys had just released the classic album Souls Of Black that year and Practice What You Preach the year before — they were on a tear and looking to use the tour to keep that momentum going. That meant a bigger production, but Billy said that apparently didn’t jibe with you-know-who.
“Well, I remember we just flew in from doing big tour over in Europe. And I guess the biggest memory is the band you played in. [Laughs] No offense, Dave, but the other Dave [Mustaine, Megadeth leader]… I don’t know if you remember that tour… Because things were growing for us, we had ordered a brand new Voelker drum riser built on a riser. All these cabinets showed up, backdrops. And I don’t know if you remember, Dave [Mustaine] pulled them from us all on the start of that tour. He’d seen it and he said we couldn’t use all of that, so we couldn’t use our riser, backdrops and stuff.”
Rude. Also kind of a bummer, since Megadeth was obviously the bigger act at the time so it makes sense the dudes in Testament wouldn’t want to stop on any toes. That being said, they eventually turned the tables after Billy was pressured to ask for some help from the “Metal God” himself, Rob Halford.
“And my band nudged me on, because every day K.K. [Downing, then-Priest guitarist] or [Glenn] Tipton [Priest guitarist] would come in and say, ‘Hey, you guys good? You guys need anything?’ And [my bandmates would] be elbowing me, ‘Dude, say something, say something.’ I’m, like, ‘No, no, no.’ And then one day [they went], like, ‘Dude, just go talk to Rob [Halford, Priest singer], please.’ So I went in there and I told Rob what was going on, and that day he was, like, ‘What? That is ending today.’ And he went in to production and said, ‘Testament gets everything up there. Get their drums up there, get their backdrops, get everything up there.’
“And when we went on that night, I know Dave [Mustaine] was side stage by the monitors — not you, Dave; the other Dave — and his arms were crossed. And he was just having a fit that we were having everything again. And it was crazy, but that was the biggest start of that tour for us. ‘Cause things were starting to happen, and we were, like, ‘Oh, man, we just bought this big show to play for Judas Priest and Megadeth, man.’ And in the end we got to use it, and it ended up being great and it was amazing.”
Halford sounds like a class act, man. Good for Testament that they got to play the show they wanted to play, despite Mustaine’s attempt at being a metal diva about eveyrthing.
Testament are currently getting ready to launch their new album Para Bellum, which is set to release on October 10 via Nuclear Blast. Megadeth is also getting ready to start the promotion and eventual release of their final album and subsequent farewell tour next year.
