Testament was among the Bay Area bands that helped pioneer thrash metal. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Nuclear Blast Records

Rock fans know the “Big Four” of thrash metal: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax.

But a host of other thrash bands bubbled up under the household names who became the four horsemen of the extreme metal scene — many that rocked just as hard and brought new twists to the genre.

One of the most successful undercard bands, San Francisco’s Testament, will hit San Antonio’s Aztec Theatre on Saturday, Oct. 19, with support from Kreator and Possessed.

We talked to Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick via Zoom from Maplewood, Minnesota, where the band was playing a gig that night.

More than four decades after Testament’s formation, things are rolling along smoothly. The band is working on a new album slated for release next year, and Skolnick is excited about how the record sounds. The tour also is going well.

And why shouldn’t things be stable? Though Testament weathered a number of lineup changes since its classic ’80s era, two key elements have (mostly) stayed in effect: vocalist Chuck Billy’s catchy shouts and Skolnick’s distinctive guitar harmonies and phrasing.

Indeed, Testament is Skolnick’s life’s work. He was just a teen when he joined — around the same age when he took lessons from legendary axe slinger Joe Satriani. Now Skolnick finds himself entrenched in middle age with legendary records under his belt.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Do you have a good memory that you can share about Joe Satriani from back in the day?

He wasn’t well-known at the time. He was known as the teacher who taught the teachers. I had taken lessons with a couple other local guitar players who were very good. Their teacher had been this guy I kept hearing about, a very serious musician named Joe. It was like going to a classical piano lesson. There was focus, there was discipline. You’re there to focus. You’re going to come up with a plan and improve as much as you can. A lot of people couldn’t handle that. It was the San Francisco Bay Area. There’s a very relaxed culture out there. They pride themselves on being laid-back. I actually knew musicians who had studied with him. [They said] I shouldn’t take lessons from him because it’s too serious. To me, it was exactly what I needed.

If one Testament album could survive in a post-apocalypse bunker, but only one, which should it be?

That’s funny. I would probably say the second one, The New Order. Just because, for some reason, most of those songs are very popular with fans, and the set list always has something from that record. We try to represent as many records as we can. It gets more difficult with each album you put out, because you can only squeeze so many songs into a set list.

Practice What You Preach was the follow-up to The New Order. Why do you think that one resonated more with people outside the thrash scene?

Well, I think by the time we did Practice What You Preach, Headbangers Ball was on MTV on the weekends, and they would just play metal videos. And a year or two before, it was really kind of a fringe show with a cult following. By that time, it really started to catch on. And by then, Testament had a relationship with MTV. They had played the “Over the Wall” video, the “Trial by Fire” video. So we weren’t trying to break into MTV. We already had a couple of popular videos. When we sent them “Practice What You Preach,” it was a no-brainer. They just immediately put it on. I think that definitely helped.

There was a lot of hype around that record because it was recorded live in the studio, something not a lot of bands could pull off. Do you think that helped as well?

I think it certainly helped. I was pushing for that, just because up until then, it felt like the live shows had this energy. As good as the records were, we’d come off of a tour and just think, “Oh man, I wish we could record now, because we sound like a well-oiled machine.” So, with that album, we were working on the songs way in advance and just wanted to sound like we were on tour. We had actually been on tour a lot, even though we weren’t playing any of the new songs. We were pretty dialed in and able to capture some of that energy.

Was there thought of road-testing some of the material or were people just not into unreleased material?

I don’t remember. I think it’s possible we may have done a song or two before.

You can’t come out and play 10 new songs. People aren’t going to be into it.

No, no. If I remember, I believe there was a local show or two where we played the songs. So, we were really prepared for that, more so than on the previous one. The first one, we’d never been in the studio. We didn’t know how the process worked. And the second one, it was such a rush. We never had to compose a whole record from scratch before. We’d had all this time before the band was even signed with the first album. I think with the third album, we just kind of knew what to expect. And we just made sure to have enough material. I remember, because even with the second record, we were scrambling for material. It’s still a short record, but we added all these instrumental songs, which are cool, and they give the record its character. But yeah, we got in the studio and realized we needed more songs. This time it was “OK, we know we’ll have enough songs.” And back then, you didn’t have to worry about somebody filming it.

You left the band in ’92. In other interviews you’ve cited the closed-off nature of the metal scene and wanting to branch out. But then you came back, obviously. Spoiler alert! What changed in the ensuing years that made coming back to Testament attractive and plausible when you returned full time in 2005?

Well, they had been through a lot by the time I came back. They’d been through a lot of members. They had almost broken up a few times. Stuff happened that I wasn’t around for, which is good. (Laughs.) And also, when I came back, it was very organic. There were offers from promoters just to get the original guys back together and do a few shows. And we spent a year or two just doing occasional shows. And meanwhile, I was doing my instrumental music, I was playing for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra and I had a full-time career outside of the band. And when we finally decided to start doing albums again, well, we got we got an offer to support Judas Priest and Heaven and Hell and Motörhead. That was called the Metal Masters Tour. So, suddenly, yeah, this is just a great opportunity. Who would pass that up? We’re gonna have a resurgence. There’s the motivation. And I always made clear, when I came back, I’m still gonna have my other music. I’m gonna do my instrumental music. I’m gonna play with multiple bands. I have a full-time career outside of the band. And it’s for sure OK to do that. I think also audiences have gotten used to that. There’s plenty of bands where one or more musicians plays in another band. But for some reason, at the time, it was unheard of. And, you know, somebody doing something like jazz guitar was radical. I always thought the reaction to it was ridiculous. So, when I came back, it happened naturally. And it felt very organic. I think, you know, if I had forced it, I don’t think it would have worked as well as it did.

The Big Four shows happened almost 15 years ago now. There has been talk and rumors about more shows almost non-stop since then. But what if there was another show or shows, and Slayer didn’t participate? They were retired, maybe they’re not now — who knows? But if their slot was open, who should get it? There’s a strong argument for Testament.

Yeah, people bring up the quote, unquote, Big Four all the time. I have no problem with that. I mean, you know, I was the kid in the band when I joined, I was in high school. By the time I joined Testament, all the Big Four bands had records out. So to me, those are the Big Four. You know, I would opt to put Exodus [in the open slot], because Kirk Hammett started that band. They have a special place, but I certainly wouldn’t resist if I got the call.

You have a huge interest in performing jazz and improvisational music, and lead the Alex Skolnick Trio. Does the improvisational nature of jazz come into Testament live? Do you improvise solos, for example? Do you ever change chord voicings?

I don’t change the voicings very much. The songs are the songs, but sometimes you can find little spots where you can experiment. As long as it stays recognizable. It’s more prominent in the solos. And maybe there’s like a few bars where you play a lick that sounds bluesy. And okay, you can do a different blues lick, or a lick that sounds Middle Eastern, you know, with what’s called the harmonic minor scale. Well, you can change that lick as long as it has that flavor. So, yeah, I find ways of improvising, but I don’t go too crazy with that. I have friends that play in Broadway shows. They play in the pit on Broadway, and they play the same thing every night. But they talk about how, you know, they’ll change things up. So, the audience wouldn’t notice, but they do little things just to keep it interesting for them. They’re all great players.

$53-$111.50, 6:50 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, The Aztec Theatre, 104 N. St. Mary’s St., (210) 812-4355, theaztectheatre.com.

Subscribe to SA Current newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter| Or sign up for our RSS Feed

Related Stories

This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 15, 2024.