Testament frontman Chuck Billy recently opened up about a memorable moment from the band’s first-ever U.S. arena tour back in 1990, sharing how Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine famously “lost it” when Testament was allowed to use their full stage production on the trek with Judas Priest. Speaking on The David Ellefson Show, Billy looked back on the tour that helped cement the San Francisco thrash veterans as a force to be reckoned with.
Chatting with co-host David Ellefson, who was Megadeth’s bassist at the time, Billy said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “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 mainman]… 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.
“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.”
“That was probably the highlight, opening up for… Myself, I played Judas Priest songs on guitar all through high school. They were my biggest heroes ever. And that tour was just like a dream come true for me.”
Chuck previously talked about that tour during a September 2020 guest appearance on Machine Head frontman Robb Flynn’s podcast, No F**kin’ Regrets With Robb Flynn.
“For the Priest tour, we decided we were gonna spend some time on production,” he said at the time. “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 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.”
“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,” he continued. “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 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,” Chuck added. “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.”
