Eric Peterson is the only constant member of 1980s thrash legends Testament. With tenth studio album ‘Dark Roots of Earth’ just days away from release, Michael Wilson caught up with Eric to talk about the band’s journey from the old days of misshapen skull tattoos to playing Bloodstock Festival and their co-headlining tour with Anthrax.
“Four years is a long time in-between records,” says guitarist Eric Peterson as he explains the evolution of Testament’s sound. “We did two and a half years worth of touring after the last record [‘Formation of the Damned’]. After two to three years you think the same but you have different influences. I’m not listening to the records I listened to during ‘Formation…’. I’m listening a lot more to the old-school stuff that I grew up listening to – a lot of live records like ‘Unleashed in the East’ [Judas Priest], ‘Lights Out’ by UFO and Mahogany Rush.”
Whilst Eric doesn’t believe the new album necessarily sounds like the classic heavy metal he was listening to when writing, he wanted to create a similar vibe. Similarly, he was influenced by epic movies like ‘300’, “the killing in slow motion – that’s what I picture when I’m writing.” Yet, perhaps the least obvious influence on ‘Dark Roots…’ is the motion picture and much-maligned vampire film ‘Twilight’. “’Cold Embrace’ is about vampires, but it’s subtle like ‘Twilight’. It’s about how Bella switches over to the darkness.” Eric is quick to add, “It’s kinda weird though, because we’re not ‘Twilight’ fans – it’s just the way it came out.”
“It’s close to ‘Formation’ but more epic and darker,” Eric says, focusing on the thrash outfit’s tenth studio album. “It’s a lot more melodic, too, but we definitely didn’t slow down. We have a song called ‘True American Hate’ which is a thrasher and the record opener ‘Rise Up’ is a war song and battle hymn. It’s got this back-and-forth thing with the vocals that we wrote for playing live. We’ll have to see how that works out.”
Speaking of live shows, Testament will be playing Bloodstock on August 11th as special guests. They were last at the metal extravaganza in Catton Hall way back in 2007. “It’s been a while,” Eric says. “Last time we played there we were done doing the whole reunited thing. We’d just signed a deal with Nuclear Blast so knew we had a record coming out. This time we have two more records under our belts. We’ve worked out our live show, so it will be a bit different than back then. We’ve been around for 25 years so you would think we’d have our show down, but we’re still learning all the time.”
After Bloodstock, Eric says Testament will be returning to Europe for a full tour but it’s undecided whether they’ll be with Anthrax, “When we finished touring the States with Anthrax and Death Angel we started getting a lot of calls from Canada and Europe asking if we were going to bring the tour there. After festivals we’re doing North America with Anthrax and Death Angel then we’ll be coming back to Europe as well as Australia and Japan.” But Anthrax aren’t the only legendary thrash band Testament would like to play with soon. “There’s talk about doing thrash of the titans with a bunch of bands like Testament and Kreator.”
Undeniably, there’s a lot to look forward to from the five-piece. But looking back, it’s been a long and eventful journey since first studio album ‘The Legacy’ was released. Reflecting on their past trials, Eric recalls some of the highlights. “I think a defining moment for us was when we were on tour in the States for ‘The New Order’ record. We were playing for 150-200 people each night, and were asked to replace Megadeth in Europe for Monsters of Rock for a crowd of 100,000 people. Iron Maiden were the headliner touring ‘Seventh Son of a Seventh Son’. As soon as we pulled up in the morning, we woke from our bunks and saw David Lee Roth pushing his motorcycle towards us. He’d been kicked out of his hotel for riding his dirt bike in his room.”
Another moment that stands out in Eric’s mind is an amusing anecdote about his first tattoo. “This is the original skull,” he says rolling up his sleeve. “We paid some Chinese guy $30 each at a place called Ricky’s Tattoos. No appointment needed, we just walked in after drinking a six-pack of beer. Maybe we should have planned it more but we all had a good vibe and Chuck had $250 in his pocket – that was back in ’86.”
Testament have seen their fair share of the surreal both on and off-stage, including the time an enthusiastic fan showed his appreciation in a very special way at a previous Testament gig. “There was one guy who got naked whilst we were playing and started throwing his thing about. People were laughing at him and all the girls were like, ‘eww’.” Eric stares off into space and thinks on it. “That was pretty weird actually. He got kicked out and pummelled outside.”
Eric’s tastes are a bit more conventional than parading around in the buff; when it comes to thrash records he lists Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ and ‘Ride The Lightning’ among his favourites. Notable shout-outs are given to metal classics ‘Slaughter of the Soul’ by At The Gates and ‘Black Metal’ by Venom. For a great thrash song, Eric recommends “a very strong and fast beat with a good chugging rhythm and harmonies. Thirds are relevant for thrash, both ‘Into The Pity’ and ‘Burnt Offerings’ have thirds.” To maintain the great beat that he speaks of, Testament have recently seen Gene Hoglan back on drums after 14 years away from the thrashers. “The latest record was written before he came back, but when he came in he added his own thing and made it a lot stronger. What Gene brings is perfection to those beats and I think he did a really good job. It’s got a lot of punch to it and there’s not much samples or pro tools mixing – everything you hear, he pretty much played on the spot.”
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After Bloodstock, Eric says Testament will be returning to Europe for a full tour but it’s undecided whether they’ll be with Anthrax, “When we finished touring the States with Anthrax and Death Angel we started getting a lot of calls from Canada and Europe asking if we were going to bring the tour there. After festivals we’re doing North America with Anthrax and Death Angel then we’ll be coming back to Europe as well as Australia and Japan.” But Anthrax aren’t the only legendary thrash band Testament would like to play with soon. “There’s talk about doing thrash of the titans with a bunch of bands like Testament and Kreator.” 