Guitar.com caught up with Testament's Alex Skolnick, who talked about about the music that started him on his lifelong love of the guitar, his secret penchant for jazz and be-bop, and tells a story about convincing airport security that his wah pedal was not a suspicious package.

The moment it all started

Skolnick: "I always loved music as a kid, especially The Beatles and rock from the 1950s, such as Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis. Once I saw pictures of KISS and heard their music, I decided I had to play guitar. I was 10 years old."

The first thing I play when I pick up a guitar

Skolnick: "Lately, I try to imagine a groove in my head. Not a fast one, just mid-tempo, maybe funky. I’ll play bluesy and/or jazzy licks with pull-offs, slides and bends, keeping in time. It’s a good way to warm up and not play too much too soon."

My Spinal Tap moment

Skolnick: "I’ve had many! Some of my favourites involve going through airport security and having musical gear in my bag that the agents don’t recognise. One time I got questioned about an M-Box, an early interface for Pro-Tools. They thought it looked like an explosive device and had to call the Department Of Homeland Security in Washington DC. Another time, a fellow couldn’t understand my wah pedal, so I asked him if he was familiar with the theme from Shaft by Isaac Hayes, which he was. Right there in line, I started playing air guitar and mouthing the sound of the wah-wah."

Read more here.

Testament's new album, Titans Of Creation, was produced by Chuck Billy and Eric Peterson while Juan Urteaga of Trident Studios handled co-producing, recording and engineering. Andy Sneap was responsible for the mixing and mastering of the album. Eliran Kantor stepped up once again to create a new masterpiece of artwork for the cover of this release.

Order the formats of your choosing here.  

Tracklisting:

"Children Of The Next Level"
"WWII"
"Dream Deceiver"
"Night Of The Witch"
"City Of Angels"
"Ishtars Gate"
"Symptoms"
"False Prophet"
"The Healers"
"Code Of Hammurabi"
"Curse Of Osiris"
"Catacombs"

"Children Of The Next Level" video:

"Night Of The Witch" lyric video: