TESTAMENT frontman Chuck Billy spoke to Knac.com recently about a number of topics including working with former DIMMU BORGIR/CRADLE OF FILTH drummer Nick Barker. Here are a few excerpts from the chat:

Knac.com: How was the first show with Nick (Barker)?

Billy: "It went great. Sold-out show. A lot of energy. It was good, man. It was our first show since September or October, but it was killer, it sounded really good. It had a lot of energy, that’s what I really took away from that show. And the stuff him (Barker) and Eric are writing is pretty extreme (laughs)."

Knac.com: How did you come by him?

Billy: "We’ve known Nick for quite a while. It’s funny, we went out to dinner with the record company people and Nick was there and he was telling us how he was a Testament fan, he’d grown up playing the songs and if we ever needed a drummer to give him a call. And, of course, we thought it was just in good fun because we were drinking and having a good time. And when we came through where he was last year, we talked to Nick and said “Hey, why don’t you learn ‘Over The Wall’ and you can come onstage and jam with us.” So he came down and played “Over the Wall” and it sounded great. And at that point it was like, “man, that song sounded really good, it be interesting to see how the other ones sounded with him,” so that was when we decided Nick would be the drummer we worked on the new album with. And we’re excited about incorporating his style of playing with us, and vice versa."

Knac.com: He’s kind of an itinerant drummer, does he have anything else going on right now?

Billy: "No, not really. Nothing that will take him away from working with us. Right now he’s just going to be with Testament while we’re writing and recording, and then touring with it. We’ll probably be keeping him pretty busy. But since we to take a lot of breaks because of other people’s schedules, he will have time to do other things (such as playing with BENEDICTION)."

Knac.com: Was the idea to keep working with Louie (Clemente) and/or John (Tempesta) and they just couldn’t or wouldn’t do it?

Billy: "Yeah, of course we wanted Louie to be here, but he has his furniture business and he has some health issues, so he wasn’t able to be here. He has some arthritis issues, and if not he’d be right here with us. He did a great job with what he did with us last year, but I think playing again just kinda caught up with him. But we got to do it with the five guys, the “classic lineup” (laughs), for a while and that was cool. It was a lot of fun. We’ll have him come out and play a song or two when we’re in the area, but doing a whole set is just too much for him, so doing a tour is definitely out of the question. And John Tempesta, he plays in THE CULT now, they hired him for a year or two years, so he has no time. We keep him tuned up for better, easier gigs (laughs)."

Knac.com: When do you hope to get into the studio to record the new album?

Billy: "The plan is to, hopefully, get in there in April. Nick’s gonna be here up through there working with Eric. We’ve got probably four really great songs pretty much in the can and with a few months of writing we’ll hopefully have it ready to go. Alex has been out here working with the guys too, so the ball has started rolling. And as soon as they give me the music, I’ll be listening to it in my car all the time until the words and melodies appear."

Knac.com: You mentioned what Nick and Eric had been working on was pretty extreme ...

Billy: "Yeah, one song they played me is really brutal, it is beyond like even The Gathering stuff, like 'D.N.R.', it was really, really crushing, tight, heavy. It had everything, I loved it. If we can write 10 more songs like that, then we’re going to have a fucking great record. So it’s there, it’s just a matter of bringing it out and getting it down on tape. We’re due, and hopefully we’ll have a good record out this year."

Knac.com: Do you have a label right now, or are you doing this on your own to shop around?

Billy: "We’ll, it’s a bit complicated. We’re still with Spitfire, but they’ve been sold to another company so we don’t really know where we’re at. So we’re just forging on and writing the record and getting it ready. Someone’s gonna come along and it’s gonna happen."

To read the entire interview head to this location.