Testament guitarist Alex Skolick recently guested on Waste Some Time with Jason Green for a career-spanning interview. He discusses getting guitar lessons from Joe Satriani, his Testament career, the Alex Skolnick Trio, working with Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra, auditioning for Ozzy Osbourne, and more.

On working with Savatage for the Handful Of Rain album

Skolnick: "That was my first time playing melodic hard rock, which I really enjoyed doing. I recorgnized that they really needed somebody full time that was just all in for Savatage. But, I did play on that record, we toured the US and Japan. There's a live recording from Japan; I still get compliments on that. I had been a fan of the band in high school. Criss Oliva was a great guitarist... it was a real loss (when he passed away). Having played with Savatage, a few year later gave birth to what would become the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, they were splitting off into two groups - East and West - and it made a lot of sense to do."

Back in January, Skolnick issued the following update:

"Here’s something to send you into the weekend. Alissa White-Gluz (from Arch Enemy) and I on Queen’s 'We Are The Champions'."

"Quick backstory: Last spring, when lockdown 'challenges' were all the rage, we’d been among more than a dozen musicians and singers answering Brian May’s call in a wonderful, elaborate all-star video in tribute to first responders (Scroll back to last Spring to see the full version, with a different vocalist singing each line). For this we created a straight through 'jamming' version, with her voice straight through and remixed by yours truly (not easy, but a fun challenge!)."

"This is a special video posted on both of our Patreon accounts (thank you, patrons!) as a gift during the holidays. Now we are announcing it as it is available to view for all. Enjoy!"