Testament's Chuck Billy Dives Deep Into New Memoir

On Thursday (July 30), Chuck Billy joined Loudwire Nights to dive into the upcoming release of his memoir, Holding My Breath: The Two Testaments of Chuck Billy. He also shared some details about the future of Testament.

Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

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"I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I started the whole procedure," Billy admitted to Loudwire Nights' Chuck Armstrong about writing the memoir.

"I was working with a writer, Dave Erickson, and we put a good four months of talking a lot of hours in and [it was] really therapeutic. When you talk about and revisit your life, especially for me, I mean, I went back to eight months old. That's where the 'holding my breath' phrase starts. That's kind of something that goes on throughout my life as I use that 'holding my breath' reference and how it plays into my life as a kid."

Billy has been used to doing interviews talking about Testament over the years, but he's never spent much time diving into his childhood. So for him, that was a big part of the therapeutic nature of writing this memoir.

"That's why it's really the two testaments of Chuck Billy, because I talk about the early years, who I was and who I am becoming into this band and then when I got sick in 2001 and the band breaking up — that's the first Chuck, the wild Chuck," he shared.

"Then after beating cancer and having the reunion, it's a new testament and a new Chuck. There's two tales. But the thing of the story is when I was real young, I thought my life expectancy was going to be 38 years old. So when I got diagnosed with cancer, I was 38. I thought, 'Oh, the premonition is going to happen.'"

Billy admitted there are some intense stories wrapped up in that experience, being on the other side of beating cancer and starting to make music again and going through Native American healings. He thought now, 20-plus years later, it was the right time to talk about everything.

"Maybe it's time to talk about how the early Chuck and the new Chuck collided and made, maybe, the new Chuck."

What Else Did Testament's Chuck Billy Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

Why he didn't think he'd make music again after his cancer diagnosis: "I seriously thought I wasn't playing music anymore when I was ill. After I beat it, you'd look in the mirror and I'm like, 'That's not the singer of Testament.' I wasn't concerned or thinking about that, I was like, 'Beat it. Be with my family. I'm going to live.' But then having that break of getting a call to do a reunion show, [that] kind of opened that door. And then that was just like, wow, this is kind of a blessing to have this happen ... What you learn from the mistake of the breakup to let's not have that happen again, it's a whole different person and a whole different way to look at things and travel and do things together. It's totally two different stories, the way it happens."
The next book he'd be interested in writing: "I think a Testament book with the five guys, original guys, and then all the band members throughout the years, that would be the book I'd want to put together. The official [book] coming right straight from the fucking horse's mouth. All the dirt, good or bad, you know? That's what it would be. It would have to be because you'd have to get into it ... But I think we're all old enough to know when we're around each other, how to be cordial...we're all in a good place right now."
What's next for Testament: "Chris [Dovas] and Eric [Peterson] are already like eight or 10 songs into the next record already, so hopefully we can get in the studio in '27. That's our goal to get in and record another record then ... But we actually go into Nashville in August, early September, to remix Souls of Black. We own Souls of Black now, we own our first four records. Now that we took them back after 35 years, we're going to go in and remix that one and remaster and repackage, so that'll be coming out sometime next year. We just did the Practice What You Preach stuff and now we have a remastered vinyl that came out with a new album cover. We're going to do that for all the records that were retained in the Atlantic years."