Music fans love to see their favorite performers live and sing along to their favorite songs.
Fans of thrash metal band Testament have a good chance to do that when the group performs April 11 at Mojoes in Joliet.
“It’s something different that we haven’t been doing the last couple of years. It’s fun for us to go back. There are some songs we haven’t got to play in a long time,” said vocalist Chuck Billy of the Dark Roots of Thrash II tour.
Testament performs 1987’s “The Legacy” and 1988’s “The New Order” in their entirety along with select cuts from 1989’s “Practice What You Preach.”
The tour also marks the live reintroduction of bassist Steve Di Giorgio, who was born in Waukegan and recorded bass on 1999’s “The Gathering” and 2001’s “First Strike Still Deadly.”
Co-founder and guitarist Eric Peterson, original member and guitarist Alex Skolnick and drummer Gene Hoglan round out Testament’s lineup.
“I noticed a lot of new fans the last six or seven years,” Billy said. “We weren’t playing some of these songs ever. Some of the new fans and some of the old fans can go back and revisit it. It’s something that I think is going to be fun for everyone, for me and new fans.”
He cited “Curse of the Legions of Death,” “First Strike Is Deadly” and “Do or Die” as some of the songs he is looking forward to performing live.
The tour includes Nuclear Blast labelmate Exodus, which has a connection to Testament dating to 1986 when Billy joined Legacy, the precursor to Testament, after then-vocalist Steve “Zetro” Souza suggested Billy replace him because he was leaving to become Exodus’ vocalist.
“We have a lot of history, us really being one of the foremost leaders of thrash music from the Bay Area,” Billy said. “It’s going to be awesome especially the old-school attack. It’s just going to be fun, an old-school night.”
The new school is represented via Shattered Sun, a Texas metal band signed to Chicago-based Victory Records and managed by Breaking Bands LLC, co-founded by Adrenaline PR chief executive officer Maria Ferrero, former Megaforce Records and Crazed Management owners Jon and Marsha Zazula, and Billy.
Amid touring and managing bands, Billy said he hopes to continue working on Testament’s next release for possibly late summer or fall.
“We’re going to be together for three months on the road so I think with a lot of demos and a lot of time together we’re going to have a lot of opportunities to throw ideas at each other and work stuff out,” he said. “We’ve got to see what happens once we get on the road.”
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance writer
Testament
When: 7 p.m. (6 p.m. doors) April 11
Where: Mojoes, 22 W. Cass St., Joliet
Tickets: $27 in advance or $30 on show day; priority seating and VIP Meet & Greet Experience are sold out
Information: mojoesofjoliet.com or testamentlegions.com
Etc.: Dark Roots of Thrash II tour also includes Exodus and Shattered Sun
