In a new interview with Taylor Guitars, Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick was asked if there is a song in the band’s setlist that he is tired of playing live every night. His answer, however, isn’t something you would expect to hear.
“I had this conversation with Dave Mustaine at one point about ‘Peace Sells.’ And I told him, ‘There’s no way you actually want to [play that song every single night]’ — with respect to the song; it’s an epic song. But, yeah, he admitted if it were up to him, he probably wouldn’t play that song. Maybe not every night, but he’s gotta play that [song] every single set.”
Skolnick continued: “I don’t know if we really have anything like that. And we always rotate the songs too. So a song like ‘Souls Of Black’, for example, that comes in the set but it goes, too. It’s not always in the set. The only one we have that’s always in the set, no matter what, is ‘Into The Pit’, and it’s so short and so fast that you don’t really get tired of it.”
While this one particular song is a must-play, the band played their own songs on their recently finished US shows with an ‘updated’ sound.
“We’re focusing a little more on the first two records, because those were remastered and re-released,” the guitarist said in a separate interview. “So we’re actually doing those, including songs we haven’t done in ages. And it sounds good, partly because of the new technology. When we toured back in the day, the PA systems couldn’t handle the music, there would be speakers blown, amplifiers fried.”
“Now, gear is designed to handle this level of overdrive and crunch, whereas back in the day the amps were designed for bands like Foghat and… seventies rock. These songs have never sounded better, so it’s really fun to revisit them. So, this upcoming tour is really gonna focus more on early songs with an updated sound,” he added.
In other news, Testament is currently working on their new album, and according to Skolnick, it should be ‘wrapped up by the end of the year.’ While fans wait for the new album, they can catch the band on tour, with their next show scheduled in Budapest, Hungary tomorrow.
