Former Bassist Greg Christian Makes Accusations of Wasteful Spending Within Testament
It’s been six months since bassist Greg Christian left Testament for the second time, but only now are we starting to get some sense of why, exactly, he parted ways with the band.
In a new Facebook posting Christian has spilled the beans — or, at least, his version of the beans. And, to the surprise of exactly no one, the split boiled down to one thing: money. Says Christian (via Metal Injection):
“The last straw [that led to my split with Testament was as follows]. [I was] sitting at the bar in the Seoul/Incheon airport [in South Korea], with a couple of the entourage, and Chuck [Billy, Testament singer] walks up and casually says he just spent three grand, cash, on a first-class upgrade. [He] said he thought it was worth it to be more rested for the first Euro show, [which was to take place] in a couple days. Then, of course, Eric [Peterson, guitar] gets up and walks over to the ticket counter (gotta keep up with the Jones’s or the Kardashians or whoever lol).
“[Here’s some] perspective. As my employer, in a business I helped start and put (at that time) just over 20 years into — 12 then 8 — and helped build from nothing the first time and helped resurrect from almost nothing the second time, this $3K for one first-class upgrade stuck in my mind, and when I got paid a couple weeks later, I was just thoroughly disgusted and done with Testament. ‘My employer’ thinks that his ass being in a more comfortable seat for one ten-hour flight is worth more than I was worth for five festival performances (on two continents — neither this one), a half dozen shitty flights plus a week and a half away from home and my family.
“I did this as a job…
“I don’t make anything off anything else, so it’s not a situation where I get anything off the back end. In other words, promoting the band only helped my employers — not me.
“I made $350 a day for show days, $175 a day for travel days / days off since 2005 — with not a penny more and no PD’s [per diems] so I had to spend about $300 out of pocket to eat in hotels and airports — or starve.
“I don’t know actual numbers — no one ever told me — but I heard rumors the band made $100K just for the one Korean show and watched both Chuck and Eric spend $$$ like it was true (of that I got about $700).
“That’s disgusting.
“Tune in next week if you want to read about a ‘band meeting’ a few years ago in Sao Paulo, Brazil (the last time I tried to talk to those guys about $$$) and hear a few of the things that were said…
“Beyond ridiculous…”
Of course, the only people who know if Christian is tell the truth or if this is just sour grapes are the bassist and his former bandmates themselves. Now you have to wonder if any of the remaining members of Testament will fire back. I’m guessing they won’t, which is probably a smart move — no need to call even more attention to Christian’s accusations.
Meanwhile, this whole rant gave me an idea: Christian should start a new band with Dave Lombardo, who also left a famous thrash act over monetary issues! I even know what they could call themselves…
