Testament singer Chuck Billy says he lost the Sepultura job in 1997 because his audition tape arrived after the decision had been made.
He told Greg Kennelty of the Mostly Yelling podcast that the band liked what he sent. They also said, well, shoot, man, thanks for sending it, but we already chose Derrick Green, he recalled. So they already had their decision made by the time I delivered.
The reason he tried at all is the part that dates the moment. Testament had finished their six albums for Atlantic, Demonic was the first record off the label, the original members were leaving and nothing was settled. I was looking for maybe something more stable, he said. I was maybe looking for something that was established, that had some future.
Sepultura after Max Cavalera counted as established in 1997, which from here reads strangely, since the band spent the next decade arguing with its own audience about the same question.
Billy has made his peace with the timing, and puts it in terms of what came after. All this Testament music wouldn't have been made years later, he said, and then the harder thought: what if I'd have made it into the band then and got sick with cancer in 2001. He was treated for a rare form of it that year and has sung with Testament ever since.