TESTAMENT's original bassist, Greg Christian, who was most recently forced out of the band earlier this year, has posted the following message on his Facebook page:"I know last week I said I'd talk about a [TESTAMENT] band meeting that happened in São Paulo."I don't care anymore. I'm done airing the ridiculous, and (believe it or not lol) I'm saying my final piece here. "I could go on for as many years as I was back in TESTAMENT with stories of being slighted, lies, and greed, but my only real point or complaint is about live-performance money. "I don't own any part of the records or anything else and don't really care. But to use my name and likeness, as an original member, along with a 'recognizable personality' (for lack of a better term) on stage, along with what I actually brought to the stage, pretty consistently (just look at YouTube) and refuse to give me anything other than the beyond-ridiculous deal of NOTHING EVER of show money though I went through all the shitty travel, and all the other 'downsides' to everything, and had my face on the ads, did all the meet-and-greets, signings, and everything else is simply wrong. Everything else aside, I worked for and earned, at least some kind of piece of that. That's undeniable. And I'd've been happy with a much smaller piece than I felt I was worth. But not zero. "I believe it's personal. Directed solely at me. And I think there's a high likelihood it's a direct result of words I spoke back in '96. Though not very tactful, I wasn't exactly wrong about. And to push a petty grudge like that to this point is something I just can't understand. I would never do that to someone I hated, but to do that to someone you spent 20 years on the road with and helped you get where you are??? In my humble opinion (for whatever it's worth), that... that leaves me speechless. I just don't understand it. "For your information, for ALL the shows I played in 2013 and ALL the travel and ALL the time away from home and family, [I earned] before taxes $37,775 [and] after taxes about $25,000. With no PD's [per diems] and our travel schedule, that's actually more like about $21,000. That's reality, and considering the $$$ TESTAMENT brought in for live performances in 2013, [it was] cruel and unusual. "Thanks, guys. Love you too. "[I have posted] a pic of my W2 [see below]. don't want it to be the first thing people see, but if anyone has any doubts, there it is. "Anyway... I know I can be a long-winded fuck, but I finally said my piece... "This signals an end to my three weeks of throw-up Thursdays. "I don't know how anyone else even reads this shit. Makes me sick, but I had to let it out, and now that I have this summarized, it may be time to see what an attorney thinks... I dunno??? But I'm not holding my breath lol. "Anyway... on to new music..."In a recent interview with Germany's Rock Hard magazine, TESTAMENT guitarist Eric Peterson stated about Christian's latest departure: "Well, you know, I'll just say this
Greg, basically, I think, was basically struggling in his mind with what he was doing. And he just seemed very unhappy on tour, and he has a lot of different reasons; he can only describe that. But he just seemed very unhappy, and we just let him go. Like, 'OK, you're unhappy. Then go.' 'Cause it was a lot of tours where he was unhappy. That's all I can really say about that. Steve DiGiorgio came onboard for the Soundwave tour we did in Australia. Steve DiGiorgio is great. We hadn't played with him for awhile, but it's awesome."Speaking to 100PercentRock.com, TESTAMENT singer Chuck Billy stated about Christian's split with the group: "Well, I think Greg, he informed us that he wasn't going to be participating on the new record release and that was his last tour with us. We knew we had Australia coming up, so, of course, Steve DiGiorgio was probably one of the first ones to come to mind. He did 'The Gathering' record with us and we enjoyed that whole cycle of touring, so he was definitely, probably, our first choice. We didn't want to go through auditions and do all that. We just knew that he was here, and he could do it, and it was killer."Asked if there was a particular reason that Greg just had enough of it, Billy replied: "Well, I think that the last tour he just wasn't getting along, and he just decided that that was going to be the last tour with us, so we just kind of said, 'Well, okay. I guess we'll have to maybe look for what's coming up in the future.' You know there's nothing we can do."Christian was forced to leave the band's North American tour with LAMB OF GOD and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE in November 2013 for "personal reasons." Filling in for him was EXODUS bassist Jack Gibson.
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