TESTAMENT‘s Chuck Billy has contributed “additional voices” to “What If… Doctor Strange Lost His Heart Instead Of His Hands?”, the fourth episode of the first season of Marvel‘s new animated series “What If …?” The Disney+ series devotes each of its episodes to a different alternate-universe scenario in which things are utterly changed in ways large and small.
Billy discussed his contribution to “What If …?” during an appearance on a recent episode of “The Jasta Show” podcast. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “That was an experience, because the producer was actually a TESTAMENT fan, and he actually seeked [sic] me out. And it was so great and made it so easy. I’d never done that for a movie and action part. So when you go in there, they got this — it’s like a barricade you stand in front of, a padded barricade, and there’s the screen and the microphone. So you can use the barricade to kind of move and get into character. And I was doing a lot of flying and yelling and fighting and shit like that. So it was great, ’cause the producer was, like, ‘All right, so on this part, do the ‘Demonic’ voice.’ And I’m, like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So I’d do that. ‘Okay, on this one, do the ‘Practice What You Preach’ voice.’ It was so cool that he could give me direction like that. It was the easiest thing. And I had a blast. And it was right the middle of COVID.
“It’s gonna be out on the Disney network channel, so I went down to Disney in L.A.,” he explained. “Total protocol. At least I got to go in there and do my own thing with them. But it was really cool. And if it goes well, I’m gonna get second season. So that’s something I’m looking forward to. It was badass. I think people are gonna dig it when this comes out.”
Chuck is not the only metal musician to have done voiceover work. ARMORED SAINT/ex-ANTHRAX singer John Bush has famously voiced Burger King TV commercials, while TWISTED SISTER‘s Dee Snider has narrated the popular rock docuseries “Breaking The Band” which airs on Reelz and chronicles the breakups of A-list bands.
“Me and John actually have the same voiceover agent,” Chuck told “The Jasta Show”. “That’s who kind of stepped in to put this all together as well.
“The voiceover stuff is great,” Billy continued. “I almost got — AC/DC ‘Black Ice’, when that came out, back then I almost got a Taco Bell commercial. Out of a couple of thousand people, it was down to me and one other guy for this video game with a Native American gas station attendant. So I almost got that one. I was, like, ‘Oh, this is right up my alley. I’m gonna get this one.’ But it was great. It was fun. Those things, they pay very well.”
TESTAMENT‘s “The Bay Strikes Back Tour” with EXODUS and DEATH ANGEL will kick off on October 6 at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California and make stops in Austin, New York, and Detroit before concluding on November 27 at The Fox in Oakland.
