When Paul Bostaph was injured and eventually parted ways with the band for good, Testament were lucky to receive help from the “Atomic Clock” himself, Gene Hoglan. Not only did Hoglan (who now is helping Anthrax out as well) record the drums on their upcoming album The Dark Roots Of Earth, but has also been playing with Testament on both legs of their tour with Anthrax and Death Angel. So naturally, as the band still searches for a permanent drummer, Hoglan would be the perfect choice to replace Bostaph in Testament. And apparently singer Chuck Billy agrees.

In a recent interview with Jo Schüftan of Horns Up Rocks!, the Testament frontman was asked if Hoglan had become a permanent member of the group. You can listen to the entire interview below, but Billy responded with the following:

“We’d like him to be, but I think right now we’re just taking it tour by tour. We don’t know yet. We just kind of unexpected had to do this tour before the record came out, so we haven’t really thought about it yet.”

It’s smart that the band is taking their time with finding a replacement for Bostaph, even if Hoglan seems like a perfect fit. However, we also imagine that Hoglan’s commitments with Fear Factory might prevent him from becoming a permanent member, especially since they’ll be releasing their new album The Industrialist sometime this Summer. He could of course pull double duty and be a member of both (similar to what bassist Byron Stroud is doing), but it’s still a lot to juggle. And not to mention, Hoglan still does the occasional show with Dethklok (aka, the live version of the Metalocalypse  band).

Only time will tell if Hoglan becomes a full time member of Testament or not. For now, we can just enjoy seeing him playing with Testament onstage and on the new album. You can listen to Horns Up Rocks! full interview with Chuck Billy after the jump [note: Billy says the quote as seen above around the 6:15 mark].