Jeff Waters says that METALLICA approached the DESTROYER Camp to ask him to audition for METALLICA as James Hetfield‘s temporary replacement (on guitar only) during James recovered from the burns he suffered on stage in 1992. METALLICA‘s guitar technique John Marshallwhich was previously Hetfield in 1986, when Hetfield broke his wrist in a skateboarding accident, eventually stepped in on rhythm guitar while METALLICA Star’s arm is healed.

On Friday (23 August)Waters took to DESTROYER Social Media to write: “August 8, 92, Montreal. METALLICA and GNR (GUNS N’ ROSES) are on their infamous tour. A pyrotechnic accident burns James Hetfield; luckily he was OK. 17 days later he joined the tour again, only as a singer, while Tech John Marshall filled in for him on guitar. BUT… here’s a little known, cool story.

“Fast forward to 2013 at the London Golden Gods/Metal hammer Awards ceremony. I was a guest, together with 5FDP, Duff (GNR) and others who presented awards and hung around honoring MOTORHEAD and much more. I arrived early, being a punctual Canadian in what was then a foreign country. There was a nice fancy bar at the back of the venue and I was told to go up there and relax before the storm of metal and rock n roll hit with full force. I got up there and not a soul was there. I ordered a bottle of water and then looked around for a seat. Out of nowhere a “growling” voice said “Hey, Watersis that you?’. I hadn’t noticed anyone except the bartender, but there was a guy sitting alone, wearing glasses and with a smile on his face. I walked up to him and (my exact words) ‘Holy shit, you’re Jason Newsted!’. As TALLIKA/Jason Fan, I was pleasantly surprised… but that quickly stopped when his next words were: “WTF happened to you back then James burned in 92?’. I had no idea what he meant and asked him to explain. Then I sat next to him and he told me something pretty cool that I WISH I had known! He said back then James was injured, the band voted on who should temporarily replace him on guitar. I said yes to Jason ‘Yes?’!. Jason said, “We voted to get you, but you never called us back.” Needless to say, I was shocked. Come on. It’s damn METALLICA. It turned out Jason said that one of their managers had called MY management office (I had 2 managers at the time, as well as METALLICA) and they wanted me to do it. Jason said that their management was told that MY management would get back to them… they never did! Well, after a short while, I realized that MY management was probably worried about me joining METALLICA and they would lose their ‘influence’ on me OR that maybe the run with METALLICA could lead me to realize that things were NOT right, in terms of finances, management, etc… Maybe they had no idea that James was irreplaceable! Either they didn’t know who he was OR it was the fear that I would realize that my business was not being run well! And now back to 2013 in London: Jason said: “We were all angry that you never contacted us.” WOW! I was stunned and apologized again and again to Jason! He shook his head in disbelief that a manager wouldn’t see the benefits of even having this on an artist’s resume! Haha! I told him if he ever talks to the guys to please tell them that MY MGMT. NEVER TOLD ME YOU CALLED! WOW!!!

“So, there you have it. Hopefully the other 3 METALLICA Listen to this, guys! I wonder if that would have made a difference or if it would have just been a fun and honorable part-time job!”

He added: “PS, this picture was taken literally 15 minutes after Jason told me I did the gig in 1992, haha! Still shocked.”

Among the other guitarists who actually auditioned METALLICA as HetfieldThe temporary replacement in 1992 was SEPULTURA‘S Andreas Kisser And Bobby Gustafsonbest known for his work with OVERKILL.

In an interview with Metal rules, Waters confirmed that he had once been approached by Dave Mustaine about accession MEGADETHHe said: “With MEGADETHIt was a cool connection because in 1989 we toured with TESTAMENT And Feed (Billy, TESTAMENT singer) storms into my hotel room and when he storms into your hotel room, you stand at attention and listen. And he says: “Waters. Dave Mustaineis on the phone,” and I remember telling him to fuck off. He said, “No, seriously. He’s on the phone.” (Dave) was looking for a guitarist and he was looking dime (PANTERA‘S “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott), I and Marty Friedmanand he obviously made the right choice. He found the right man for it. Over the years I have received a call from him or someone close to him saying: “Yes, Dave needs you or Dave wanna talk to you about…’, you know, stuff like that. So I was always the guy that was kind of there, but never really stepped beyond the role of who he was talking to. After joking about it for long enough, we finally became friends a few years ago. We started talking and hanging out a little bit, so my goal is to write a song with him one day.”