ANNIHILATOR's JEFF WATERS Reflects On Missed Opportunity To Audition For METALLICA As JAMES HETFIELD's Temporary Replacement

Jeff Waters says that METALLICA approached the ANNIHILATOR camp to ask him to audition for METALLICA as James Hetfleld's temporary replacement (on guitar only) while James recovered from being burned onstage back in 1992. METALLICA's guitar tech John Marshall, who previously filled in for Hetfield in 1986 when Hetfield broke his wrist in a skateboarding accident, eventually stepped in on rhythm guitar while the METALLICA star's arm healed.

On Friday (August 23),Waters took to the ANNIHILATOR social media to write: "August 8, 92, Montreal. METALLICA & GNR [GUNS N' ROSES] are on their infamous tour. A Pyro accident burns James Hetfield; luckily, he was ok. 17 days later, he rejoined the tour, singing-only, while tech John Marshall filled in on guitar for him. HOWEVER... here's a little-known, cool story.

"Fast-forward to 2013 at the London, UK Golden Gods/Metal Hammer Award show. I was a guest, along with 5FDP, Duff (GNR) and others, presenting awards and hanging out, honoring MOTÖRHEAD and alot more. I arrived early, being a punctual Canadian, in a then, foreign land. There was a nice, fancy bar up in 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 hard. I get up there and not a soul was there. I ordered a bottle of water and then looked around to find a seat. Out of nowhere, a 'snarly' voice said 'Hey, Waters, is that you?'. I hadn't noticed anyone except the bartender but there was a guy sitting by himself, had glasses on and had a smile on his face. I walked towards him and (my exact words) 'Holy shit, you're Jason Newsted!'. So as a TALLICA/Jason fan, I was pleasantly shocked... that stopped quickly, though, as his next words were 'WTF happened to you, back when James got burnt in 92?'. I had no idea what he meant and asked him to explain. I then sat down beside him and he told me something pretty cool that I WISH I'd known! He said that, back when James had ben injured, they had a band vote as to who should temporarily replace him on guitar. I said to Jason 'ya?'!. Jason said 'we voted to get you but you never called us back'. Needless to say, I was in shock. C'mon. It is fkn METALLICA. Turns out, Jason said that one of their managers had called MY management office (I had 2 managers at that time, as did METALLICA) and they wanted me to do it. Jason said that their mgmt. was told MY mgmt. would get back to them... they never did! Now, after a short time, I figured out that MY mgmt. was likely worried that I might join METALLICA and they would lose their 'hold' on me OR that maybe the run with METALLICA might lead to me realizing that things were NOT right, regarding finances, mgmt., etc... Maybe they had no idea that James was irreplaceable! Either they didn't realize who he was OR it was the fear that I might realize that my business was not being run well! So now back to 2013 in London: Jason said 'we were all pissed that you never got back to us.' WOW! I was stunned and kept apologizing to Jason! He shook his head in disbelief that a manager would have not seen the benefits to even just having that 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 THAT YOU CALLED! WOW!!!

"So there ya go. Hope the other 3 METALLICA dudes hear this! I wonder if that would have changed anything or would have been simply a fun and honorable, temp-job!"

He added: "PS, this pic was taken, literally, 15 minutes after Jason told me I had that gig in 92 haha! Still in shock."

Among the other guitarists who actually auditioned for METALLICA as Hetfleld's temporary replacement in 1992 were SEPULTURA's Andreas Kisser and Bobby Gustafson, best known for his work with OVERKILL.

In a 2008 interview with Metal Rules, Waters confirmed that he had once been approached by Dave Mustaine about joining MEGADETH. He said: "With MEGADETH, it was a cool connection because in '89 we were touring with TESTAMENT and Chuck [Billy, TESTAMENT singer] storms into my hotel room and when he storms into your hotel room you stand up at attention and listen. And he's, like, 'Waters. Dave Mustaine's on the phone,' and I remember telling him to fuck off. He goes, 'No, seriously. He's on the phone.' [Dave] was looking for a guitar player and he was looking at Dime [PANTERA's 'Dimebag' Darrell Abbott], myself and Marty Friedman, and he obviously made the right choice. He got the right guy for that one. Over the years, I've got a call from him or someone around him saying, 'Yeah, Dave needs you or Dave wants to talk to you about...,' you know, this kind of stuff. So I was always the guy that was sort of there but never really went past being the guy he was talking to. After joking about that for long enough, we finally became friends a couple of years ago. We started talking and hanging out a bit so my goal some day is to write a song with him."