ONSLAUGHT's NIGE ROCKETT Is 'Still Struggling A Lot' After His Health Issues

In a new interview with the Rock 'N' Blues Experience, guitarist Nige Rockett of the U.K.-based thrash metal veterans ONSLAUGHT opened up about his road to recovery after being absent from the group for about three years due to his illness, including a battle with cancer. Asked how he is feeling at the moment, Nige responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I'm okay. I won't lie — I'm still struggling a lot. The spinal thing, the two [operations] really took a lot out of me, 'cause I basically lost the use of my arms. That's why I had to step out of the band. They cut my throat open, went in and took some of my spine away and put [in] a metal cage. Because the discs were compressing my nerve that goes out to both arms, and it basically stopped sending signals to move your arms. And I couldn't pick up a drink, I couldn't pick up a phone. And it virtually happened overnight. So we battled for six to nine months to get the operation in the first place. And then they said you may have a five to 30 percent chance of recovery and moving forward. So we took the chance — a risky operation because it's so near your spinal cord and stuff, but I was willing to take that chance. The operation was huge success. Immediately after that, another problem, or the same problem, appeared at the bottom of my back, which started to limit my leg use. Then it was, like, 'Oh.' I had just recovered from one thing, and then this comes. Over that three-year period, I lost a lot of muscle mass, [and I was] very weak. And I'm still fighting to regain that. I've gotta be very careful with how I do things. I just can't go into the gym and start pumping weights. And then to top it all, we had the cancer issues, which are now all clear, all gone. And I think I've got my last checks coming up soon, and that should be signed off hopefully soon."

Asked what it was like for him to return to performing live with ONSLAUGHT after a three-year absence, Nige said: "The first [gig] back was on a cruise ship [on the 2025 edition of the 70000 Tons Of Metal cruise]. I was still suffering from some balance issues. So you're playing on a ship — rocking left, right, up and down — and that was my biggest anxiety, that it was gonna be a rough sailing, and I'm going on stage and all of a sudden I'm falling over.

"I don't tend to get nervous, but I should say more apprehensive than nervous, I guess," he explained. "But just to get that first one out of the way. I'm still struggling now. I have to do things a different way. And I have to be very careful what I do on stage. I have to be very mindful of where other people are at the moment, mainly 'cause of balance and strength issues. But, yeah, I feel I'm getting stronger."

Rockett previously discussed his recovery last August in an interview with The Tampa Morgue. He said at the time: "Yeah, it was tough. It's been a tough three years. I'm still not back 100 percent. I'm still working on things. My playing's still not where it should be. I reckon I'm running at about 70 percent, because I completely lost the use of my arms three years ago. I had a [compressed] nerve in my spine, the nerve that controls both your arms. It got completely crushed, basically, and wouldn't function. So I eventually got surgery after a year on that. They basically cut my throat open, went in, [took] out one of your bones in your spine — I think it was L5 or L6, the one that touches the nerves — and put a metal cage into my spine, basically, to stop anything pressing down on that nerve. And they said, 'Well, you may get 5 percent, you may get 30 percent back use of your arms.' So far I reckon I'm at about 70 percent, which is amazing. Those guys did an absolutely fantastic job. I was recovering from that when I got the same problem at the bottom of my spine. So it was kind of affecting my leg then, which was an absolute nightmare because it was so painful. The first one wasn't painful. It was debilitating. The second one was absolutely horrendous pain. Luckily, they sorted that as well, so it's just recovering from both, which is tough."

Addressing his cancer battle, Rockett said: "[I got cancer in the] most bizarre place you could ever imagine to get cancer — on my eye, my eyeball, which I never knew you could even get that. I mean, I've been to the doctors three or four years before, because there was something weird on my eye and it didn't look good. They basically told me it was nothing to worry about, and that was it. So I was going for a general optician appointment one day. I [was gonna get] new glasses. And the guy looked at my eye and he said, 'That doesn't look good. You need to get this checked out.' So he made an appointment for me at the eye hospital in Bristol, and they looked at it and they said, 'You've got cancer in your eye,' which was, like, unbelievable. So, they were amazing. They were really quick. They were on it straight away. I think within probably a month, two months at the most, they'd done an operation and removed it and put me on some chemotherapy… I've had two other operations of cancer removal — on my face and on my leg. Again, so far, so good and all is clear. But it's been a hellish three years."

Last May, Nige was asked by George Dionne of KNAC.COM if his neck injury was due to all the years of banging his head on stage. Rockett responded: "Yeah. That's what the surgeon said [was] probably the most likely cause. I don't really do anything else that could kind of wear your neck that much. So I guess it's kind of similar to what Tom Araya [SLAYER] had. But the problem is I'm on stage and my head wants to bang. [Laughs] You've gotta hold it back. It's, like, 'No.' It doesn't feel right not doing it. It's still pretty stiff, my neck, but the pain's gone away now, and I'm not getting the loss of use of my arm. So it is all good in that respect."

ONSLAUGHT will hit the North American soil starting in March for the first time in well over a decade with a "Force From Hell" set, drawing heavily from "Power From Hell" and "The Force", the band's seminal first two 1980s albums. These are records that helped define extreme thrash metal, and they will be complemented by a neck-breaking selection of classic Sy Keeler-era fan favorites to celebrate the vocalist's triumphant return to the band. Co-headlining the tour will be cult metal heroes WARLORD, who, despite being based in Los Angeles, have never toured North America in over their 45-plus-year career. WARLORD will play its seminal album "Deliver Us" in its entirety plus more classic-era material. The two bands will embark on this tour de force after a special set at Hell's Heroes festival in Houston, Texas.

ONSLAUGHT is a pioneering U.K. thrash metal band formed in Bristol in 1982. Emerging from a hardcore punk background, they helped shape the British thrash scene with their aggressive sound, politically charged lyrics, and relentless speed. Their early albums "Power From Hell" (1985) and "The Force" (1986) are regarded as genre classics, influencing countless extreme metal bands worldwide. After a hiatus and later reformation, ONSLAUGHT continued to release acclaimed material, cementing their legacy as one of the most important and enduring forces in world of thrash metal.

ONSLAUGHT played its first concert with returning vocalist Keeler on November 9, 2025 at the U.K.'s Damnation Festival at the BEC Arena in Manchester.

ONSLAUGHT released a two-disc album titled "Origins Of Aggression" in May 2025 through the band's new label home, Reigning Phoenix Music. Disc one featured a fine selection of ten re-recorded tracks from ONSLAUGHT's early days (1982-1989),while disc two presented a colorful bouquet of cover versions of punk and metal songs that led fans through the range of bands — from the DEAD KENNEDYS, THE EXPLOITED and DISCHARGE to JUDAS PRIEST, BLACK SABBATH and beyond — defining the group's sound. Also to be found on the second part of the album was ONSLAUGHT's adaption of "Iron Fist", originally written and performed by MOTÖRHEAD, which was the first single off the latest effort.

ONSLAUGHT's previous album, "Generation Antichrist", came out in August 2020 via AFM Records. It was the first ONSLAUGHT LP to feature vocalist Dave Garnett, who replaced Keeler.