PEPPER KEENAN On His Failed METALLICA Bassist Audition: 'I Would've Loved To Bang Heads With JAMES HETFIELD Writing S***'

On the latest episode of the "Talk Louder" podcast, hosted by veteran music journalist "Metal Dave" Glessner and lifelong hard rock/metal vocalist Jason McMaster, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan reflected on what it was like to be one of the musicians to have auditioned for the bassist slot in METALLICA following the departure of Jason Newsted. Keenan was one of several high-profile names to have auditioned for the slot (other musicians known to have tried out for the group include former MARILYN MANSON and A PERFECT CIRCLE bassist Twiggy Ramirez, and ex-KYUSS man Scott Reeder),which eventually went to former OZZY OSBOURNE/SUICIDAL TENDENCIES bassist Robert Trujillo.

Asked if he would have been happy being the bassist in METALLICA and not being able to get his full creativity out within the confines of that band, Pepper said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, that's been asked a bunch of times. I would've been the bass player for METALLICA. And even [METALLICA frontman] James [Hetfield said], like, 'Man, I don't think you'd have made it.' [Laughs] The exciting part of that would've been the tag-team writing shit. I would've loved to bang heads with Hetfield fucking writing shit. And that was a weird thing as well."

Keenan added: "It was between me and Trujillo. And once Trujillo stepped in there, I was, like, 'Well, you know how this is gonna go.' I kept telling them, 'Well, he can't sing worth of shit,' hoping that would gimme some legs, but no."

Back in 2003, Hetfield confirmed that Keenan was one of the musicians to have auditioned for the bassist slot in METALLICA. He told U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine: "[Pepper]'s a good player and a solid guy. I had such high hopes for him. But when it came to jamming with the band, I knew that it wasn't going to work. It just didn't feel right."

In 2005, Keenan told Straight.com that his audition for METALLICA as the replacement for Newsted didn't alienate his CORROSION OF CONFORMITY bandmates. "No, no, no, no — nope," he said. "What are you gonna say to somebody about that, man? Would you tell him, 'No, don't do it.' Hey, come on!"

Keenan's METALLICA audition was filmed and included in the band's "Some Kind Of Monster" documentary.

In a separate interview with Guitar World magazine, Keenan was asked what METALLICA would've sounded like had he joined the band. Pepper said: "I think James Hetfield knows the answer to this, because he would have heard it himself when I was playing with them.

"There was one part in the movie where they made me play bass on a new song," he continued. "I guess they were trying to stump me with something I'd never heard before… 'St. Anger' or some shit like that. It was a drop-tuned song and I hit the blower knob on my bass and just blasted through. They were, like, 'What the fuck are you doing?' It sounded as heavy as lead to me, totally ripping from all the overdrive on my short-scale SG bass set to the front pickup. It was some CREAM-sounding shit... actually, it sounded more like FUDGE TUNNEL. I can still see them shaking their heads. I knew I'd lost the gig right there. [Laughs]"

Recalling some of the highlights of his METALLICA jam, Pepper said: "[Playing] 'Sad But True' was fun as shit. I loved 'Nothing Else Matters' as well, plus the older shit like 'Master Of Puppets'. But who doesn't want to play that massive mid-tempo riff from 'Sad But True'? Man, that was right up my alley."

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY's mammoth new double album, "Good God / Baad Man", was released on April 3 via Nuclear Blast.

Produced by Grammy Award winner Warren Riker (FUGEES, DOWN, CATHEDRAL) and featuring cover art by famed New Orleans artist Scott Guion, "Good God / Baad Man" was recorded at Blak Shak Studios in Riffissippi, USA, Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana, and BEE GEES legend Barry Gibb's home studio in Miami, Florida.

To promote "Good God / Baad Man", CORROSION OF CONFORMITY will return to stages this spring on a North American headlining tour with support provided by WHORES and CROBOT.

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY's latest two additions are bassist Bobby "Rock" Landgraf and drummer Nick Shabatura.

Photo by Danin Drahos