UK punk heavyweight Frank Carter had a wholesome encounter with Metallica’s James Hetfield recently

James Hetfield and Frank Carter

(Image credit: Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press ; Didier Messens/Redferns via Getty)

In yet more ‘Metallica are officially the nicest guys in metal’ news, Rattlesnakes and former Gallows frontman Frank Carter has revealed a wholesome encounter that he had with none other than Metallica frontman James Hetfield.

Speaking to NME, UK punk heavyweight Carter said he’d love to collaborate with Papa Het one day, going on to discuss an unlikely interaction he had with the man himself in the middle of a recent Metallica show that Carter happened to be watching from side-stage.

“We keep bumping into him and he’s a good lad,” Carter enthuses. “He’s the king of rock ’n’ roll, he’s proper. I watched [Metallica] the other day. I was side of stage watching him from his little guitar world – well, massive guitar world – and it was so fucking sick. I’ve been trying to downplay it, but it was one of the best moments of my entire life. I fucking love Metallica. I’m stood there, watching him play, he comes over to change his guitar and he gives me a high five and goes, ‘Wait, I’ve got something for you!’”

Hetfield quickly returned with a handful of his own personal plectrums and, most wholesomely of all, some throat lozenges, evidently looking out for his fellow vocalist’s pipes.

“He goes and gets this handful of stuff and then drops in my hand some plectrums and these little Vocalzone pills,” Carter explains. “They’re these little throat sweets and he goes, ‘These are going to save your life and save your throat.’ This is in the middle of his fucking set and he’s literally giving out sweets!”

To knock the anecdote up a notch, Carter goes on to reveal who first recommended the sweets to Hetfield – and it’s not a fellow hard rock icon, but the Welsh Sex Bomb himself, Tom Jones!

“He goes, ‘Do you know who put me on to these?’ I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Man, some fucking rock ’n’ roll legend’. Then he goes, ‘Tom fuckin’ Jones’, he puts his guitar back on and he goes back to the stage. I’m just stood there like, ‘Wow, that is fucking sick’.”

Metallica recently wrapped up the European leg of their latest world tour, and are due to hit the States for a handful of dates starting later this month.