“I didn’t know who they were, I’d never heard their music, and I wasn’t bothered. That took them by surprise.”

Thin Lizzy co-founder & ex-guitarist Eric Bell said that performing “Whiskey in the Jar” with Metallica was “not enjoyable”, adding how he wasn’t in awe because Lars Ulrich & Co. covered the song because he didn’t even know who Metallica was until meeting them in Dublin.

Having founded the now-legendary Irish band with Phil Lynott and drummer Brian Downey, Eric Bell went on to carve out a sound that was quite different from Thin Lizzy’s later hard rock days. Blending elements of folk and blues, Bell co-wrote unique pieces such as “The Friendly Ranger at Clontarf Castle” and “The Rocker”, and also had a hand in re-arranging “Whiskey in the Jar” which was famously covered by Metallica on 1998’s “Garage Inc.”

Mr. Bell was invited to perform the traditional Irish song alongside the thrash metal giants when they stopped at Dublin in 1999, but tells Guitar World in a new interview that he wasn’t exactly exhilarated when the invitation came:

“I didn’t know anything about Metallica. Not a thing. I’m not into that type of music. So when someone told me they’d recorded ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ I was like, ‘Oh, who are they?'”

“And then they asked me to do the gig, which was chaos. I don’t know why they called me. I think the impression they had was that I knew who they were. I didn’t. They thought I was in awe of them – not true.”

“One of the roadies drove me to their hotel, and I stood in the hall waiting. And one by one, they came down, shook my hand, and they expected me to be impressed. But I didn’t know who they were, I’d never heard their music, and I wasn’t bothered. That took them by surprise.”

Asked what sharing the stage with Metallica felt like, the guitarist said:

“It wasn’t enjoyable. There was no chemistry. They tuned a whole step down, which is typical for them. I, however, didn’t. So now I’m hearing ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ in F, which was very odd. From that point forward, my brain wasn’t into it. I just played it my way, and we went our separate ways.”

Suspect208 release second single, All Black, following the November release of their debut, Long Awaited

(Image credit: S208RECORDS)

Suspect208, the LA rock band featuring vocalist Noah Weiland (son of late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland), guitarist Niko Tsangaris, bassist Tye Trujillo (son of Metallica’s Robert Trujillo) and London Hudson (son of Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash) have released their second single, All Black.

The song is the follow-up to the band’s well-received debut single, Long Awaited, which was released in November and already has over 880,000 plays on YouTube.

In a recent interview with Wall Of Sound, Tye Trujillo revealed that the quartet are currently priming an EP for release: “After that, our plan is to continue on writing new material until we have a solid selection of songs,” he added.

In the same interview, guitarist Niko Tsangaris emphasised that the quartet didn’t want to be compared to bands featuring their rock superstar fathers.

“We are all passionate musicians that want to be known for one thing- playing music,” he said. “We want to establish that this band is about energetic, raw, and powerful music, not anything else.”