Baroness frontman John Baizley discussed getting a phone call from Metallica frontman James Hetfield after Baroness’ horrific 2012 bus crash in a new interview with Radioactive Mike. Ultimate-Guitar transcribed his comments.
That horrific bus crash that you were involved in, a lot of people would understand if you had packed up after that, but it’s amazing that you did soldier on and continued to play and create new music. All those years later, how are you feeling, any scars left over from that?
“I prefer not to speak for the other band members that were in our bus during that crash because everybody had a very uniquely different experience.
“I particularly was struck, if you will, by that accident. I’ve got scars that won’t heal. I’ve got a seam running up to the entire length of my left arm, a ton of hardware – a bunch of things missing, a bunch of things replaced. It was really not a pleasant story from my standpoint.
“I will say that in order to make that experience mean something of value to me, moving forward with the band provided me with means by which I did rehabilitate myself to the best of my ability, given my current physical limitations.
“Things were pretty rough and continue to be so – it’s just an awful situation – but at least I’ve got my creativity, that helped carry me through difficult times in my life.”
Didn’t you get a phone call during that time from James Hetfield?
“I did, and many since then. I’ll admit that sounds glamorous and I’m not saying it’s not – you know what I mean, like, I value that phone call, that and several others that I was privy to when I was in a hospital when I was quite unable to take care of myself.
“Phone calls like that one Hetfield gave me and some of my other dear friends that reached out when they knew I was compromised and didn’t feel nervous about calling me, those were the things that kept me going in those hours.
“If you’re listening to this and if you ever doubt the fact that there are people who become our musical idols, basically become celebrities over time, it can be easy to sort of write people off like that.
“‘They’re wealthy, famous, and they don’t care about the things that I care about.’ Occasionally they do, and that’s proof, that was the proof I needed at that point – big and small, we all have a huge capacity to understand and sympathize with human suffering and we’re all here to help everybody else around us.”
Speaking of Metallica, they’re part of what everyone classifies as The Big Four, right? So, I’ve been kind of working on an evolution of that and I want your take on it. I’m going to take it up a decade and add one to it and call it the Flannel Five. I’m curious who your favorite would be off of this list, not that they could really play, but as a fan. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden…
“Nirvana, I don’t care what else is there. Nirvana was a game-changer to me. I was at the right age, man, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I like Pearl Jam, I like Stone Temple Pilots, those were all great bands, but you know, Nirvana was…
“I grew up in the country, deep in the sticks, right, so we got, like, limited musical information, and when that band happened, it was like the floodgates were opened. Every kid my age was pissed off or misunderstood or didn’t know what to do -that music spoke to us. I’m still a huge fan.”
Do you have a favorite Nirvana song?
“Recently, it’s been ‘Drain You’ off ‘Nevermind.’ This song is so good, it’s just a great song.”
