Baroness frontman/guitarist John Baizley had a chat with Rollingstone.com about the band’s upcoming album “Purple” and the horrific bus accident in 2012 that nearly caused the amputation of Baizley‘s arm. During his time in the hospital overseas directly following the crash, Metallica singer/guitarist James Hetfield reached out to Baizley to offer words of support. Hetfield himself could no doubt draw parallels to his own personal experience, as Metallica themselves lost their bassist Cliff Burton to an accident overseas back in 1986. Speaking of the call, Baizley told the site:
“His call was [as] important as every other call I got that week. I have since come to learn that, while I was in the hospital — roughly two and a half weeks, which felt like two and a half decades for me at the time — there were a lot of people who were nervous or somewhat reticent to call me; they didn’t know what condition I was in, or they were concerned that I needed time or space. I really didn’t. In fact, each time somebody called me from the States, it was a huge relief for me; it was a reminder that there was still a world out there moving on, and that in turn led me to believe that there was a place for me to work towards after my immediate situation was over.
But it was very hilarious the way he called. It was late at night in the trauma ward; most of the people I was in the room with were elderly, and they’d gone to bed early. I wasn’t going to bed at all, for some obvious reasons; it was very difficult for me to sleep. The nurse was an older lady, and she said, “Somebody just called you — a Jim Hatfield or John Hartfield, something like that. I told him I wasn’t sure if you were awake or taking calls.” I said, “I don’t know anybody by either of those names, but I don’t care if they’re trying to sell me a dishwasher or life insurance — bring me the number, because I need somebody to talk to, desperately!” So she handed me the little slip of paper with James Hetfield‘s name and cell-phone number on it [laughs].
So I called him up, and I had one of the most realistic and honest conversations that I had that week. He gave me obvious but very good advice. Coming from Hetfield, who’d been through a tragic bus-related incident, and things that were more severe than what I went through, his words had a little bit of weight to them. When he said, “Don’t worry; things will get better,” I thought, well, if it got better for him, it will get better for me. And I had many other conversations that weren’t with Metallica members, where people were telling me things I needed to hear, because I wasn’t quite believing them myself at the time.”
Baroness will release their new album “Purple” on December 18th through their own Abraxan Hymns label. Currently they are touring the U.S. in support of it. Throughout the trek the group are also playing a series of in-store performances. Footage of their in-store show at Reckless Records in Chicago, IL this past Saturday can be seen below:
