Looking Back: Halestorm, Megadeth, Metallica, Living Colour & Alice Cooper

“People that came out to the Iron Maiden shows were very receptive to us,” noted Halestorm drummer Arejay Hale after the band spent May/June of last year in Europe opening for Maiden.

“(Maiden fans said) ‘I never heard about you guys until I saw you open up for Iron Maiden.’ We’re, like, hell yeah, we’ll poach some of those fans. And I think it’s because, especially in Europe, they’re still viewed as this lifestyle band.”

“Ride The Lightning” was originally recorded by Metallica with one-time Metallica guitarist and future Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. A cover version is on Megadeth’s self-titled final album (due 1/23).

“All I wanted to do was play the song I wrote with the guys in Metallica,” Mustaine explained. “I wanted to pay my respects to (Metallica’s) James Hetfield, who I think is an amazing guitar player.”

“We become infatuated by charisma. We become infatuated by the story, by the presentation. It was true — I can look at Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and talk about what they stood for, but they both were as handsome as matinee idols. The surface and the substance are together.

“The song is really about a part of the human condition that we are never going to fix. We’re never gonna fix it.”

“I had so much fun on that run because, first of all, Alice’s music is just the best. And Alice is one of the greatest human beings in the world. And then a couple times I got poked with a sword and I got whipped, but it was really, really, really nice stepping into that.”

The former Guns N’ Roses guitarist was contacted by his friend Chuck Garric, bassist for Alice Cooper, about the gig,

“It’s inspiring when you see someone like Alice that’s so keyed in and he’s figured it out.”

Daron Malakian

“We are on the ‘Summer Sanitarium‘ tour. Nobody knows who System Of A Down is at this point. I can’t even believe that we’re even allowed to open up for Metallica.”

When Metallica’s James Hetfield, got injured in a waterskiing accident, Malakian, who was once in a Metallica covers band, offered his services.

Subsequently, Metallica “techs would come up to me (Malakian) in different tours and be, like, ‘Dude, don’t think we forgot what you did. You brought it that day. They were kind of, like, ”You fucking brought it.”

Malakian did so well he played additional shows with the band while Hetfield, recovered.