"I was like, 'Bro... Metallica's never been tighter and you want some yahoos to come jump in and try and be Hetfield? Is that what you're saying?' And they're like, 'Yeah'": Pepper Keenan remembers when he auditioned to dep guitar for Metallica

Corrosion of Conformity's Pepper Keenan and Metallica's James Hetfield at the Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California.

Corrosion of Conformity guitarist Pepper Keenan has let slip that he auditioned to dep James Hetfield for Metallica back in the early 1990s.

We know that he was one of the many names that were tried out when the group were searching for a replacement for bassist Jason Newsted in the early Noughties. But it seems that ten years earlier, Keenan was in the frame to handle six-string duties. This was when Hetfield had second-degree burns after an incident when he stepped on a pyro whilst they were on tour with Guns N’ Roses.