When Metallica invited original Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell onstage in Dublin to cover the group's take on the tune “Whiskey in the Jar,” in 1999, it was meant to be a moment for all to savor. But Bell says the experience left a sour taste in his mouth.
Two decades later, Bell branded the thrash-metal giants a “pack of bastards” for allegedly failing to pay him for the gig. But in a new conversation with Guitar World, he reflects that their chemistry felt off from the start — and even admits he’s carried one regret from that night ever since.
The folk song is about the Irish highwayman Patrick Fleming, who was executed for his thievery in 1650. In the early 1970s, Bell, alongside bass player and vocalist Phil Lynott, made the tune their own. It's been covered by many different artists, with the Dubliners’ 1968 version another notable rendition, but Bell’s lead work separated Thin Lizzy’s take from the pack. His superlative guitar solo didn’t hurt, either.
Fast-forward to 1998, when Metallica’s cover proved a roaring success. The band amped up the twin-guitar harmonies that would later define Thin Lizzy’s post-Bell era — after Lynott reshuffled the lineup with Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson — and it even won a Grammy.
So when Metallica rolled into Dublin for a show at the Point Theatre the following year, it made perfect sense that Bell should come onstage to perform the song with them.
“I didn’t know anything about Metallica,” Bell confesses. “But it was funny; they got in touch with me. Someone from their setup phoned me and said, ‘I work with Metallica. We’re doing a world tour. Would love to have you come along to play with us in Dublin and do “Whiskey in the Jar.”’”
Bell was then asked if he’d heard Metallica’s version of the song. When he said he hadn’t, the voice on the other end of the phone asked, “What planet are you living on?”
“I said, ‘Jupiter,’” Bell recalls with a chuckle. “Anyway, this courier arrived on a motorbike about two days later, and he had quite a few records, cassettes and DVDs of Metallica doing ‘Whiskey in the Jar.’”
Bell agreed to play the show, but was shocked by one detail.
“Once we got to Dublin, the thing that threw me was, I was trying out this Marshall amp, and Metallica walked in sort of like cartoons,” he remembers. “They said, ‘Hey, man, when we do this, we tune our guitars a whole tone down.’ I thought, ‘A whole tone? The guitar is going to sound like a fucking banjo!’”
Metallica began down-tuning around the mid-’90s, starting with Load, the first album recorded after the change. They dropped their electric guitars to accommodate Hetfield's vocal range as he aged.
“I just felt a bit out of place, especially as my guitar was in standard tuning and I was playing along in F instead of G. If I had the chance again, I’d tune it down because it was tricky playing it in F.”
For that matter, Bell says he would ask for money upfront. As it happened he got nothing for his time onstage with the thrash legends
“They are a pack of bastards," he told NME. "I couldn’t believe what they did, especially as they are so well off. I should have been paid £2,000 but got fuck all.
“If Metallica ever asked me to guest with them again, I’d ask for five grand in advance. In cash so I’d know I had it in my pocket.”
Bell told Guitar Player that the Thin Lizzy gig was a dream come true, but one particular show brought his tenure with the band to a dramatic end. He couldn't play without drinking, he had said, but he, too, couldn't play after drinking.
Last year, the guitarist announced an album of re-imagined acoustic versions of songs from the band's first three albums, splicing unheard Phil Lynott vocal takes with newly recorded guitars. It was the first time he'd recorded under the Thin Lizzy banner since his 1973 departure.
Meanwhile, his successor, Scott Gorham, says it took him a while to find his footing in the band, and the American learned to adapt their Irish roots to find his place in their lineage.
