Brant Bjork, previously of stoner rock icons Kyuss, had a shocking response to the band’s file label calling them “the following Metallica.”
Kyuss shaped within the late ’80s, and by 1991, they have been signed to Elektra Data. Metallica had signed with Elektra in ’84, and after their eponymous file (extra prominently often known as The Black Album) got here out in 1991, they have been one of many largest acts on the planet.
Apparently, Elektra held Kyuss to that commonplace as they began gaining momentum within the early ’90s. And whereas most musicians solely dream of their band changing into as huge as Metallica, that wasn’t how Bjork felt.
“Our man on the label would at all times say, ‘You guys would be the subsequent Metallica’, and that bummed me out,” Bjork recalled to Steel Hammer.
“I needed to be this Kyuss! I felt like we fucking rocked and had hit the height of our chemistry on the time, and Metallica have been super-cool guys and actually supportive, however seeing all of it on that scale, it was similar to, ‘This isn’t for me.’ If that’s the epitome of success in a rock band, it simply appeared unrewarding.”
Bjork elaborated that he needed Kyuss to maintain issues recent and improvise fairly than undertake a redundant routine. Sadly, his time within the group did not final for much longer, and he left in ’94. However he bought to open for Metallica with the band in Australia earlier than he departed, and it reaffirmed his distaste for enormous industrial success.
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“Supporting Metallica was fucking bananas,” he shared. “It was bizarre; by the point our administration informed us in regards to the provide, I’d already determined I didn’t need to be in Kyuss anymore. I felt like I used to be not jiving with the fellows and no matter we’d had that was magical, it was gone. I didn’t need to stick round to look at this actually magical ship sink into the ocean.”
Josh Homme and the remaining members of Kyuss solely lasted one other yr after Bjork’s departure anyway. The band break up in the summertime of ’95, shortly after the discharge of their remaining album …And the Circus Leaves City.
