Founding member of legendary Sunshine Coast punk-rock band The Chats, Josh Price (AKA Pricey), was chilling at home when he received a surprise influx of messages from his mates at the Brisbane Metallica concert on Wednesday night.
The 26-year-old Coolum resident says the social media notifications then followed suit, with dozens more from family and friends telling him the US rock giants were playing his song “Smoko” to almost 50,000 fans.
“A bunch of friends started sending me videos,” Josh, who co-wrote the song, tells Yelo.
“I was pretty blown away.”
In what would be considered one of rock n’ roll’s highest honours, Metallica has been performing surprise covers of local acts in each capital city of their Australian tour.
They have already played some John Butler Trio in Perth, INXS and The Angels in Adelaide, and The Living End in Melbourne.
“It’s probably the greatest of all time when one of your heroes covers your song.
“I used listen to the album ‘Kill Them All’ all the time… so, it’s pretty big, when one of your favourite bands covers your song.
“That first album was some of the best guitars I think Kirk’s ever done.
Did you celebrate?
“Yeah, I celebrated the next day with a few beers.
“I had a bit of Metallica demeanour in me,” he laughs.
Metallica will perform at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on Saturday (November 15), before heading to Auckland to continue their M72 World Tour.
Check out Metallica playing “Smoko” by Sunshine Coast band The Chats on YouTube which had 11,000 views in one day:
Metallica’s take on an Australian pub-rock classic
Four Aussie mates were thrust into the spotlight when their song which honours the importance of the average tradie’s lunch break went viral in 2017.
Dubbed ‘shed-rock’, “Smoko” received ARIA Gold in 2021, and has since drawn attention from musicians such as Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, Alex Turner and Iggy Pop.
“We wrote (the song) together in our mates shed,” Josh says of The Chats‘ breakout song.
“We didn’t even think it was a good song.
“I think it’s a pretty big song, ‘Smoko’.
“We’ve had a few people cover it like Post Malone, Justin Hawkins, YUNGBLUD. And Wet Leg did a triple j version of it.”
“This one is pretty cool though, because Metallica is one of those bands everyone grew up listening to going ‘fuck yeah’.”
In 2021, The Chats paid their own tribute to Metallica, releasing a cover of Metallica’s “Holier Than Thou”.
Now performing under the name Pricey, Josh has his own steady following, and has honed a more laid-back, gravelly-voiced, surf-rock sound.
His songs, such as “Big Sky” and “88” always attract a crowd singalong, and Josh says fans can expect a new album from him on the horizon.
Pricey performs with Dellacoma at Solbar, Maroochydore, on December 5.
Tickets: https://tickets.solbar.com.au/.
