Cult metal legend and High On Fire frontman Matt Pike has revealed the gross backstory behind why he had his toe removed in a new interview with Metal Hammer.
Asked “what the fuck happened” with his toe amputation back in October 2018 which forced High On Fire to pull out of their Speed Of The Wizard US tour with Municipal Waste, Pike said:
“I had a gruelling shitty tour and I didn’t have any days off. I had dirty showers and my toe had been infected from a previous injury.”
“Then, I got a bone infection,” he continued. “There’s bacteria and bad shit everywhere, and when I took a dirty club shower it blew up. I played the last shows with a fucking hotdog in my sock! Eventually, I went to see my podiatrist and she was like, ‘I have to amputate’ and I’m like, ‘Fuck it, good riddance!’ That toe caused me nothing but problems, so fuck that thing.”
Pike added that while the surgery meant the tour was on hold, he admitted that being forced to slow down was likely for the best.
“I wouldn’t have cancelled the tour if I didn’t have to, but because of the bone infection I was on serious antibiotics and I need a sterile medical environment to change my dressing every day. I had to wait until the stitches came out and by that time we would have been halfway through the tour and, quite frankly, I needed the time off. In a way, it was really a blessing in disguise.”
However, despite the first partial amputation, toe troubles again struck the muso in January 2019 when High On Fire were again forced to cancel in order to save another of Pike’s toes.
Love Metal?
Get the latest Metal news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
In a press release at the time, Pike wrote: “The timing and repeating nature of this is my nightmare and almost impossible. Nevertheless, to save yet another toe, my big one, I have been grounded by circumstances out of my control.”
He continued, “I will have more of a medical report to come but right now I’m at great risk of losing it, and/or a bigger portion of my foot due to diabetes. Which I have been managing very well. It just shows how this disease can affect our lives. Please forgive me, and if you know anything about me, you know this is not like me. We will be back!”
Check out ‘Rumours of War’ by High On Fire:
