Country superstar Keith Urban has revealed that he was once in a metal band, and it was named after an Ace Frehley song.
Urban discussed his musical past during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He explained how he learned to play guitar and all of the singing competitions that his mom entered him in, which he occasionally won. But then he touched on his time playing in a metal band called Fractured Mirror.
“It was named after an Ace Frehley song,” Urban said.
“Fractured Mirror” is the closing instrumental track on Frehley’s debut self-titled album, which came out in 1978 when he was still in KISS. All four members of the band released solo eponymous albums at that time.
Urban recalled discovering Iron Maiden when he was around 15 or 16 years old. He was a big fan of metal at the time, despite growing up on country music, and so he joined Fractured Mirror as a guitarist. But he’d also become enamored with bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs, and his “chicken picking” influenced Urban’s guitar playing.
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“I’m suddenly into that, and I’m in this band, and we’re doing this full-on Saxon song,” Urban remembered. “They throw me a solo and I’m chicken picking it. The lead singer looks around like, ‘What the?’… They fired me.”
So maybe Urban’s time as a metal musician didn’t last long, but everything happens for a reason — he’s massive in the country world.
See the full interview below.
We couldn’t find any information on what came of the band Fractured Mirror, but there is a group now that uses the moniker hailing from Indiana.
Keith Urban Reveals Metal Band He Was In Was Named After Ace Frehley Song
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Gallery Credit: Jordan Blum