(Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns)

Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell recently called Metallica a “pack of bastards” for failing to pay him a performance fee.

Bell had joined the band onstage in 1999 for a guest performance. They had done a live rendition of Metallica’s “Whiskey in the Jar,” which had been inspired by Thin Lizzy’s 1973 version.

Bell told the Irish Sun that there had been no agreement to a fee and that he had signed a piece of paper without reading it beforehand and understanding what was entailed.

“It wasn’t until I was sitting in my car on the way home I realized they hadn’t paid me,” he said. “I thought I’d get something in the post, but [I didn’t hear a word]. Later, somebody tried to get in touch with Metallica to get me something but they found it impossible and they gave up.”

Bell added that “they are a pack of bastards.”

Read the full story on Ultimate Classic Rock.