In late July, the story of a Canadian woman who used Metallica's "Don't Tread on Me" to fend off a stalking cougar made headlines. The lady, Dee Gallant, mentioned that she'd love to be able to thank frontman James Hetfield someday for how his riffs saved her life. Papa Het took notice apparently, as Gallant got a surprise call from the thrash pioneer earlier this week.
According to Gallant, a band liaison contacted her to let her know she'd be receiving a call shortly. The next time she picked up, Hetfield himself was waiting to discuss the scary tale of a nature walk gone wrong.
"I was a little bit lost for words," Gallant told CTV News on Monday, August 5th. "It's surreal how quickly it happened and how far it's gone. The fact that he's so down to earth and such a great person, I'm very pleased to find that out first-hand ... I can't believe he knows my dog's name!"
A longtime Metallica fan, she continued, "If you had told the 18-year-old me that this would happen, I never would've believed it. I would've just fallen out of my skin with excitement."
To prove to her that it was really him, Hetfield then sent Gallant a smiling selfie of himself throwing the horns. See a screen shot of said snapshot, and watch a video report on the story, below.
