What would have happened if Mille Petrozza of Kreator had joined Celtic Frost?

German thrash metal stalwarts Kreator‘s guitarist/vocalist Mille Petrozza discussed nearly joining the Swiss metal band Celtic Frost during 1986 in a recent interview with Matt Mills of the Heavy Stories podcast, as per Blabbermouth. When asked how he felt about being asked to join Celtic Frost at that moment, Mille responded as follows.

I was blown away, because I really respected them and I thought they were one of the best bands in the world. And I still do think that they were definitely one of the innovators. I knew that I had my own band, but I still wanted to go and see how they work, because they’re great people, and we’re still friends to this day. And I just wanted to see it. I have to be honest, from a nowadays point of view, I wanted to jam with Reed St. Mark — and, of course, with Martin and Tom, but Reed St. Mark, for me, was the best drummer in the world. And I kind of sensed — not that I knew already that I will not join, but I definitely wanted to try out and see and feel how I feel about it. And I decided to not become Tom Warrior’s sidekick, but have my own band.

Mille responded by recalling his rehearsal sessions with Celtic Frost.

I went there for a week. I wish there was still recordings from that session, because I thought they were just amazing, amazingly professional. And Reed St. Mark was a killer drummer. They were playing in a bunker, an old World War II bunker in Zurich. And they were amazing people — very, very smart, very avant-garde. And I was this little 18- or 19-year-old metal kid. But then when I went back and I came back [home to Germany], I knew that I’m not gonna do it. I knew that I’m gonna do my own thing.

Mille claims that one of the reasons he declined the offer was because Celtic Frost was located abroad.

Switzerland, it’s a cool place to be, but I was too young for that, I was too young for moving to Switzerland. I don’t even know. I mean, back in the day, yeah, they probably wanted me to move to Switzerland. And that was also like a thing — I was still a teenager, man. I was, like, ‘What? It’s too much.’ And then I had my own band. If I wouldn’t have had my own band, I would definitely have joined them.