And even though he attended rehearsals ahead of each tour he missed, he had to be told he wasn't capable of rejoining his colleagues on the road. King tells Guitar World: "From seven months after he got hurt, we had him come to rehearsal, trying to get him back in. He was trying, but he just wasn't there.

"The hardest thing I ever had to say was, 'You're not ready.' That dude's been my sidekick for 25 years - and I have to tell him he can't go on tour in the band he's been in all his life. That sucked."