At 95, William Shatner Just Made His Heavy Metal Debut Covering Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne

William Shatner is giving a new genre of music a go. The Star Trek actor performed alongside his band, *uckers, at a warmup gig in Chicago.

Throughout their set, Shatner and his band played songs off of their upcoming album, What the F Is Heavy Metal? The band also covered Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” and Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades,” Rolling Stone reported.

The day after the warmup gig, *uckers will make their official debut at Riot Fest.

What to Know About William Shatner’s Music Career

After previously dabbling in other genres including spoken word, the blues, and country music, Shatner told Billboard that it was Cleopatra label head Brian Perera who suggested heavy metal.

“I said, ‘What the f**k is heavy metal?’ and that’s the title of the album: What the F Is Heavy Metal?” Shatner told the outlet. “Then I began to discover what the f**k is heavy metal.”

Shatner went on to reveal that he’d been hard at work preparing for Riot fest for months.

“I’ve been preparing for two months now, on a scratch track on my phone doing the entrances and exits, which is only visible to a trained musician. Only by counting down do you know where to come in on heavy metal because it all sounds alike,” he said. “Yesterday I had my first rehearsal with the *uckers and it’s working and it’s going to be fantastic. It’s going to be extraordinary.”

The new endeavor, 95-year-old Shatner told the outlet, has left him feeling “so enlivened.”

“I’m so filled with passion,” he said. “I’ve come to understand what heavy metal is. It’s an energy that permeates your body and lifts you up. Heavy metal is the rhythm of life. It’s overwhelming, especially if you’ve got earphones in.”

“I’m so excited about what I’m performing. It’s a real-life fervor happening for me,” Shatner added. “… This is new, this is exciting, this is heavy metal like it’s never been heard before because I’m reinterpreting… It’s one of the most exciting performances that I’ve ever done.”

Photo by Gerardo Mora/Getty Images