Jet Drummer Cuts Off Fingertip

Jet drummer/guitarist Chris Cester had to reteach himself to play guitar after he cut off off the tip of his left ring finger while using sharp German knives to cook dinner for his cousin.

"I couldn't feel it at first, then I went, 'Oh fuck, I just cut the top of my finger off,' and my cousin goes, 'No, you didn't,' and I picked it up in a daze and was like, 'Yeah, I did. There it is there,' and then when my heart started pumping the blood just started pumping all over my kitchen," says Cester of the gruesome incident while in the midst of promoting the Aug. 25 release of the band's third album, Shaka Rock.

"I had to get a whole new counter for my kitchen because the blood had just engrained into the wood, so I had to rip it all up and start again."

The incident happened during the band's break between touring behind 2006's Shine On and writing Shaka Rock. It was a major problem considering the man responsible for catchy riffs in hits like "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" could no longer play his instrument. Although he's primarily the drummer, Cester writes many of the songs and sings on his tracks.

"I had to learn how to play," he says. "When I write songs I write them on guitar, sometimes on piano, but guitar predominantly, so I had to learn how to play the bass because I only had one finger I could really use. I wrote a lot of the songs on Shaka Rock on bass and electronic loops."

In an ironic twist of fate, the finger Cester cut has a faded tattoo of the name of his ex-fiancé, actress Alexi Wasser. Even weirder, the tip actually grew back.

"They said there was a 90 per cent chance it would grow back, and it did, so I'm lucky," Cester says.

Although the incident was excruciatingly painful, especially when the hospital poured chemical disinfectant on the raw, open wound, Cester says he'll be good to go by the time Jet tour North America in July. Dates have yet to be announced.

Jet are in Los Angeles filming the music video for Shaka Rock's first single, "She's A Genius."