ULRICH: Everyone Expects Us To Release Albums That Define The Genre, To 'Save' Metal

September 12, 2008

Stevie Chick of The Guardian conducted an interview with METALLICA at the end of August when the band was in the UK to play the Reading festival. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On how long they will be able to continue as METALLICA:

Lars Ulrich (drums): "In the immortal words of Noel Gallagher, I'm gonna live forever. [That's] the $64,000 question. THE ROLLING STONES are setting a great precedent, but Charlie Watts doesn't play drums on songs like 'Fight Fire With Fire' every night, no disrespect. Will we be able to play the shit we do when we're 65? I don't know. When it becomes a joke, we'll stop."

On the widely panned 2003 album "St. Anger":

James Hetfield: "'St Anger' happened because it had to happen. It sounds very disjointed to me when I listen to it now. One-dimensional. Relentless. And that's exactly how we felt at the time: we were disjointed, and I think the resentment we felt towards each other was relentless."

On politics:

James Hetfield: "METALLICA has really tried to be non-political, as much as possible. I write about the human side of it all. I really dislike it when celebrities get up on a soapbox and start giving their opinion. It shouldn't be more valid, because you're popular. It gets in the way of the music. I like to just live, and think, and feel. Politics bore me. Politics separate people, especially where we're from. Politics rarely bring people together."

On not being the same people as they were when they recorded "Master of Puppets":

Lars Ulrich: "I'm 44 years old, I've got three kids, I flew in a helicopter on Friday. It's a little difficult to revisit the vibe of 20 years ago when you're living in a two-bedroom suite at Claridge's. I live a very different life to how I lived then."

On the level of expectation METALLICA still command:

Lars Ulrich: "I was thinking the other day about how everyone expects us to continue to release albums that define the genre, to 'save' metal. And that's a lot of fucking pressure, really. Why hasn't anyone dethroned us yet? We support all the great new metal bands, take them under our wing, but people still want us to carry the whole genre on our backs."

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