Interview with Lars Ulrich, Los Angeles Times, June
2, 1996
By Robert Hilburn
Question: What was the plan when you came off the road in the
summer of 1993?
Answer: The main thing was we needed to walk away from what
we were doing. We had been together for 15 years or so, and the longest
break we ever had was probably two or three months - and that's not enough
time to really wind down. Plus, we had never been through anything as
physically and mentally draining as that last tour.
Q: Did any part of you worry about what a long break
like that might do to your fan base? There doesn't seem to be a lot of
loyalty these days in rock.
A: It was a matter of priorities. What does it do to an audience
if you end up burning yourself out to the point of never wanting to do it
again? Besides, you can't worry about things like fan bases. The minute
you start trying to plan your moves in reaction to what you think your
audience might want, that's the minute I think you have already lost. You
never should sit there and go, "Well, here comes Green Day or whoever, so
how should we react?"
Q: I suppose the same thing applies when you are thinking about
your music. There was a lot of grumbling form die-hard Metallica fans last
time that your album was too accessible. Does that intimidate you at all -
the fan reaction to change?
A: The point people forget is that we change as people and
musicians. You can't keep doing the same thing over and over or you'll get
bored. That's why you'll find some changes on the new album. The thing
that would worry me would be if one of my favorite bands doesn't change.
But we caught the grumbling long before ["Metallica"]. When we put a ballad
on our second album, there were purists in the hard-rock world that were
freaking.
In fact, every time we put a record out, 95% of the people are
thrilled about the fact we explored some new musical territory, but you also
have the 5% who are closed-minded and want you to put out the same record in
a different sleeve. There are plenty of bands who do that. But we choose
not to be one of them. This time, for instance, we put some bluesy stuff on
the record and even some country and Southern influences.
Q: Do you ever see doing another marathon tour like the last one?
A: No. No. No. No. That's an answer for all of us. We will
never do that again because we realize the whole thing would just crumble.
That doesn't mean we won't tour a lot. We just won't play every place you
can put up a stage, which is what we did last time. We did a month in the
Pacific Rim at a time when almost nobody else had. We played the Singapores
and the Jakartas. We played Tel Aviv and Athens. We went to Europe three
times.
Q: How did you use the year off?
A: Mostly it was just an enriching experience - a chance for us all
to think about ourselves and our life away from the band. It was the first
time we really got to spend any extended period of time thinking of
ourselves as individuals rather that being one-fourth of Metallica. The
result, in my case, is I am more comfortable with myself, a bit less manic.
Q: What did you do in the studio last year when you found you had
30 songs?
A: Well, we liked all the songs, so we started looking at options.
We thought about a double album like the Smashing Pumpkins, or maybe putting
out two seperate albums like Guns N' Roses did with "Use Your Illusion." We
even thought about staggering release dates like U2 did with "Achtung Baby"
and "Zooropa."
In the end, we decided to take the 14 songs that were the furthest
along and record them and put them out and then go out and play some shows
for a year and a half or so, then go back and put out the other album. This
way we would keep things fresh. We could even play some of the songs from
the next album on the tour.
Q: Were you as suprised as everyone when Lollapalooza invited you
to headline the shows?
A: Totally. I remember we were with [our managers] in New York
when they showed me the fax and I checked the calendar. Was it April 1 or
something? I was suprised that they came to us because the perception of
Lollapalooza is so far from what we do. But I personally don't see it as
much of a stretch.
Q: What do you mean?
A: There were a lot of divisions between alternative rock and hard
rock and metal five years ago when Lollapalooza started, but that has
changed a lot. I think the boundaries have come down, and that's healthy.
I think musical tastes are so wide in America today that you could
put Metallica and U2 and Oasis and PJ Harvey and Waylon Jennings and Dr. Dre
and the Wu-Tang Clan together and it would be great.
Q: What broke down those barriers?
A: I think you have to thank Kurt Cobain for a lot of that. If you
go back five years or so, we had the punks and the metal kids and the modern
H�sker D� crowd, if you will. Cobain came along and somehow fused it
together. The aggression and attitude of Nirvana appealed to a lot of the
metal kids. There were definite hints of Black Sabbath riffs in the music.
At the same time, Nirvana wasn't about being a great guitar player. It was
about emotion and purity and opening up, which is what a lot of the
alternative crowd loved about Nirvana.
Q: "Hero of the Day" on the new album speaks about finding heroes.
Like Cobain, you and the other members of Metallica are viewed by lots of
young people as heroes. Cobain felt uncomfortable being seen as a hero. Do
you like being a role model?
A: To tell you the truth, I could never understand this thing about
role models, whether you're talking about some basketball player or
politician or rock star. Why should you pattern your life after what they
do or say? You don't know them. The way they live their lives may have
nothing to do with what you admire in their professional life.
I always think you should look within and seek out answers for
yourself...educate yourself to understand different sides of issues. That's
the way I was brought up. But I hope the songs do speak to people and help
them find inner strength. ...If there is any truth in what we say, it's in
the songs.
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