Classic Rock Magazine Dec 02 issue - 'Metallica recently interrupted work on their new studio album to speak to Classic Rock. Drummer Lars Ulrich revealed that between 10 and 20 new songs have been planned for the record, and that his workaholic tendencies are in no danger of subsiding. "The hardest thing is forcing myself to go home and eat dinner with the family," he chuckled. "Time, baby, is a hard thing for me to juggle."
The trio of Ulrich, guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett have again been working with Bob Rock, the producer of their massive-selling 'Metallica' album, on the new, as yet untitled record. According to Ulrich, they're working toward a "late spring" release.
"We have this website (http://www.metallica.com/its) where we talk about what's going on in the studio and put pictures out," he says. "The hardest thing about it is coming up with [new] ways to say : 'We're [still] in the studio.' We have a lot of material, and in the last couple of days we've been working on nailing it down. It's a new thing for us, because every song we've ever written has been on an album. We've never done 30 songs and taken the nest ten, We were guilty in the past, especially with the 'Load' and 'Reload' stuff, of not editing ourselves. So we're dealing with that at the moment."
When asked to compare the new material to 'Load' and 'Reload', Ulrich described the bands last two records as "meticulous".
"Some of the stuff we're working on now has quite a bit more life in it," he says. "But some of that stuff was pretty fucking cool. With 'Load' it was disappointing that some people's reaction to the music was biased by how they dealt with the pictures - the hair and all that crap. People have come up to me years afterwards and said : 'I never gave the record a fair chance because I couldn't get beyond Jason Newsted wearing eyeliner.' But 'The Outlaw Torn', some of that shit is pretty fucking awesome," he continues. "[But] some of the songs are on the bloated side. And none of the things we're doing now is that we try to be a little leaner."
Despite long-term rumours that former Alice in Chains/Ozzy Osbourne bassist Mike Inez is in the frame, and even that Newsted might return to the band, Ulrich reveals that Metallica are in no hurry to make an appointment. Currently, everybody's happy with Rock and Hetfield playing bass parts on the record and with Rock filling in on the band's rare live appearances.
"If I told you I wasn't thinking about it, I'd be bullshitting you.", Ulrich told us. "But it's not something we're acting upon. We've made a conscious decision to not even deal with it until the record's done. Bob is playing 90 per cent of the bass tracks, James plays odds and ends, and it's awesome.
When the record's done we'll sit down and find a new bass player. I don't want to get into the Rolling Stones situation where it's three guys and some fucking rent-a-guy, I want to get a new member of Metallica. Every fucking five minutes somebody's telling me: 'You should get a famous guy', 'You should get a new guy', 'You should get an old guy', 'Get a chick', or 'Get a fucking monkey'... Everybody's got a fucking suggestion."
From proto-thrash origins, Metallica's music now seems to have been awarded classic rock status. "I can't believe it," Ulrich reflects. "One radio station in San Francisco has this 'rock from then' and 'rock from now' segment, and they play 'Stairway to Heaven' then Linkin Park then 'Sad But True'. And I'm like, come on! I'm not that old....I'm not even forty yet!"
Meanwhile, Ulrich has recorded a track with Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA for the forthcoming Quentin Tarantino martial arts movie 'Kill Bill', which will star Uma Thurman.
In related news, Jason Newsted has confirmed that he is producing and playing on the new album from Canadian metalheads Voivod. Furthermore, he intends to hit the road with them to promote the album.
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Ich hatte jetzt kein Bock alles zu übersetzen und in die News zu packen. Wäre cool wenn das jemand von Euch machen würde