Metallica dropped by Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show on Wednesday (August 12) to talk about their upcoming live drive-in show, collaborating with Lady Gaga at the 2017 Grammys, and how they sold out during the COVID-19 lockdown .
One of the most pressing topics the band tackled was their rehearsal protocol, while being well-distributed during the pandemic. During a few days of work last week, drummer Lars Ulrich Stern said he wore the mask all the time, while singer / guitarist James Hetfield, for apparent reasons, could not. “We’ve been testing pretty crazy every other day,” Hetfield said, noting that he thought his COVID screening was remarkably intrusive. He is accustomed to it after years of getting his vocal cords for nodes.
“It’s still not fun,” he said. “It’s not fun to have a stick in your face.” Guitarist Kirk Hammett seconded that emotion, but said putting things through your nose just makes him think of the bad old drug days. “I never knew, Kirk,” joked Hetfield.
Ulrich said she has created her own NBA-like bubble for the 25-30 people on her team who will help her prepare for her first appearance of 2020, an August 29, that will be spent on hundreds of drive- in and outdoor theaters in the US and Canada as part of the Encore Drive-In Nights series.
Stern asked Hetfield how he had to deal with staying sober during the lockdown, with the singer calling the downtime a ‘real blessing’ because it allowed him to stay home in Colorado for more than two weeks in a period when the tire would normally be on the road. “As ironic as it sounds, building a community I’ve never had before … now that I’m almost on schedule, ” I’ll have a barbecue every Wednesday, or we’ll go over and have cigar firearms. on this day ‘when we were doing this, actually building a community of friends that I did not have at home before it was a blessing. “
When Howard asked how they rarely look at their old age now, the band described why their skinny, mean, no mascara appearance and sound in the early days was a reaction to the teary hair and spandex appearance and the sound of the metal scene in time. “These are our peers now and we fully respect these guys in various ways,” Ulrich said of how the group has come to appreciate all the acts they saw sideways all those years ago. “All those other bands? That was the enemy, the opposition, that was what stood in our way of achieving what we wanted to do.”
They also touched on how the old Metallica would never have done anything like collaborating with Gaga, as the band did in 2017, when they collaborated with the pop icon at the Grammy Awards for a chaotic run by “Moth Into Flame. ” Hammett explained, “After a while you get a little mature about it all and realize we’re all in this together,” with Hetfield adding that he already respected Gaga as an artist and was doubly impressed when she showed up two hours early to rehearse to work on their choreography. “She is extremely creative and a fearless artist,” he said.
As for another famous collaboration, they were excited about it not going as they expected – the controversial 2011 Lulu album that they followed with late punk godfather Lou Reed – Hammett who recalls that Reed had a strict rule “no guitar solos” that initially struck him. But when Kirk thought one song needed some solo action, he had to email Reed and “wait and wait and wait” for an answer, which he got the other day at rehearsal when Lou was alone said “I got your email.” And that was it.
As long as they were set up at Metallica HQ, in addition to the process of recording their ambitious orchestra Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony: S & M2 album sequel, to be seen on August 28th. And they also play ‘Wherever I May Roam’ and ‘The Unforgiven’ from the 1991 icon black album, as well as an acoustic “All Within My Hands” from Sint Anger.
Knowing that Stern is a superfan, Hammett disputed his request for a bit of Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and Hetfield stumbled his way through a shambolic take on “Stairway to Heaven.” Following the heels of recent similar shows with Garth Brooks and Blake Shelton, the band will be at your birthplace on August 29 with a recently recorded hour-and-45-minute set that will unfold at 300 drive-in theaters in North America.
“It’s an experiment to see what other cool new ways, in a new world order, of course post-COVID, or even during COVID, that we can connect music and bring music to fans all over the country,” Ulrich said. “It totally pisses us off to play a concert, without a crowd, with lights and everything. Oddly enough, it was really for us to get together and jam, because we miss jamming,” Hetfield added. “And hopefully some fun to people from around the world in COVID. They can be safe in their car.”
