Posted by Metallifreak on 13.03.2011 at19:50:
Last December I had the most surreal experience of my life. Lars Ulrich from Metallica called my mobile.
I had reviewed the first Metallica show in Australia, here on TheVine. I said it was great, but also that I thought Lars' "greatest nemesis was his younger self". And that at times he looked like "a gurning elf". I could only assume that he was now calling me to offer personal retribution.
How wrong I was. Lars loved the review, thought it was unique and insightful. (Subtext: Lars Ulrich reads TheVine!). And so, would I be interested in hanging out with the band the following week, as a "fly on the wall" guest of the band over the last four days of their two and a half year tour behind Death Magnetic? A journey that, fortuitously for me, just happened to be finishing in my hometown of Melbourne. "Yes". I said to Lars.
The resulting 7000 word article I penned about the experience can't be printed here, unfortunately. It appears exclusively in the latest edition of the Metallica fan club magazine, So What? (which, readers, you can sign up to receive in all its tangible glory at metclub.com). It details my adventures and conversations over the four days I met the band and crew, sat in on each of the band's nightly pre-show rehearsals, walked out into Rod Laver Arena with the band at Lars' behest, watched the gigs from the sidelines, and, proudly, convinced Lars to come with me to Cherry Bar at 3am in the morning after their end of tour party. Plus so much more.
On the last night of the tour in Melbourne, before their very last Death Magnetic show, which had spanned 45 countries and two and a half years, I followed Lars into his pre-show physio room to chat on record. After previously watching every Metallica member personally meet and greet twenty or so fan club member winners (something they each do before every single show), we discussed the end of the band's touring cycle, the fans and what happens now.
(Question and answers that appear in the So What? article have been omitted).
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It's the end of two and a half years touring behind Death Magnetic. Have you learned from it?
I'm sure I will. [Once we're finished touring] I have a tendency to...first I get practical and then I get emotional. So right now, I have a list in my pocket of things to do today. You know, stack up on unused passes from the production office. Remember to give the crew guys their bonus cheques. Remember to thank the hardcore fans for travelling. Remember to pick my nose and whatever else. I'm sure that on the plane back tonight or in the next couple of days...it always gets a little more unreal. Like, a week later, when you get home and it's like 'Woah. I'm not going back out there for a while. I'm not going back out on that stage. Next time we go do something it will be [for a new record].'
So I think on a serious note, looking back on the last couple years, it's been such a positive experience.
That feeling must be within the band from a creative perspective as well.
Yeah, I'm talking within the band, within the relationship, with our record, with the tour, the gigs, how we're playing, how we feel - the whole thing. But the second we walk offstage tonight, the next chapter begins. There doesn't necessarily need to be a vacuum or lull or something that's a non-entity. You could say that the next record and the next phase starts when we say 'Goodnight' at the end of the set tonight.
Has playing the Death Magnetic songs in amongst your back catalogue made you understand the record in a different way?
I would say the main thing the last two years have done for Death Magnetic is made me appreciate it even more. And this is coming from a guy who has not always had a great relationship with [our] records once they're done. There's been a lot of questions, a lot of raised eyebrows, a lot of 'What were we thinking?'. And that has sometimes set in rather quickly.
Every record's always been a very compulsive, momentary, instinctive kind of thing. A very pure thing. But in the wake of that, three months later or six months later, it's always like...you sit there and go 'What the fuck were we thinking?'. But with Death Magnetic, which we finished about two and a half years ago, I can definitely tell you that we've never had a record that has been appreciated by members of the band - at least speaking for myself - for as long as Death Magnetic. I heard three or four songs in the car while I was home on the last break [from touring]; it still sounded amazing. I was listening to one of the songs earlier just to check on something that we have to play tonight, and it still sounds great. Two and a half years later. It just blows my head off. So I can absolutely tell you that there's no Metallica record that's stayed in such a positive light as Death Magnetic has for me. Which is a good thing. It also makes me a little wary about it. As we're sitting there thinking about the next record [laughs].
James [Hetfield0 told me he has 800 and something new riffs on his iTunes.
We'll see how it plays out. I look forward to getting back and creating, I look forward to just getting back and playing. I look forward to getting back to that side again. We started working on Death Magnetic five years ago this month. And we spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into that record, and it was certainly worth it,. But I don't take for granted that we can top it - I will set out to top it. I hope we can - but it's a motherfucker of a record. So we'll see how it plays out.
It must be encouraging in that, arguably, that record was celebrating your history. And it's been so well received, comparatively.
Oh yeah. The best thing about those songs, in a live situation, is how effortlessly they all slot in with all the older stuff.
There must be kids that are getting Death Magnetic first. And going back.
Sure, it's worked out rather well. I never expected it to work out quite that well. I think there's always been - sometimes been - a borderline elitist reluctance to embrace the new records from some fans. Because if you embrace the new records in some way, it's [somehow perceived] as a diss on the old stuff. Which I've never quite been able to understand. But this record has really been embraced by the fans, it's probably the most openly embraced Metallica record since the first four.
How have you enjoyed the last few days?
I've loved it. It's been really interesting seeing you up so close. It makes me feel different about it, small things. Like, seeing first hand how skilled Kirk [Hammett] is; seeing how you guys relate in the tuning room. It's interesting seeing Rob [Trujillo]'s presence, I wasn't expecting it to be so authorative.
Sure. He has a presence that's very pure. There's nothing contrived, there's nothing in the approach that's anything but pure. His vibe and presence has really made a remarkable difference [to Metallica]. And it's really difficult to say that without implying that Jason [Newsted, previous bassist] was not that. So it's not a diss on Jason. It's not a comment [on that], because [Jason] brought something else [to the band] that was precious.
But with Rob, his effortlessness and his approach to things really makes a difference with the overall energy. To me and James, he's a real stabilising force. Me and James have a very, very good relationship right now. And it feels like it's in a different place. But it's also a relationship that's the most volatile because it can derail the quickest, there's so much history. So many things that can trigger issues very quick. And Rob brings a real calming, stable energy to mine and James' relationship that is almost like a see-saw. [Rob's] a great balancing act in that dynamic. It's really made a remarkable difference in our inter-band dynamic over the last six to eight years.
Posted by Metallifreak on 13.03.2011 at19:52:
Which creatively must be exciting. You're able to let your guard down a lot more when you have that level of understanding.
Yeah. He's a great sounding board. He just adds something, we're very lucky the way that all played out. 'Cause you just never know. Decisions are instinctive and then you've made them, you know what I mean? 'OK let's get THAT guy in the band'. And then you sit there and go 'OK, five years from now, how's it gonna work? How's it gonna work tomorrow?' You know what I mean?
I just saw you go and talk to all the fan club members. One guy said he'd been to 68 shows on this tour. Do you see in those few people each night, why you're important to so many?
I see myself in them a lot. I feel a real kinship in them because that was me. And to some degree it still is me, except the fact I'm in this band makes it hard for me to be them. But I still really relate to those guys. I travelled around, I followed bands around - I still kind of do. I will fly to see U2. The only difference is I don't end up on the rail [at the front], I end up in the VIP section [laughs], courtesy of their management or whatever - but that's still me. So I relate a lot to those [fans] and they inspire me to keep the setlists fresh and keep it different. Keep it interesting and mix it up and do all that type of stuff.
I think finally we're at a point where we've got 60 or 70 songs we can pull out of a hat, more or less, at a moment's notice. And the good news is that whichever one of those we pull out, to the casual guy that shows up, they're somewhere between very good to great. But for the countless hundreds or maybe even thousands that come to so many shows [around the world], it's that thing of making it different each time. Because you're playing to a worldwide audience now. You're not just playing to those people in Melbourne. We sell say, two thousand copies of the show each night to like, guys in Korea, Spain, Portugal, Norway and...Bumfuck, you know what I mean? So there's [an instant] global audience in that way.
And there must be fans that buy every single one.
Yeah. Absolutely. That globalisation that's happened to music because of the internet and access to the bands on the internet is such a great thing. Because it can really get you right in there, and it's awesome. So I think [band's now] have to reconcile with the fact that the idea of mystique, it's dead. It doesn't exist anymore. So trying to [put] mystique into it? It's just a fucking waste of everyone's time. You may as well just go as far as you can in the other direction and give as much access [as you can]. That's kind of been this band's spirit, probably in the last ten years. You know, Some Kind of Monster and all those things we do, it's basically 'Fine. You want access? You want to be part of the ride? Fine'. Throw the door wide open.
It's all pretty loosey-goosey [laughs]. It's all pretty open and I like that. And I think that's one thing that people genuinely under-appreciate about this band.
It seems the fans - especially those guys I saw you with before - understand that access and insight.
There's plenty of people who know it, within the bubble. The way I look at it is: Metallica operates within its own bubble. And everyone in that bubble, they know it. But outside of that bubble, there's a lot of people that look at Metallica as this sort of, corporate entity, or this kind of Napster-fighting...all this horseshit, you know what I mean? There's still that. And it's OK that it's still there. I don't have the energy to sit there and try and convince people out of that, it doesn't interest me anymore. Twenty years ago I might have spent a lot of time going 'No it's not really like that'. But the people that know, know. And the people that don't know...who gives a shit? You can't spend all that energy anymore [on those kind of things] when you've got three kids and all the rest of the things you gotta deal with.
Which ties into allowing people behind the scenes. Chances are, if you're not expending energy hiding things, then it's going to be a more positive vibe all round.
Exactly. It's much more liberating. There used to be a militant undertone to this band back in the, I'd say probably '90s. Everything had to be very together and perfect. All this kind of stuff. We always had this kind of playing [mentality]: 'Don't fuck up. If you fuck up you've let the team down', and all this bullshit.
It was funny watching you yesterday in the tuning room, with you all listening back to the way you were ending a song somewhere else on a different night. That was on 'The God That Failed' right?
Well we had to write a new ending because the ending that was on the record's not very good. So there are [certain] songs that we change up however we like [laughs]. We have a saying in this band, that it's actually technically impossible for us to fuck up a Metallica song. All we do is, we're just altering it or embellishing it.
If Metallica's playing it...
[Laughs]) Exactly. We can't fuck up a Metallica song. But it didn't used to be like that. 15 years ago it was very much like 'Grrrrrr!'.
Which must make it more fun now.
It's a lot more fun. As long as everyone's on board. The hardest thing is when you've got a couple of guys [who aren't], you know?. But when everyone's on the same page it's awesome. What's organically happened in this band, [for us to now] land on the same page...it's awesome.
Marcus Teague
Follow @marcusthevine
(Pics: Tim O'Connor)
