Metallifreak 
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Registration Date: 27.05.2005
Posts: 5,201
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| A Chat With James (Part 1) - July 2015 |
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Here is part one of a chat I had with James Hetfield about the forthcoming leg of the European tour and other working matters at hand. As ever, he was quick to find, easy to pin down and as cheerfully ready to sit down for 25 30 minutes chinwagging one morning a few weeks ago.
We will be looking to serve up this sort of quick chat stuff far more frequently as the year unfolds.
In the meanwhile, enjoy.
Steffan, VSW!
SC: So, lets talk a little bit about how the shows were in Europe first and foremost. I mean the whole concept of having fans behind you, which started at Glastonbury I believe, how are you digging that?
JH: Oh, its great. Its a very lively backdrop, you know? I think the main thing that I get from it, is I cant get any closer to someone whos enjoying the music. I mean, theyre playing my guitar, theyre holding it, were together standing, Im in there with them, you cant get any closer. Especially in a festival.
You know, todays festivals, in my opinion are kind of like playing TV shows. Youre up there, the crowd is a frigging mile away, theyve got tracks and films and cameras and all kinds of stuff going on, because its streaming or its on the web or its on TV or something. And we want to be closer. We want to enjoy the vibe and get the energy back and forth, which is hard when people are that far away. Its hard to connect. So having them behind us, having theI dont know, the living backdrop, is cool. Theyre right there. And youve got all different ages, all different levels of enthusiasm.
SC: Really, youve seen some sleepers out there?
JH: No, not sleepers but its like they dont know what to do, you know? You get in their (faces), youre like come on, yeah! and youre rocking out, theyre like, OK, what do I do? And then youve got other people that are wanting to just enjoy that moment with every sense possible and theyre in it. But theyre super respectful, which I love too.
SC: So nobodys reaching out and trying to play a note or anything like that. I mean, have you had that?
JH: No. I think its such a public place, and youre on display up there, that I dont know if theyre a little more reserved because its totally out of their element. Its normal for us to be up there in front of all those people. For them, oh my God, this is what it feels like? So theyre already kind of in shock, so theyre not being aggressive or theyre not, you know, theyre not being offensive. Theyre a little more on the defensive. So its easier to come up and pull them out of their shell, and thats actually more fun than trying to put the brakes on somebody.
SC: Do people talk? DO they say things to you? I mean what have you heard, anything?
JH: Probably. I cant hear shit up there.
SC: Great. Thats excellent. So kids, you can say what you like because hes not gonna hear you!
JH: Yeah. Could call me an asshole, whatever, you know?
SC: Its probably a good thing you cant hear them because it means your monitors are working, right?
JH: Right. Its all you dont need to say anything. Its all gestures, its all just movements, its all feel. And you know, sometimes Ill hand the pick to somebody to play the guitar and theyre like, what, what? You know. Play it! Oh, its okay? So I think theyre instructed to be respectful and dont, you know, dont be pushy, dont be grabby, dont be any of that. So then they actually realize that hey, its okay, hes saying its okay so weve allowed them to get closer.
SC: Youre gonna be doing a different set of deep cuts (in the set) than before, right?
JH: Yeah. Because weve certainly done Europe in the summer for the last twelve years, you know, kind of going back, going back, and its great. Its fun to do. Its easy to walk into a festival, and obviously were blessed to, after 35 years, be asked to headline a festival, (which is) remarkable, and to still be able to do that. So well go over and well do five, six, go home, pretend to write for a while, come back the next summer and do six different ones. You know, theres so many (festivals) there that you can avoid overdoing the same ones . Because thats the last thing we want to do, you know, overstay our welcome and just burn somebody out on it. So were able to get over there quite a few summers.
So, you know, what do we have? Were not doing The Black Album in its entirety (already done of course ED), we dont have new material quite yet, so its deeper, deeper cuts, deep tracks, things that we havent done. Sometimes it really works, sometimes not so much. On this last tour we were doing, you know, Metal Militia like third or something and all of a sudden people are like, huh? What is this? You hear the raam, dadadadaand then a mosh pit starts so theres, you know theres at least 50 people that are liking it. But then theres some of the others, like I dont know this one
SC: Wow, there probably are people who do not know that material.
JH: Right. Well, God, dude, were fucking old! I mean weve been around a long time!
SC: Dont say that. Were mature.
JH: I mean generationally, theres younger fans. Im seeing more young people, teens and 20s up in the front, female, so its notits everybody.
They have to learn our history, and a lot of what people learn is how to be a fan at a festival, in a live situation. What do you do? What is it like? You know. Its not standing there with your iPad filming it. You know, its enjoy it.
SC: When you are picking these deeper cuts are you picking for them or are you still picking what you want to play?
JH: Its a little of both. If weve got four or five slots to fill, its like hey, which one goes better, and well rotate em. I mean doing Unforgiven 2 was awesome! That was one of those songs that we were all a little fearful of because the time we had played it at, God, the American Music Awards or some awards show, we came out to play it and it didnt go well. We dared to fail and we failed. So succeeded at failing.
SC: You dared to fail and you succeeded. Well, done, actually.
JH: Exactly.
SC: Id like to congratulate you on that moment.
JH: Thank you. Success.
SC: Youre welcome.
JH: So now were, you know, were a lot more well versed in it and its actually pretty cool to play. We did Frayed Ends through the last bit, a couple times I think. I dont know if we rotated that one or not but it was awesome.
SC: Yeah, I bet.
JH: Really great. Yeah. People definitely appreciated that one.
SC: Oh, Im sure some people were freaking out. I mean thats one of the ones that Ive always heard over the years that people are hungry for.
JH: Well, its fun to be able to pull out stuff that we dont do a lot. Its challenging because youre at a festival and you know, most festivals are kind of best-of stuff, because everyone wants to just hear and feel the songs that they grew up with or enjoy listening to. So I get that. But to make it exciting not only for them but for us, its nice to pull out deep cuts.
SC: Do you see a moment where some of these songs will stretch out a little longer and you will kind of play them
JH: You mean the Dark Star?
SC: Sort of.
JH: The Grateful Dead two hour jam ? I dont know. I mean, were playing two hours and you know, my throat, our bodies, everybodys got their thing, and two hours seems to be a good fit right now. So youre trying to get as much music into that as possible, and I dont know if a ten-minute jam in the middle of, you know, Disposable Heroes is what people would rather hear, or I would rather do. Im not the jam kind. I mean, if its a sing-along or if its something which weve done before, you know, an extended My Friend Misery doing that kinda singing bit in the middle was so powerful and man, that moved me hugely. You know, we tried some stuff like with Sandman doing some call and answer that didnt quite work out so well. So again, you dare to fail. You try stuff out and if it works it works, and if it doesnt, thats how most live stuff happens. Then theres a happy mistake, like oh, I forgot to come in and hey, they started singing that part and now we turned it into something. So happy mistakes are always welcome.
SC: Do you ever see a time where it will work to take an intermission?
JH: I dont know. We havent really done that. The only thing I can equate it to is maybe, gosh, trying to remember if it was for St.Anger where we did three shows in Paris?
SC: Oh, that was St.Anger.
JH: They were brutal. It was like up, down, up, down. Yeah, that was tough. I mean, the fact that half of France was on strike didnt help.
SC: And 100 degrees of heat.
JH: Yeah, that too. So anyway, thats the only thing I can kinda compare it to. But no I mean a doodle, a little bass solo, those are my intermissions! And when Rob goes out and does his bass thing, thats where I actually get to have something to drink, and breath, catch my breath and all that stuff so-.
SC: All right, so well put to bed a rumor that never actually started except for here at this table.
JH: You started the intermission rumor!
SC: But there will be no live show with an intermission.
JH: No, we dont know. We have no clue. Thats something that (applies) now more than ever, and it kinda reminds me of the early days when there were no rules. The rule, you know. Hey, alls I want to do is play and lets go. You know. Hey, you want to play here? Sure, lets do it. Weve built this into such a huge thing that were at that point again where the music business is new in a way. How do you get your music out there, how are you supposed to tour? Theres no traditional cycles like there used to be. What do you want to do? How do you do it? So its fresh again.
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