Launch S&M Interview With Lars
Symphonie Metallique
Nearly 20 years on from its formation in 1981, Metallica, once a pure underground heavy metal sensation, now finds its latest songs occupying alternative radio playlists around the world. This in itself would be a major development for most groups, but for James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted, it's only one of several. Perhaps the most surprising is that these former long-haired marauders just finished collaborating with a different sort of longhair outfit--the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. As drummer Lars Ulrich recently explained to LAUNCH, being metal masters had become almost routine for the band, and the challenge of working with a larger group of musicians was just too intriguing to pass up. The result is the impressive live classical/ metal hybrid album S&M.
In a way, this kind of cross-genre dabbling can be seen as a logical extension of the big stylistic break Metallica made in the mid-'90s, cutting their hair and switching to a more melodic, less bombastic sound. Though longtime fans may wonder whether those moves would have occurred if late bassist Cliff Burton had remained among the living, they certainly can't argue that the band's welfare has been hurt by them. Metallica has successfully made the transition from cult act to one of the biggest live draws in the world--and they're the subject of a compelling VH1 Behind The Music. Yet according to Ulrich, the biggest change within the group has nothing to do with music; it's the fact that both he and singer/ guitarist Hetfield have become fathers in the past few years. "10 years ago," he says, "Metallica was the only thing in my life, and it isn't anymore."
LAUNCH: You did shows with the orchestra in Berlin, New York, and the one that was taped for S&M in San Francisco. Can you compare them?
ULRICH: I like the fact that they were all different. San Francisco was very intense because of the recording trucks, the film crew, and we'd never done it before--the safety net was removed. When we did it in Berlin, we'd been through it once, so we were more confident. The show in Berlin was also in a cement building like [New York's] Madison Square Garden, so it was more rock in a way. The one in San Francisco was more symphonic because it was in a theater, more the type of place where you would experience an orchestra on their own.
LAUNCH: Why choose to put out an album of the San Francisco shows with S&M?
ULRICH: To me, it was the ultimate in focus. When you play as many shows as we do, sometimes you have a tendency to sit and look at the lighting rig. When you're four guys, it's one thing, but when you're 90 guys or whatever, it's a different thing. Everybody stepped up to the plate in San Francisco and played really, really well, and it was just an incredibly high level of concentration and being at one with the instrument and yourself.
LAUNCH: The instrumental "Call Of Ktulu" is one of the songs that seems to work best with the classical-metal interpretation.
ULRICH: They're all different and they all have their own strong identities, but obviously a song like "Ktulu" is pretty perfect for this type of thing. The lack of vocals gives it so much more room. When we were making the record, we found that the hardest thing was that you've got a sound picture and there's only so much room in that sound picture between vocals and guitar solos and giant Metallica riffs--something's got to give. So that was not so easy, but obviously a song like "Ktulu" with no vocals makes it roomier, to make the most out of the orchestra. We sat down at the beginning of this project with every single Metallica song, narrowed it down to 35, and tried to work with the songs we thought most suited for this. And then [arranger/ conductor] Michael [Kamen] went to write the orchestra's parts and we had to discard 15 to make it an even 20, which was very difficult. But the ones that are on the record are the ones that we thought were the strongest.
LAUNCH: You recently went on tour with bands such as Sevendust and Kid Rock, among others. Any of the new-fangled bands floating your boat?
ULRICH: I think Kid Rock is amazing. He's doing something really strong, he's super-talented, and also a good old-fashioned rock star, in the way they don't make 'em much anymore. So that's always refreshing. Kid Rock to me is certainly the most interesting of all the cats that are riding the wave at the moment.
LAUNCH: Where does family fit in with Metallica? I know you're a daddy...
ULRICH: Yes. It's great. The difference now, at least for myself, is that 10 years ago Metallica was the only thing in my life, and it isn't anymore. That's not a negative thing, that's a positive thing. We have a much better sense of balance in this band about being comfortable with what we're doing, being interested in what we're doing, not feeling that it's a f--king chore. It got a little out of hand for a while, a few years ago. I think we're much more in control of what we're doing with the band than ever. We're much more on the same page about what we want to do, when we want to do it, how we want to do it, and what we don't want to do.
LAUNCH: And James Hetfield had a kid about the same time too, right?
ULRICH: Hetfield and me having kids at the same time has brought us even closer together. We just see much more eye-to-eye about touring schedules and all that type of stuff. But I think the other thing that's happened is that projects--recording projects, creative projects--are more vital and interesting than they were in the earlier days. Making a record meant going off the road. Going off the road meant that escapism living of just getting drunk and doing shows and chasing girls had to come to an end every time we went into the studio. Touring was all it was about 10, 15 years ago, and now touring is less and less vital to us. And projects such as this one and the Garage Inc. [covers album] thing are just much more creatively challenging.
LAUNCH: Do you or any other members of the band have any urge to delve into outside projects?
ULRICH: I get enough musical satisfaction out of this. I mean, I'm not looking for things to do, you know what I mean? It's not like, "What am I going to do with my time now?" I've got my record company. I've got interests in all kinds of other things that occupy my time. It's not like James is going to run off to Nashville and make a country record next month...at least not that I've been told. Who knows, anything's possible.
LAUNCH: What do you think is the Internet's impact on the way Metallica goes about its business?
ULRICH: Obviously there's a lot of positives that come out of it, but it's sort of opening up a whole can of worms. You've got some guy there with a computer and keypad going, "Okay, Metallica Rumor No. 7 today: Kirk Hammett is on heroin. Let's send that out there." It gets a little silly, that type of readily available information, truthful or not. And you roll into town and people already know the setlist because everybody from the day before has posted it. Some of that stuff gets weird. I'm a realist, so instead of spending time fighting it or questioning it, it's just like, "The Internet exists, this is how people communicate, so be it." It makes me turn off more to the information flow, because a large part of it becomes rumor-based and I don't have a lot of time for that.
LAUNCH: What are your memories of struggling in the early '80s at the Jamaica Building in New York? I heard it was pretty rough there.
ULRICH: Let me confirm that for you: it was a sh-thole. It was cold, it smelled, and it was muggy. We slept between our instruments and our gear. But you know, this was 1983. At that point in time you can't be demanding, and we weren't, and we just made the most of it. It was a vibe.
LAUNCH: What did you think about the VH1 Behind The Music Metallica special?
ULRICH: The best thing about it was that it repeated every five minutes. So take up as much network time as possible. I thought it was good. One of the better things like that, certainly. Sometimes they get a little dramatic, but that's what people want, man. Dig up the dirt. Thankfully, there isn't all that much dirt to dig up here.
LAUNCH: Have your views on Woodstock '99 changed now that you've had some distance from the festival?
ULRICH: We came, we played, we left. We played an above-average show that night, good energy. It's not often you get to follow Rage Against The Machine, so that's great. Without patting ourselves on the back too much, we've been in those type of situations enough to know when just to show up, play, shut the f--k up and leave--and not incite anything more. I still think that any time you put a bunch of bands together that are so varied, it's always a cool thing, and one that America could use a lot more of. Now whether they want to call that Woodstock or something else is irrelevant, but that variety is definitely great.
LAUNCH: So what's next for Metallica creatively?
ULRICH: The thing is that you make yourself open to things without necessarily forcing it. I think there's a difference between going out and searching for stuff and jumping on what's thrown at you. That was more the case with [S&M]; we were jumping at a wonderful opportunity thrown at us. It's been five years since we've really written any new material. And we've done some wacky projects with the Garage thing and now this. We're going to take a pile of time off and think about the next Metallica studio record. We're open to anything, but for right now, speaking for myself, I'm pretty excited to get back to writing again.
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