BEATALLICA Frontman Says METALLICA's ULRICH Went Out Of His Way To Help His Band

March 16, 2005

Michael Tierney of METALLICA/BEATLES cover band BEATALLICA spoke to MTV.com about receiving help from METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich in their dispute with the Sony Corporation over BEATALLICA's "unlawful use" of the group's compositions "without authorization or license."

"Both of us want this to officially be over," Tierney told MTV.com. "Our legal team, with the help of Lars and his lawyers, have been in contact with the Sony folks and we're in the process of making sure everything's square."

Tierney, 35, an occupational therapist by day, said he was pleasantly surprised when Ulrich called him a few weeks ago. "METALLICA have been following what we've been up to for the past year and they've talked about us in a few magazine interviews and I got word three weeks ago that Lars wanted to contact us to talk," said Tierney. "He called me at home and we had several conversations about it and he said what he'd be willing to do for moral support and also as far as being more active in the situation. What really impressed me was that he was calling from his vacation with his family in Colorado. Nobody of his stature needs to take time out from their vacation to do that."

"The Internet is a swamp of piracy, so you send out cease-and-desist letters all the time," METALLICA lawyer Peter Paterno said. "Someone at Sony probably saw this site and sent out a letter and once they realized what was on it they decided it was not something worth picking a fight over. They got that this is different from someone selling BEATLES CDs and not paying royalties."

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