BIOHAZARD's BILLY GRAZIADEI Recalls Having To Put METALLICA's LARS ULRICH 'In Check'

In a new interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", BIOHAZARD guitarist/vocalist Billy Graziadei recounted a "funny story" involving METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "So, pretty much every band knows, when you meet a band and you're, like, 'Oh, it would be great to tour with these guys. I would love to open up for them,' you've gotta treat that in a very delicate way, or you don't give a fuck. But if you meet somebody in a band and that's your ideal band that you wanna tour with, you go out of your way to say hello, be cool, be cordial, you pay for their beer — whatever. You know what I mean? I'm not saying kiss their ass, but there's the right way to handle it and the wrong way to handle it."

Billy continued: "Some friends of mine had some spot in Manhattan. And it was a pretty happening spot. But I'm outside talking to the security dudes and the owners, and we're all young kids; they're buddies of mine. So, Lars walks up. He's got maybe an entourage of, like, 10 people. And one of the owners says, 'Hey, yo, you know Lars. Can you introduce us?' I'm, like, 'Yeah, no problem.' So Lars walks by, and I'm, like, 'Yo, what's up, bro?' And he looks at me, kind of nods his head and says, 'Yeah, hi,' and walks right past me. So as New Yorkers, my buddies were busting my balls. They're, like, 'You don't know him.' I'm, like, 'I do know. And he fucking knows me.' So I rushed. I walk in the club. I walk up the stairs, VIP. And I pushed through to him and his people. And I sit right down next to him. I'm, like, 'Yo. What the fuck? You know who I am.'I said, 'You made me like an idiot in front of my buddies.' I said, 'You know me. Billy from BIOHAZARD.' He goes, 'Oh, I didn't recognize your hair.' I'm, like, 'It's always blonde, dude. That's my thing.' It's like Dimebag with his red beard. So, to make a long story short, he kind of motions over to one of his friends. She comes and sits next to me. She's, like, 'What band do you play with?' I said, 'BIOHAZARD.' She said, 'Oh you guys are fucking heavy. Cool.' Blah blah blah. That was it. The next morning I get a call from my manager, Scott Koenig, rest in peace. He said to me, 'Hey, I heard you bumped into Lars last night.' And I'm, like, 'Oh, here he goes. He's gonna bust my balls.' And so I started telling the story. And I was cool with Lars. I just basically stood up to him and said, 'Hey, you know me. Don't act like you don't know me, especially in front of my friends in New York, who, they're gonna bust my balls.' So sure enough, I started telling the story. He interrupts me and he said, 'Well, I don't know what happened or what you said or how you handled it, but they wanna take you on tour.' And I pretty much dropped the phone, and I was, like, 'Yo, what?' I picked the phone up. 'They wanna take us on tour? Fucking METALLICA?'"

Billy added: "So, word to the wise, you wanna treat people always with respect, no matter who you are. I don't care if you're the garbage man or the president, you're cool with me, you get my respect, and that's it. But you've always gotta stand up for yourself. And I think Lars just respected the fact that I wasn't afraid to tell him, 'Yo…' I had to put him in check — in a respectful way."

Earlier this month, the reunited classic lineup of BIOHAZARD entered Shorefire Recording Studios in Long Branch, New Jersey to begin recording its long-awaited new album for a 2025 release via Frontiers Label Group's new imprint BLKIIBLK.

The first reunion gig from Graziadei, guitarist Bobby Hambel, drummer Danny Schuler and bassist/vocalist Evan Seinfeld took place on May 26, 2023 at the Milwaukee Metal Fest at The Rave/Eagles Ballroom in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The group, which is acknowledged as one of the earliest outfits to fuse hardcore punk and heavy metal with elements of hip-hop, had been out of the public eye since Scott Roberts left the band nearly nine years ago.

Roberts, who played guitar on BIOHAZARD's 2005 album "Means To An End", rejoined the group in June 2011 as the replacement for Seinfeld. Scott fronted BIOHAZARD for nearly five years before exiting the band in February 2016.