JAMES HETFIELD Says METALLICA Fans Are Like The 'Ultimate Family'

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield was interviewed by Andy Langer of Time Warner Cable News prior to the band's June 6 performance at the X Games in Austin, Texas. You can watch the chat at this location.

Asked what it feels like to get such a strong reaction from the crowd every time METALLICA performs live, Hetfield said: "Well, it's like an ultimate family for us — especially for me. When I'm able to just be honest and ask, 'Hey, help sing this part,' or I screwed up the words and they sing it for me. It's, like, 'Man, they really do have our back.' And we don't look at things as mistakes. There are no mistakes that happen. There's just unique ways of doing it for that day. We go up there and we play it. So there's just such a freedom when you have… When the crowd has your back, there's such a freedom to be able to even explore more up there or to even do better. 'Cause you know you're not out there to impress people, you're out there just to deliver what you've got in you."

Hetfield also talked about METALLICA's longevity and whether he and his bandmates thought the group would still be around after all this time. He said: "You know, it was all dreams, and dreams… I believe that if you think it can happen, it''ll be happening. The power of attraction… We wanted this to be our calling, we wanted this to be what we were doing in life and contributing, making a living off of, raising our family with. This is where our passion lied, and the fact that we are still here after 33, 34 years, we're totally blessed and extremely grateful for that. But, honestly, when we were just starting out. We just wanted to play that day. If I played that day, I was happy. Whatever happened the next day was a new adventure. We never thought way too far ahead — and even now. We never looked back either, really, but I think the last few albums… The older we get, the more we kind of look back and get inspired from it as well."

METALLICA currently has three dates on its calendar between now and mid-September: two shows in Quebec City, Canada and an appearance at the Rock In Rio festival.

Despite insisting that work has been proceeding on a new CD, METALLICA has spent a lot of time outside the studio in the last year, with activities that included a string of European all-request shows last summer, a week-long residency on "The Late Show With Craig Ferguson" and stints at both the Rock In Rio USA and Lollapalooza festivals.