Journalist MICK WALL Talks About His Upcoming METALLICA Book

Justin Donnelly of Blistering.com recently conducted an interview with veteran heavy metal journalist Mick Wall. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On his new book, "Appetite For Destruction: Legendary Encounters With Mick Wall":

"'Appetite For Destruction' is essentially an expanded version of my book 'Star Trippin': The Best Of Mick Wall 1985-91', which came out in 2006 in celebration of Kerrang!'s 25th anniversary. 'Star Trippin'' was a self-published effort, low-key release with a very modest print run. You could only buy it via my web site, and each copy was signed by me. It was never meant to be anything other than a memento, really, for some people that enjoyed those stories the first time around. We only did a few hundred copies, and they all went. I thought there would be hundreds of these things sitting in a garage somewhere in years to come. But lo and behold, they all went. And people bought them from all over the world. I really didn't expect that there would be so many people interested in the book. But the idea to re-release the book came about when my editor asked if he could get a copy. As it so happens I only had two copies left. One thing led to another, and eventually, 'Star Trippin'' became a kind of springboard to a more expanded version, which is now called 'Appetite For Destruction'. Originally, 'Star Trippin'' had 16 stories, along with introductions to all the stories. This new version now has 31 stories, and I've modified and improved some of the introductions that had originally appeared in 'Star Trippin'' to bring them up to date. I think it made them slightly better in my view, because I realize now that I'm writing for a much wider audience, especially given the unexpected success of 'Star Trippin''. And the codas for all of the stories are all brand new as well. There were no codas in 'Star Trippin''. Unlike 'Star Trippin'', 'Appetite For Destruction' is now something that everybody can get a hold of. I think this version is edited better, presented in a much more appealing package and it's more than twice as long. I'm very happy with how it's turned out."

On his upcoming METALLICA book:

"That's what I'm working on right now. This is the real proper follow-up to the LED ZEPPELIN book [2008's 'When Giants Walk the Earth']. I should be nearly finished, but, of course, I'm not. I'm a little behind, actually. In the same way that I did the LED ZEPPELIN book, I want to try and tell it the best way that I can, because I truly don't think that the story of METALLICA has ever been told before, or at least not properly. I knew those guys very well in the early days, and right up to when they hit the big time. I mean, Lars [Ulrich] used to call me when I was in London to see if he could crash at my flat. That was in the very early days, of course. He was still doing that right up until he was telling me that he was considering have an elevator built to get people up the side of the mountain where he lives to the front door of his new house. That was somewhere in the '90s. In recent times, I've reconnected with them and done quite a few interviews with them. I think their story is an extraordinary one. It has lots of ups and downs, and you have to have those. No story is ever complete when you talk solely about the ups. It must speak of the downs as well. So I'm really stuck into it at the moment. I'm quite literally dreaming about the bloody thing, and I'm terrified that I'm not going to get it finished in time. But that situation's normal, and that's' always the case. The book should be released in October 2010. At the moment, we're discussing ideas what to call the book. I did have a title, but I've recently changed my mind. I had a meeting this afternoon. I went into the meeting thinking that I had an incredible title, only to come out of the meeting thing that I have an incredibly terrible title! (Laughs) Now we have to come up with something startlingly fresh and new! But I have no idea what that is at the moment. It's only when I finish the darn thing that phrase will come to me. It was supposed to be delivered in April. But I can only really hope to finish the thing by June. These things take so bloody long. I love doing them, but I'm so terrible. I always leave things until the last minute to get my ass into gear and write the thing."

Read the entire interview at Blistering.com.