LARS ULRICH: 'No Reason' METALLICA Can't Keep Playing For Years

According to The Pulse Of Radio, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone that even though the members of the band are all in their 50s, he doesn't see them retiring at any time soon. Ulrich remarked: "The only unknown is the physical element of it. If the arms and legs and knees and shoulders and throats and all that stuff, the backs, the necks, if all that stays intact, there's no reason we shouldn't be able to do this for a significant amount of time longer."

Speaking of a band like THE ROLLING STONES who are performing well into their later years, Ulrich added: "I love THE ROLLING STONES more than anybody else on this planet. Obviously what we do, I'd like to argue, is slightly more physically demanding in terms of the energy that goes into it… If you can't play it at the physical demand that it deserves, it's better to not play it than play it half-assed. That's the only unknown. I think mentally we could do this for another 100 years."

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield told The Pulse Of Radio what keeps him going as a musician after 35 years in the band. "Well, for me writing music is like breathing, and being able to create things in a band that has a huge family out there and a following around the world, and be able to get my confusion and questions and insanity into this music and put out to the rest of the world so people can relate... there's no better thing," he said.

The new METALLICA album, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", will arrive on November 18. The first single, "Hardwired", is out now.

METALLICA has one upcoming show on its calendar: the band will perform at Neil Young's 30th-anniversary Bridge School Benefit concert, set to take place on October 22-23 at at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, California.