LARS ULRICH Says LIMP BIZKIT-Haters In Chicago Were Disrespectful To METALLICA

Bean of KROQ's "Kevin & Bean Show" in Los Angeles spoke with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich on Friday (August 8),the day before the group's appearance at L.A. Coliseum as part of the Summer Sanitarium Tour. Among the topics that were discussed during the interview was the much-publicized LIMP BIZKIT garbage-throwing incident in Chicago, which resulted in the band walking off stage after a mere six songs.

When asked what exactly happened at the gig to cause BIZKIT to stop playing 20 minutes into their performance, Ulrich said, "I don't know enough about it to give you… other than, I was backstage doing a 'meet-and-greet', signing autographs for members of our fan club and a few other friends, and I just… BIZKIT played 15-20 minutes and then the last song they do… I know what's the last song they do… I guess I shouldn't give it away. And [I was like], 'Why's the last song 45 minutes early?' So they went off stage and I went over to find [LIMP BIZKIT frontman] Fred [Durst] after I was done doing my meet-and-greet, and [I asked him] 'What was up with that?' and he just said there wasn't a lot of love for BIZKIT in Chicago. And apparently… Not only is [what the fans did to LIMP BIZKIT] disrespectful to LIMP BIZKIT [themselves], it's also disrespectful to the LIMP BIZKIT fans. But one more thing: It's also disrespectful to METALLICA, because we wouldn't have fuckin' put LIMP BIZKIT on a METALLICA stage or invite them to be out here if we didn't respect them and have love for them and so on. So overall, it's just the kind of thing where nobody wins and to me, it's just really silly kindergarten shit. You know, Chicago has always had incredibly passionate fans, which is one of the reasons we love going there so much, because there's no bullshit there. I guess Fred was telling me that there'd never been a lot of love for BIZKIT there. But I've gotta tell you, the next night up in Minneapolis, LIMP BIZKIT went out and fired it up. In the old days, they used to have this phrase called 'warm-up band'. And look, LIMP BIZKIT is obviously certified — they've sold a gazillion records and all this type of stuff — but they're like the perfect band to warm the crowd up for us, because they go out every night, and Fred goes out every night and gives it 120 percent. There are a couple of METALLICA fans who are skeptical about BIZKIT because they haven't done a lot for three years, as I can relate to, because we didn't do a lot for a couple — two or three years — when the music isn't there to do the talking, and a lot of the kind of the soap opera bullshit does the talking, it can kind of leave a bad taste in everybody's mouth."

In response to a question about whether he's ever sat down with Fred and given him advice on when to keep his mouth shut and not shoot himself in the foot by letting the outside stuff get in the way of the music, Lars said, "Me and Fred get on like a house on fire, man. It's great. We had five minutes of falling out a few years ago, and I called him up and said, 'This is bullshit,' and since then, me and him have been the best of friends, [there's] a lot of respect [between us]. We've had a couple of conversations about a couple of things like that, [which] I don't need to get into. I really like the guy, and I think part of the reason I really like the guy is because I see a lot of myself in him. I kind of see a kind of a purity in him and a kind of an innocence. I've said a lot of bullshit in my life, and I've gotten myself in a lot of trouble, because I've never been too calculating and too manipulative and just always said what's on my mind. Nowadays, even though I still say what's on my mind, I'm not as spiteful or as competitive or as full of hatred for a lot of things as I was 10 or 15 years ago. And I'm not saying that's what he's doing, I'm just saying I can recognize a lot of myself in him, which is why I think that I really like him. We've had a couple of conversations, and Fred's a smart guy, and he knows what time it is, and I don't need to sit there and tell him what to do. They just go out and they [tear] it down hard."

Bean's two-part interview with Lars Ulrich can be downloaded at the following links: Part#1, Part#2 (Windows Media).