LARS ULRICH: 'There's A Lot Of Love And Positive Momentum For This METALLICA Record'

Australia's News.com.au recently conducted an interview with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On his life away from METALLICA:

"We all live quiet normal lives in the suburbs outside San Francisco, taking our kids to school. My responsibilities are to wake up at 6.30 in the morning and make the lunch boxes. Hanging out in Paris doing TV shows and having nice fancy dinners and drinking expensive French wine, it's not exactly hard work. I tell the people with me that they have permission to slap me if I ever complain. None of them slap me enough because they are scared but I do encourage them."

"I look increasingly at METALLICA as my escape away from my real responsibilities which are my kids and family and my domestic situation. A lot of people use the word job or work, but this is fun, it's an escape to go away on tour. I get more sleep on tour than when I am at home."

On "Death Magnetic":

"It's not the most cheery of records. There's a thread going through all the songs, through death and suicide, despair and misery and fuckedupness. 'Death Magnetic' was a way, an expression of summing all that up.

"The lyrics are always important to METALLICA. They can't be forced and these ones came out quite late in the process, all from the twisted mind of one James Hetfield."

"I was stunned at how great the lyrics were. And stunned how much shit was going on in his head, how many issues are lingering in the poor man's head. So I was pleased from the creative viewpoint but a little concerned about the guy."

On who made the first call to get METALLICA back in the studio:

"Mick Jagger. And I'll tell you why it was Mick Jagger. One of his reps called up METALLICA's reps in the fall of 2005 and asked if we would play with THE ROLLING STONES in San Francisco. Our response was 'Fine, fuck it, we'll play with the STONES because it's something everyone should do once.' We met up a week before the shows after the better part of a year off and started rehearsing and hanging out. We had such a good time that literally the day after the STONES show, we went in and started going through the demo tapes."

On the recording process:

"When you are trying to nail something in the studio, you have to bring an extra physicality because of the lack of an audience; you have to find it yourself, turn it up not just to 11 but to 12. We don't do many takes — six, eight, maybe 10 — and then we are done with it and you usually get three or four hours out of us at that level. There's definitely a routine for us in the studio and it also involves having a steam and yoga and fruit plates."

Of course all that happens behind closed doors and best it stays there so metal fans can remain blissfully oblivious to such gentle behaviour.

On the fact that the album's first two singles, "The Day That Never Comes" and "Cyanide", have made it onto the singles charts despite the fact that they are each more than six-and-a-half minutes long:

"That is a victory. There's a lot of love and goodwill and positive momentum for this METALLICA record. Let's see in six months whether it sticks."

Read more from News.com.au.