LARS ULRICH: 'We Have A Tendency To Be Pretty Adventurous In METALLICA'

Vanessa Franko of The Press-Enterprise conducted an interview with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich ahead of the "Big Four" show this Saturday (April 23) at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

On the big four bands of thrash metal — METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX — getting together and touring Europe last year:

"We were all keeping our fingers crossed that the experiment would work. When we played the first show in Warsaw, just about 10 months ago, in June of last year, everybody felt right away that this thing was really working and the 75,000 people who showed up in Warsaw really felt that it was working, too."

On not wanting to cram the tour down the throats of fans:

"There's a fine line. You don't want to push it to the point so 'Now we're going to hit every arena, every theater, every backyard, everywhere.' You want to keep it special."

On the "Big Four" show in Indio, California:

"We're bringing all the bells and whistles and all of the stuff that turns on and off and all of the stuff that pops and goes boom. Hopefully people all over Southern California will be able to experience some part of this, if not by direct association, then at least by indirect association. It will be cool. If the weather's clear, they'll be able to share this all over Southern California."

On how METALLICA plans to celebrate its 30th anniversary:

"I think we sort of forgot. When you get to have been around as long as we have, you can almost find an anniversary in anything — 10 years since this, 20 years since that came out, 15 years since somebody picked their nose. There's always an anniversary you can celebrate."

On METALLICA's continued success and relevance, which Ulrich attributes to the band's ability to change:

"We have a tendency to be pretty adventurous in METALLICA. We're not afraid to move around on the musical map a little bit ... you've got a lot of curious personalities in this band; you've got a lot of people who are very inspired by many different things. There's always different flavor that comes up whenever we get together and do our thing. We like to mix it up as much as possible. Hopefully in the wake of that, there comes an unpredictability and something where people don't pigeonhole you and take you for granted."

Read the entire interview from The Press-Enterprise.