LARS ULRICH Would Be Surprised If Next METALLICA Album Was Released Before 2015

Earlier this week, Channel24 spoke to METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich in Cape Town when the band returned to South Africa for three shows — one in Johannesburg and two in Cape Town. Ulrich spoke about tennis, drumming and the secret formula of keeping it together for more than 30 years. You can watch the chat below.

Asked when fans can expect to hear a new METALLICA album, Ulrich said: "It would surprise me if the next full-length METALLICA record would come out before 2015. It takes us awhile to make records, and we're also so busy with so many other things. But we'll get around to it eventually."

On the topic of METALLICA's longevity, Ulrich said: "You have to learn to compromise. In any kind of relationship, there has to be a give-and-take. And so, somehow, we sort of figured out how to do that. It hasn't always been easy.

"When you're younger, you're a bit more fit for fight, or ready to kind of… it's either your way or no way. But I think as you get older, you start realizing that what you have is special. [We realized] that at least in this band, METALLICA is the sum of all parts, so if all the parts are not there, it's not METALLICA. So you have to find a way to kind of give and take and balance and compromise, and sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow, and sometimes you dig your heels in and other times you let go. It takes some time to figure that out."

He continued: "I think a really big help in our situation was the fact that we all had kids more or less around the same time. So when you have no kids — and this is the 'sound bite' version of this — you think primarily of yourself. When you have children, you think primarily of others before yourself. So, I think some of the things about the way you relate to your children and put your children first, you learn to, kind of, put your own needs secondary. And I think the fact that we all had kids at the same time helped instill that in us. And so you try to, sort of, sometimes just put your own needs second and learn to trust that you can go with somebody else's thought and opinion."

As previously reported, METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett told the United Arab Emirates' GulfNews.com that making headway on the band's next album is "a pretty slow process." Although band members have said in other interviews that they're aiming for the follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic" to come out next year, Hammett explained, "That's what we're hoping would happen. Whether that's a reality, we'll see. We're recording stuff here and there, but it's a pretty slow process."

Hammett also said that METALLICA's upcoming 3D feature film, "Metallica Through The Never", is "kind of taking precedence over anything else at the moment. We want to make sure that this movie gets our full attention and it turns out the way we want it to turn out."

He added, "From the footage we've seen, it looks pretty amazing. It is a trip seeing yourself in 3D, that's for sure! Actually, it's a trip seeing yourself on a 25-feet cinema screen to begin with. The 3D aspect makes it all that much intense."

"Metallica Through The Never" will now come out on September 27 and not August 9 as originally announced. The film will be digitally remastered into IMAX 3D and play for one week exclusively in IMAX theaters in North America before expanding into additional theaters on October 4. The film stars the band, thousands of its fans and acclaimed young actor Dane DeHaan in a story that follows a member of METALLICA's road crew — played by DeHaan — who is sent on a mission during the band's concert that turns his life upside down.