METALLICA And LIMP BIZKIT Speak Out On Vacancies, Upcoming Tour

MTV.com has posted a report from yesterday's press conference in Los Angeles at which members of METALLICA, LIMP BIZKIT and LINKIN PARK announced their upcoming tour, dubbed Summer Sanitarium.

The following are some of the more interesting statements made at the conference:

On who will play guitar for LIMP BIZKIT on the upcoming tour:

Fred Durst: "We know who. It's all good. We're going to let you know who that is the second you see us. We're not going to make a big deal about it. It's just going to be somebody really strong."

On the vacant bassist slot in METALLICA:

Lars Ulrich: "We were in the mindset of finishing the record and dealing with it when the record was done. Then we woke up one day and thought maybe we should start thinking about it now so we don't wake up one day and have 10 minutes to get it together. We've had some cool cats come through the door, so we'll see."

"[Producer] Bob [Rock]'s a friend of ours and a member of our family, but not at that level [as a potential touring bassist]. He has other family to deal with, and going out and playing 300 shows around the world for the next two years is not his thing."

On METALLICA and LIMP BIZKIT's previous "unofficial" status as the spokespeople for the opposite sides of the Napster debate:

Lars Ulrich: "We settled it a long-ass time ago. That was not about music. That was not about respect. That was just standing your ground, two different positions on an issue that affects all of us. I have a lot of respect for where Fred was coming from."

On the upcoming tour:

Fred Durst: "I think this is a tour that separates the real from the not so real and the men from the boys. These are solid bands that seem really credible, very real. It seems like each band has something timeless about them and longevity in their spirit and [they're] not one-hit-wonders and bands just for temporary fixes on styles. Anybody who experiences it will go away feeling that, I believe. Shit floats."

Lars Ulrich: "If you're gonna get a serious ass kicking, ear spanking in 2003, this is it. The stadium tour is a dying breed. Everybody tries to play it down. There's a time to play it down, but once in a while you have to play it up. And to have three bands who can all go out and headline in their own right on the same stage, to give the kids that chance once is going to be so awesome."

On METALLICA's initial idea to first support their upcoming "St. Anger" CD with a club tour and then increase the size of venues with time:

"[We considered it at first] And then we said, 'Fuck it.' Last time we were touring, we were doing stadiums with KORN and KID ROCK. So we thought, 'Why not just start where we left off, and we can go back and plays clubs if anyone cares.' We're so psyched just to go back out there, it's difficult to contain our energy and enthusiasm."