METALLICA Drummer Explains Label Switch

May 28, 2004

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has spoken to Billboard magazine about the group's switch from longtime home Elektra to sister label Warner Bros. "The fact that we can start a relationship with Warner Bros. 20-plus years into our career and be considered a priority there, that's a great thing," he said.

Ulrich told Billboard that METALLICA's managers, Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein, made the decision to move to Warner Bros. after Elektra merged with Atlantic Records in March, resulting in layoffs at the label.

"Peter and Cliff have a lot of friends [at Warner Bros.] because of [fellow Q Prime clients] RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS," Ulrich said. "The band is West Coast, Warners is West Coast. It seemed like a great place to go and start the next chapter.

He added: "It has been 19 years now of getting used to and understanding this whole thing about how the record company and how the record industry works in terms of the revolving door. Everybody's got to basically look out for themselves."

METALLICA are in the middle of a European tour that kicked off this week in Copenhagen, Denmark. The group expect to return to the studio in spring 2005 to begin recording their first album for Warner Bros.

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).