METALLICA's LARS ULRICH: 'I'm Not The Angriest Of People On This Planet'

Hours before METALLICA's raucous November 18 live performance to launch the band's new album, "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct", Lars Ulrich and BBC Radio 6's Matt Everitt sat down at House Of Vans London's skate bowl to talk about the new disc, skate culture and new year's resolutions. You can watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct" sounding as "angry" as ever:

Lars: "Yeah, I don't know. The word 'angry'… You know me well; we've spent a lot of good times together all over the world. But I don't know… When you think of me, you probably don't think of a particularly angry person, so I would probably steer that word more in the direction of, say, energetic, dynamic… I'm 52 years old. I've got a beautiful wife, three beautiful kids. We've got a band that somewhat functions most of the time, and we get a chance to play skate ramps all over the world, indoor skate parks, so we've got a pretty good thing going. So 'angry'… But certainly, as you get older, and even when you are fortunate enough to be successful, certain elements of your personality traits, like frustration, contrariness, vulnerability, questions… all this kind of stuff, that doesn't necessarily subside. So we still make… When the four of us are in a room together and we start playing music, it has a tendency to still kind of come out as uppity, energetic kind of… If some people take that as 'angry,' it's totally cool. But, as you can tell, and you know me well, I'm not the most angriest of people on this planet. But, obviously, when you get in a room with people and you play music, you get fired up, especially when you've got a cool audience out there. So the energy goes to a different level, and it's cool. We've still found a way to, sort of, fire it up, and the critics have been very receptive to this record, the fans alike. So today is a good day to be in METALLICA."

On METALLICA's music reaching a broader fanbase:

Lars: "Well, we've always felt… we've always connected to the edgy bits of culture, obviously. We've always felt kind of like outsiders. We've always felt a little like we never really belonged to anything. I mean, I'm an only child, I've always felt like a bit of a loner and I've always charted my own course. And so, even when I was 13, I never felt like I was part of a mainstream type of thing. And that's what happened when I met these guys and we formed the band, and harder rock music just made me feel like I was belonging to something that was bigger than myself. But, obviously, we've always loved to be a little bit in our own world, a little bit independent, autonomous, and maybe even occasionally slightly contrary, and so we've kind of hovered out here with the rest of the misfits, and it's been a cool place to hang."

METALLICA will be the featured musical guest on this Wednesday's (December 14) edition of ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" As with most of Kimmel's musical guests, the band will perform a mini-concert on the show's outdoor stage on Hollywood Boulevard, with the street likely to be closed for several blocks in either direction to accommodate thousands of fans. A portion of the performance will be aired on that night's show, which starts at 11:35 p.m.

As previously reported, METALLICA will also play a special intimate show this Thursday (December 15) at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood, California. All proceeds from the sale of tickets to this show will be donated to Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. Fans are also encouraged to bring canned foods and non-perishable items to the show for donation as well.

"Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart last month. An extensive world tour is in the works for 2017.