METALLICA's LARS ULRICH Discuses Groupies, Rehab And Frontman Envy

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich recently spoke to the U.K.'s Times Online about groupies, rehab and frontman envy, among other topics. Several interview excerpts follow:

On groupies:

"You would meet somebody. Then you would sleep with them and then you would decide like whether you liked them or not, whether you would continue to sleep with them and whether you could actually tolerate being with them during the day."

On the dissolution of his marriage to Skylar (with whom he has two children):

“We see each other all the time. We share the kids. It's all good. As far as those things go, it's about as good as it gets and as civilized as it gets."

On the fact that he was monogamously "wedded" to METALLICA prior to the mid-'90s:

"My life was one-dimensional. It was all about METALLICA. There was nothing else. It wasn't really until some time in the mid-Nineties when all of a sudden you sit there and you start thinking about kids and settling down that the one-dimensionality of the whole thing starts becoming . . . a little unfulfilling. I felt the hardest thing for me in the wake of our success was trying to figure out who I was and establishing my own identity, coming to grips with 'Who is Lars?' and not just 'Who's Lars, the drummer of METALLICA?' "

On the "Some Kind of Monster" documentary's finest moment when he tells James Hetfield to fuck himself:

"Over the course of a few months all this resentment just kind of built up and it all came out that one afternoon. After sitting around and waiting for his ass for a year and then he comes in and says, 'I have to leave every day at 4pm,' it was like, 'What the fuck?'"

On whether he suffers from "frontman-envy":

"Frontman envy? No, I mean we've been battling for poll position in this band pretty much since day one and I came to realize that the only thing we could ever agree on is that me and him were the leaders and whoever else was around were the followers."

On his friendship with James Hetfield:

"Me and James lived together for four years. We lived in the same room. I'd sleep in that corner, he'd sleep in that corner and he'd have his girlfriend around in his and I'd sit there and listen to them have sex. On all these types of levels we lived that: we ate together, we travelled together, we played, we drank, we screwed."

On whether they ever ended up with the same girls:

"I can't say that hasn’t happened. You know you’ve got to remember I met him 24 years ago. He is my brother in arms."

On whether James Hetfield is the greater talent:

"At what? Musically? Than me? I mean he has a very effortless relationship with music. It just pours out, but he needs someone to edit him — and that's where I come in. Is he the greater talent? Great question! Nobody's ever asked me that! I would hope he's the greater talent because if he's not, then God help us!"

On whether or not the "Some Kind of Monster" has caused damage to METALLICA in the eyes of their hardcore fans:

"I'm sitting here with The Times. Outside Channel 4 is waiting to talk to me. I guess someone is still interested in what we have to say and that's not only pretty amazing after 25 years, it's humbling."