VOLBEAT's JON LARSEN Defends METALLICA's LARS ULRICH: 'To Me, He's Still An Amazing Drummer'

In a new interview with Spain's Metal Journal, drummer Jon Larsen of Danish rock and rollers VOLBEAT was asked to name his "all-time favorite drummers" and biggest "drumming inluences". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Oh, man, I hate that question, because there are so many. I have to tip my hat to Ringo Starr [THE BEATLES]. Without Ringo, I would never have started to play drums. I saw THE BEATLES on TV and I was blown away. And I was, like, 'I wanna be that guy. That guy, he's awesome. I wanna be that guy.' So, obviously, Ringo. Charlie Watts — may he rest in peace — from THE [ROLLING] STONES. What an amazing drummer. If you go into the more harder stuff, I would say, obviously, Eric Carr from KISS was a big influence. I cannot avoid the mighty Nicko McBrain [IRON MAIDEN]. I would say a guy like Don Powell from SLADE was a huge influence. And if we go slightly further again, you cannot avoid [METALLICA's] Lars Ulrich. I mean, love him or hate him — I don't care what people think about him. To me, he's still an amazing drummer. And there's so many people who were inspired by him. When '[Ride The] Lightning' came out and '[Master Of] Puppets' came out, a lot of people started picking up on not only METALLICA, but that whole probably thrash scene. I mean, he was the guy — I mean, he was. And I still believe he's a great drummer. He has his own style, his own way of playing. You can always hear when it's Lars playing. So he would be one. Dave Lombardo [SLAYER], Ventor from KREATOR. Charlie Benante from ANTHRAX. [Gene] Hoglan [DARK ANGEL, DEATH, TESTAMENT] is an amazing drummer. And last but not least, I would say Neil Peart from RUSH. What a drummer he was."

Larsen previously discussed his musical influences in a 2013 interview with CrypticRock.com. He stated at the time: "Well, it started off for me as a kid with THE BEATLES. I saw them on TV when I was 8 or 9 years old, and for some reason, that just hit me. I don't know what it was, but I definitely felt this was the greatest thing I had ever seen in my life. Especially that little guy in the back playing drums, and he was just laughing all the time. I said, 'That looks like a fun thing, and I wanna do that.' I went home to my mom and dad and said, 'I wanna play the drums.' They said, 'You're an idiot,' and I said, 'No, I wanna be a Beatle.' They said, 'Okay, if you wanna be a Beatle, fine.' Then my dad would turn me on to other bands like THE ROLLING STONES, THE KINKS, a little bit of Elvis [Presley] got thrown into there, and other stuff like SIMON & GARFUNKEL as well. Then, when I was a little bit older, I saw Adam Ant on TV. Again, I was hit over the head, and I couldn't believe what I saw. I thought it was even cooler than THE BEATLES. I persuaded my mom to buy the single because it had that huge drum sound. I was blown away; I played that single non-stop for a month and drove my mom mad. I became a huge Adam Ant fan, and to this day, I collect Adam Ant CDs, vinyl and anything I can get my hands on. A few years down the road, I discovered KISS. I can't remember why or how. I think it was just the 'Destroyer' album cover, and there were just some songs that really hit me over the head. Then I went out and bought 'Kiss Alive II'. Again, I started playing that constantly. Then I discovered JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN. I mean, MAIDEN, with those album covers, as a teenager, who wouldn't buy an IRON MAIDEN album just to look at the cover? Then it progressed from there. A bit later, METALLICA came on to the scene. I bought 'Ride The Lightning' and 'Master Of Puppets'. A close circle of friends began to introduce each other to different types of music. SLAYER, MOTÖRHEAD, some of the German power metal bands, DESTRUCTION, HELLOWEEN and running wild. Then later on, the death metal scene bands like DEATH, OBITUARY and NAPALM DEATH. At some point, I grew tired of that whole thing because every album tended to sound the same. That is where the RAMONES came into the picture. A friend of mine started to play one of their albums, and at first, I didn't get it. I felt, like, 'What's the idea? Short songs; 1,2,3. I don't get that. They don't play fast, and I want fast music.' Something stuck in my mind, so I ended up buying the 'It's Alive' album and became a giant RAMONES fan ever since."

He continued: "I think it was because in the mid and late '90s, the whole death metal scene exploded. All the bands started to sound the same in my ears, and there is nothing wrong with that. I had already heard them; isn't there something else out there? I knew THE SEX PISTOLS before, of course, but that is when the RAMONES came into the picture for me. I saw them on MTV and I said, 'Oh, they look funny, but it's good.' Then, of course, the MISFITS would be there as well later on. I guess it's because I kind of grew tired of listening to all those death metal albums. I was looking for something new. Punk music is basically three-chord rock and roll. It's pure and simple. That is what I tend to go back to every single time. The same thing with drummers. I grew up listening to Ringo Starr, Charlie Watts and Keith Moon. That is how I learned to play, listening to guys like that. Dave Lombardo, I can't play like him, but I get it. I still like early GREEN DAY stuff and OFFSPRING stuff. Still, every once in a while, I put on one of the old death metal albums. Every once in a while, it's good to put on those albums and go, 'Oh, yeah.' Sometimes you rediscover some of those albums like 'Cause Of Death' by OBITUARY, and you realize it is a great album."

Four years ago, Lars told METALLICA's So What! fan-club magazine that he is no longer bothered by people's criticism of his drumming abilities. At the time, the Danish-born musician said: "Unlike years ago, I basically don't read any of the interviews that the other guys [in METALLICA] do. 20 or 30 years ago, we would all sit and fucking read every page of Kerrang! and every page of Circus magazine, see what so-and-so's saying and what the other band members were saying, what James [Hetfield, METALLICA guitarist/vocalist] was saying about this and that. Now there's just none of that. I also don't really read what people say about METALLICA.

"I'll say that occasionally, once every six months or something like that, it's kind of fun to go through the trolling section just because of the ridiculousness of all of it, but it's not something that I do regularly anymore," he revealed. "20 years ago, it would've been, 'Oh, my God, somebody said something bad,' or, 'That person said a nasty comment in the comments section,' or whatever. Now, none of that really means anything to me."

Back in 2016, Ulrich, who has gotten a lot of flak over the years from people who accused him of being a poor drummer, told the "Talk Is Jericho" podcast that he went through a period in the mid-1980s "that probably culminated in the '[…And] Justice [For All]' album where I felt sort of compelled to try to show ability."

According to Lars, part of the reason for him feeling insecure about his abilities was the increased competition from some of his peers.

"Listen, when you've got Dave Lombardo and Charlie Benante breathing down your back, it was, like, 'Okay, I've gotta…' I tried to step it up a little bit and tried to do my own thing and do all this crazy shit," he said. "I was trying really hard to push the drums kind of into the foreground. And then, after like a year or two of that, I was, like, 'Okay. Seriously? Just do your thing. Chill out. Support the riffs. Do what's best for the song.' So since around I guess the late '80s — so I guess it's been, like, 25 years now — the only thing that's really interested me is just doing the best thing for the song."

Asked in a 2008 interview with U.K.'s Rhythm magazine if he was troubled by the fact that he's gotten a lot of flak over the years from people who accused him of being a poor drummer, Lars said: "It used to, back in the day — and I spent a lot of time overcompensating for that on the early records. But then you wake up one day and you're like, whatever. It hasn't bothered me for [many] years. I'm no Joey Jordison, I'm no Mike Portnoy, and I have nothing but love and respect and admiration for all those guys. When I hear some of the young dudes, they blow my mind with what they can do with their feet and stuff — but it's not something that makes me go, 'I need to feel better about myself so I'm gonna learn how to do what they do with my feet.' I'm not a particularly accomplished drummer but I am very, very, very good at understanding the role of the drums next to James Hetfield's rhythm guitar. I guarantee you I'm the best guy in the world for that, and that's enough for me."

Ulrich stated about his playing ability in a 2012 interview with DRUM! magazine: "I usually feel like I've regressed. [Laughs] I'm like, 'Why can't I do that anymore?'" He continued: "I can't say that I necessarily sit down to practice, like, 'I'm going to play and practice so I can get better.' What happens is that I just sit down and kind of play to just more stay in shape."

Ulrich added: "You know, METALLICA was up to two or three months off [in 2011], and I would sit down, I have an iPod next to my drums so I can play along to all kind of crazy stuff, and try to see if I can land in the same zip code of some of that stuff occasionally. But I can't say that I sit down to necessarily practice to sort of get better. For most of my stuff, it's about listening and about interpreting stuff that I'm listening to. So all the kind of sitting down and, you know, 'Now I'm going to do thirty-second-note paradiddles standing on my head — you know what I mean? I don't do that kind of stuff so much. For me it's more about the regimen of staying in shape, running every day, eating healthy, you know, being on top of that side of it."