METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich was interviewed earlier this month on the "La Viola" show on the Argentinian TV channel TN. You can now watch the report below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On whether all the criticism has encouraged METALLICA to do things differently over the years:
Ulrich: "I think METALLICA has been criticized more or less since the beginning. I mean, the hard rock fans take it very seriously, and I think sometimes too seriously. They're very vocal — they're passionate — but sometimes you have to kind of balance that off with saying, 'Okay, everybody, let's just calm down. It's just rock and roll,' or whatever. So I think we try to find the right balances. The members of METALLICA have always been very curious and very interested in different things and open to different ways of doing things. I think when we were young, when you're not so confident, when we were young, we were really trying to play a lot and show how talented we were. Now, I think, we're not so worried about whether people think we're talented or not. Now, because we're so comfortable with who we are… I think as you get a little older and get a little more experience, you become less worried about what people think of you and you become more comfortable with yourself. I think we've always tried with our fans to say, 'We are METALLICA and we will do things our way, we will do it differently. Come along for the ride, but if you wanna come along for that ride, know that it's gonna be a ride that's gonna take us to many different places."
On whether he and the rest of METALLICA were joking when they said they were "Beliebers" — a.k.a. fans of pop singer Justin Bieber:
Ulrich: "No. You know, he's a talented kid. He's talented. I mean, obviously, he doesn't make it easy for himsef, and I can only imagine how difficult it must be to have to deal with everybody being on top of him 24 hours a day; I don't wish that upon anybody."
On what kind of music he listens to in his spare time:
Ulrich: "I listen mostly to what my kids listen to, 'cause they always hijack the stereo, they steal the stereo in the car. We get into the car and they take control of the iPod. So, thankfully, my kids listen to SYSTEM OF A DOWN, FOO FIGHTERS, ARCTIC MONKEYS, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, AC/DC…"
On what it's like being in METALLICA in 2014:
Ulrich: "It's exciting. It's been an exciting time. The last, I don't know, six months, we finished our movie, we went to the Antarctic, we played the Grammys again, which was nice. We've started writing songs and preparing for the next record, so that's very exciting. We're down here among all of you beautiful people and playing [the] 'By Request' [setlist] and going to new places. We were in Quito two days ago, where we'd never been [before]. We're playing a new song ['The Lords Of Summer'] on stage, which people seem to be very receptive to. We're writing away. We've got some good ideas. Our biggest problem is not the ideas, our biggest problem is time. METALLICA is busier than ever, and it just seems like there's more and more going on and the days get shorter and shorter. But, hopefully, we will be done writing this year and next year we should record and hopefully have a new record out maybe next year. We'll see. Hopefully next year."
Earlier this week, Michael "Mick" McDonald of the National Rock Review conducted an interview with MEGADETH drummer Shawn Drover. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On whether MEGADETH will try anything new, stylistically speaking, on its next studio album:
Drover: "I don't think so. We definitely branch out to a couple of different areas, stylistically speaking. For me, I'm always an advocate for the heavy stuff, so that's usually what I present to the band — something a little more violent, a little more heavy and oftentimes fast stuff. Because that's how I write. Of course, MEGADETH has done so many different kinds of metal over the years, but for me, I'll always try to represent the more furious side of it, because that's just part of who I am, it's part of my creative DNA to try to write heavy riffs. Whether it gets accepted not, it obviously just depends on how it's going [with the writing process for] the record. We all have so many ideas, not everything is gonna make it. Case in point, on the 'Endgame' record, I had a song called 'Head Crusher', which was a pretty fast, heavy song. It was the first single, the first video and it was nominated for a Grammy Award. So you always try, but you just never know what you're gonna end up with. It just depends on how the recording process goes. But I'll always have ideas to submit, certainly."
On how music downloading has affected the record industry and rock bands in particular:
Drover: "If you're a real fan, you're gonna buy the product. And nowadays it's [done largely] through iTunes or Amazon or Spotify or things of that nature. But, to be honest, a lot of kids don't. And their theory is, 'Why should I spend fifteen dollars on something when I can get it for free?' You just go to a torrent site and you can have it [for free] in a matter of seconds. I think a lot of this younger generation, and not to generalize, [because this doesn't apply to] everybody, but a lot of people, a lot of the younger people, and maybe even the older people, they're, like, 'Why should I buy a record when I can get it for free?' Not even thinking of the damage that it has done to the music industry since this whole Napster garbage started over 15 years ago that's caused irreparable damage to the music industry. It's not debatable; that's a fact."
"This could turn into a really long and potentially depressing conversation, but it is what it is, and it happened. Until somebody can figure out how to change this, whether it's some kind of new format, or something that you can't… I think if someone could find a format where you could purchase a product and there's no way that you could copy it or get it on a torrent site, then that would obviously help the industry. But that's wishful thinking, I think, on my part. I just think the damage has been done now and record buying is slowly becoming a thing of the past. And certainly, to a large degree, record sales are down right across the board. You don't see bands selling 15 million albums, like DEF LEPPARD's 'Hysteria' or all the pop [albums], like the MICHAEL JACKSON records and the MADONNA records, I don't see anybody selling eight, 12, 13 million albums anymore. It's just not happening."
MEGADETH latest album, 2013's "Super Collider", sold 29,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart. "TH1RT3EN" opened with 42,000 units back in November 2011 to enter the chart at No. 11. The band's 2009 CD, "Endgame", premiered with 45,000 copies to debut at No. 9. This was slightly less than the 54,000 first-week tally registered by 2007's "United Abominations", which entered the chart at No. 8. 2004's "The System Has Failed" premiered with 46,000 copies (No. 18) while 2001's "The World Needs A Hero" moved 61,000 units in its first week (No. 16).
Interview (audio):
Former SLAYER and current PHILM drummer Dave Lombardo was interviewed on the March 16 edition of the "Radio Screamer" show. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On what it is that keeps him coming back to SLAYER:
Lombardo: "Oh, well, I don't think that's ever gonna happen again. Well, the reason why… I mean, time passed. It was ten years. When I returned in 2001, it had been already ten years that I was out of the band, and it felt like it was the right time. It was water under the bridge, we didn't have any grudges, but apparently that really wasn't the case, because later I find out that, 'Oh, well, he left in '92, so just get him out again.'"
On the importance of learning the ins and outs of the music business while pursuing a career as a musician:
Lombardo: "It's something that you learn as you go along. And it's a tough road, especially when you're told that everything's taken care of, you're well taken care of, and you trust these people and you don't think twice. But then, of course, like AC/DC says, the rock star, and the businessman gets rich.
"We need to make, I think, drummers aware of their position in the band and spread the word that musicians need to educate themselves not only in their music and their chops and their style and whatever, but they need to really learn the business, because it turns out that a band ends up being a business and each member becomes a quarter shareholder, or a COO [chief operating officer] of the band. So it's very important."
On his most recent split with SLAYER:
Lombardo: "I really don't wanna get into the details, but I take this departure like any other change in life. You just go with it. I, luckily, had a band that I had put back together before this whole thing went down with SLAYER. And you just move forward; you don't look back."
On late SLAYER guitarist Jeff Hanneman:
Lombardo: "The arm, basically, they fixed it and they did everything they could do to help him [after he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, also known as flesh-eating disease, from a spider bite in his backyard in January 2011]. But I think the motor skill to play guitar just wasn't there. You know, we gave him a chance and maybe we could have put him a little low in the mix, but still, it just wasn't working right. 'Cause you have to have a certain ability to play this style of music. And it just wasn't there. It's unfortunate.
"Shortly after he died, I spent the afternoon with his wife and I just hung out with her. We went out to dinner. It's rough. But, unfortunately, it was a downward spiral for him. Obviously, it was depressing for him to have this situation happen to his arm, and him not being able to play, he resorted to drinking more than he was already doing. And, like I said, it was a downward spiral."
On how the surviving members of SLAYER have dealt with the loss of their childhood friend:
Lombardo: "I don't know how Kerry [King, guitar] and Tom [Araya, bass/vocals] responded. By how they responded at the memorial, it was pretty shallow. It was rough for me, because Jeff and I spent a lot of time on the tour bus. We'd get picked up at the hotel and show up at the venue by 4:30 and we would stay chilling on the bus until showtime. So there was a lot of interaction, there was a lot of chatting, a lot of talking, we'd watch TV, we'd listen to music. He loved my iPod, 'cause I had so many different styles of music. He'd say, 'Dude, throw your iPod on.' We'd laugh and joke around and sometimes I'd surprise him with some music that he'd never heard of before. So there was lot of memorable times that Jeff and I had. And it sucks, dude. It's terrible when a bandmate dies, because that magic is forever lost. That band had a certain chemistry when all four of us were on stage. And not taking anything away from Gary Holt [of EXODUS] — he took Jeff's place and he's done an amazing job — but still there's something [that is missing that simply cannot be replaced]."
