METALLICA's KIRK HAMMETT To Release 'Too Much Horror Business' Book - June 10, 2010

According to RollingStone.com, METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett plans to work on a book during the band's downtime time called "Too Much Horror Business" (after a MISFITS song), a collection of his favorite non-musical obsessions. "Horror movie posters, toys, artwork, comic books, the whole thing," he says. "It's something I've been into ever since I can remember. I remember finding my first monster magazine in San Francisco when I was six years old."

Since then, Hammett's become a world-famous collector, sometimes auctioning off prize possessions like the only known lobby card for Lon Chaney's 1927 "London After Midnight" as well as an ultra-rare Spanish-language lobby card for the 1931 "Dracula" and a Swedish poster for the 1933 "King Kong".

"My favorite horror movie is probably either 'The Mummy' or 'Bride of Frankenstein'," he tells RollingStone.com. "I'm an old-school guy, you know, a big Boris Karloff fan. If you want to bring it up to present times, I really love 'The Evil Dead' and 'Re-Animator'. I'm still waiting to see 'The Human Centipede'! I can't wait! The funny thing is, [my wife and I] live in Hawaii now, and we see centipedes all the time."

Read more from RollingStone.com.

Late METALLICA Bassist CLIFF BURTON: More Previously Unheard Interview Audio Released - June 17, 2010

A longer, never-before-heard edit of an interview with late METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton, conducted by Ken Kitt of Metal Fanzine on January 31, 1984 in Cortland, New York (after METALLICA's show at the Riverboat in Rochester, New York) can be streamed in the Vimeo clip below. (Note: The previously released clip was just over six minutes long.)

On September 27, 1986, METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton lost his life at the age of 24 in a coach crash near Ljungby, Sweden.

Burton's huge talent and achievements were chronicled in book form with the 2009 global publication of "To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton", written by U.K.-based author Joel McIver and published by Jawbone Press. The foreword has been provided by Cliff's close friend in METALLICA, Kirk Hammett. Other interviewees who spoke to McIver for this book, many for the first time on the public record, include Cliff's bass teacher Steve Doherty; legendary reporter and photographer Brian Lew; Bay Area headbanger Harald Oimoen, the subject of "The Ballad Of Harald O" by the infamous SPASTIK CHILDREN, in which Cliff played; that band's frontman Fred Cotton; EXODUS founder Gary Holt; the Metal Blade label founder Brian Slagel; photographer Ross Halfin; Cliff's first guitar tech Chuck Martin; METALLICA's first fanclub manager KJ Doughton; "Ride The Lightning" and "Master Of Puppets" producer Flemming Rasmussen; the last reporter to interview Cliff, Jörgen Holmstedt; roadie and ex-METAL CHURCH guitarist John Marshall, who was also in the bus crash which killed Burton; Lennart Wennberg, the photographer at the scene of the crash; and Cliff's girlfriend for the last year of his life, Corinne Lynn.

After Kirk Hammett's foreword, separate introductions are provided by a range of musicians influenced by Burton, including Mikael Åkerfeldt (OPETH), Alex Webster (CANNIBAL CORPSE), Alex Skolnick (TESTAMENT), Dave Ellefson (F5/ex-MEGADETH) and a host of other musicians and writers.

A two-minute video clip of the September 30, 2006 unveiling of the unveiling of a memorial stone dedicated to Cliff Burton at the Gyllene Rasten restaurant/bar in Dörarp (outside Ljungby), Sweden can be viewed below. It was on September 27, 1986 — more than 20 years earlier — that Burton died in a tragic bus accident in Sweden, just over the road from where Gyllene Rasten is located.

Interwiev: http://vimeo.com/12606601

METALLICA Bassist: It Was Important For LARS And JAMES To Reconnect With DAVE MUSTAINE - June 18, 2010

METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX — the so-called "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — played together for the first time in history this past Wednesday night (June 16) in front of 81,000 fans at the Sonisphere festival at Bemowo Airport in Warsaw, Poland.

A video interview with METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo conducted by NME TV prior to the band taking the stage in Warsaw can be viewed below.

"I asked the other guys when's the last time METALLICA shared the stage with SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX?' Robert said. "And they were, like, we've actually never played the same gig together. And, obviously, [METALLICA] has done shows with each of these bands separately on different occasions.

"Time went on, and it was brought up again, I guess, around the completion of [METALLICA's 2008 album] 'Death Magnetic'. And then James [Hetfield, METALLICA guitarist/vocalist] kind of took the torch and ran with it and started planting the seed with some of the people from management and Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer]...

"Once Lars gets his head wrapped around it, then the wheels start moving.

"All the bands were well into it, the timing seemed right, everyone's got new releases, and the momentum is strong... strong, actually, for metal in general.

"This is the right time. Who knows?! Maybe a year or two from now, it wouldn't mean as much. Maybe it wouldn't have meant as much a couple of years back.

"Last night [Tuesday, June 15], we had dinner with the other three bands [in Warsaw, Poland], and it was great. Only bandmembers. It was kind of a setup to where we were in a smaller environment, it was a smaller restaurant. The tables were even smaller — maybe four per table. [Laughs] So we really had to kind of unite and bond.

"I hadn't seen Tom [Araya, SLAYER bassist/vocalist] in, it seems like, eight years. Dave Lombardo [SLAYER drummer] I've seen recently, Kerry [King, SLAYER guitarist] I've seen. [Dave] Mustaine [MEGADETH frontman and former METALLICA guitarist], I hadn't seen him in, it feels like, 12 years. Maybe it was 10 years. But I know more than anything, for Lars and James, to reconnect with Dave Mustaine was a really big deal — it was important to them.

"Once you get into it, there's just no shortage of conversation. The difficult part is kind of making your way to the next guy. There's always something great to talk about."

Several more "Big Four" shows will take place across Europe, with a June 22 concert in Bulgaria to be beamed to U.S. movie theatres. There are still no plans for a U.S. run.

METALLICA Bassist On 'Big Four' Shows: 'I Didn't Expect It To Be This Cool' - June 25, 2010

METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo was recently interviewed for the Sonisphere festival web site. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Q: What kind of metal are you listening to at the moment?

Robert Trujillo: Oh, man, you know, it varies. My musical taste right now ranges from bands like MESHUGGAH and a little bit of newer metal, not "nu-metal," but just new metal. I like GOJIRA. I think they're a really cool band. SKINDRED is a great band. I think Benji is an amazing frontman. And getting back into SLAYER and stuff is always cool because I think they are timeless in a way they're so good.

Q: And, what about outside of metal?

Robert Trujillo: Outside of metal, I mean, I love listening to everything from acoustic world music, like this band called SHAKTI from the '70s which I really like. They played with a guitarist named John McLaughlin and their music to me is very aggressive. It's all tablas and East Indian percussion and it's as aggressive as any heavy metal out there. But it's all on acoustic instruments. I really like that a lot. I love surf music because I love surfing so I always kind of get fired up with that. I listen to a lot of old R&B like James Brown and anything that gets your head bopping with that formula.

Q: You spend a lot of time working on you technique. How are you experimenting at the moment?

Robert Trujillo: You know, I'm always experimenting. It's crazy. Late at night I'm coming up with new techniques and I've kind of gone back to the basics with my fingering. One of the things about being in this band is it can be pretty challenging, especially when we play live. With the new music and also the old music it gets pretty physical so I have actually kind of gone back to square one and really focused on my right-hand attack and also conditioning my fingers in different ways to cater to each particular song, so really working on technique going back to the basics. And I actually have a desire to read again and maybe kind of get into some jazz. But that's pretty much a hobby. I really enjoy trying to expand my horizons and become in my mind a more well-rounded player. Often times I get together with guys like flamenco guitar players or whatever and try and learn some new technique off them and hopefully apply it to my bass playing.

Q: What guitarists and bassists inspire you at the most?

Robert Trujillo: Well, obviously I love Jaco Pastorius. I was fortunate to see him play about four times back when I was a lot younger before his death. Of course, I haven't seen him since because it would only be his ghost. Who else? I remember seeing a band called RETURN TO FOREVER, which is very cool. I didn't get a chance to see Jimi Hendrix as I was too young, but he's my favorite. You know what, I'll tell you what band I saw that were very cool; MUSE. I saw them about three years ago in L.A.

Q: Finally, how exciting has it been playing these Sonisphere festivals with the "Big Four?"

Robert Trujillo: It's intense. It's special. It's surreal. I don't know what more to say… it's the "Big Four," you know. When ANTHRAX played [the first set of the tour] they sounded amazing and I haven't seen them with Joey [Belladonna] since I don't when it's been about 15 years. The vibe is great and it's pretty cool. I didn't expect it to be this cool. I expected it to be fun and exciting, but everybody is in good spirits healthy and at the top of their game.

METALLICA Drummer: 'Right Now The Main Thing Is To Not Have A Heart Attack On Stage' - July 6, 2010

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich was interviewed for the Sonisphere festival web site. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Q: METALLICA's come a long way since your underground thrash days in the Eighties. How have you managed the transition to megastars?

Lars: METALLICA's always stuck to its guns and played the kind of music that turned us on and in turning us on it seemed like we turned a lot of other people on too. Over the years, the numbers just got steadily bigger, we sold more and more records, we reached more and more people and now we're playing bigger places. But at heart it's just four guys having fun and playing music and sharing it with people who get off on it as much as we do. Whether it's 100 people or 100,000 it's more or less the same attitude. Once in a while we go back and play really small places. We played a festival in the States a couple of years ago called Bonnaroo and the night before the we played in a record store basement to about 150 people, so we do that type of stuff still.

Q: How have your fans changed over the years?

Lars: The crowds and the fans seem to just keep getting younger and younger. In some of the countries you look down into the front row and it's 10-year-old kids and 12-year-old kids who've never seen METALLICA before. It seems like there's a whole new generation. Maybe it's our generation that's bringing their kids, but there's this theory that a lot of the young kids are very inspired by the Eighties whereas a lot of things that happened in the nineties like grunge and rap-rock and so on, maybe hasn't resonated so well with this younger generation. It seems that a lot of the heavier bands from the eighties and even from the Seventies, like BLACK SABBATH, DEEP PURPLE, LED ZEPPELIN had a different impact with a lot of the young kids. Obviously it's awesome to be part of that and truly an honor to have that kind of impact on kids that are just getting their feet.

Q: You bass player Rob [Trujillo] is always experimenting with new techniques. What new techniques are you working on?

Lars: Is there any number less than zero? No, I think that right now the main thing is to not have a heart attack on stage. That's the new goal. I'm 46 and the main thing I do is try and stay healthy. I eat well, work out, run and try and stay as fit as possible. I don't wake up and start playing drums. I'm more interested in songs and songwriting and I love making records and the production side of it. I definitely do what I have to do to maintain some ability of playing drums, but mostly it's about being healthy, taking care of myself and then just waiting for James Hetfield to inspire me.

Q: You've appeared in "The Simpsons" and "South Park" before, but you've just made your first appearance in a non-animated movie, "Get Him to the Greek". How did that come about?

Lars: I got a call from manager saying that the people who made "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" were making a new movie with some of the same people and they asked if I would be interested in playing myself. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is actually one of my favorite movies from the last couple of years. I thought it was really well written, really well directed and the gang involved in it are all great people so I thought it would be interesting to be part of that. So I flew down to L.A. and did as I was told for two days. It's always fun to go into other areas and worlds that are unknown. The world of METALLICA and the world of music we know so well and we control all the elements of it. You walk onto a movie set, you have to do as you're told and do it with a smile and just play along. It's fun to forfeit control and just be part of a ride like that.

Q: The Internet has moved on a lot since your dispute with Napster 10 years ago. With hindsight would you have handled that differently?

Lars: I would have woken myself up from the nightmare quicker. I think if anything we were just caught off guard by how passionate people were about this whole Internet phenomenon at the time and it kind of blind-sided us, but we stood our ground and stuck with our principles and a lot of people now are patting us on the back and saying how right we were. Where were you 10 years ago? We were the only ones out there is what I say. But it's okay — you win some, you lose some. I don't regret any of it. Certainly, it was an awkward time as we'd always been the good guys and suddenly there were people who didn't think we were the good guys and it was an unusual situation for us to be in.

Read the entire interview at this location.

New Zealand METALLICA Fan Says He Quit Job To Queue For Tickets - July 14, 2010

Stuff.co.nz reports: [New Zealand heavy metal fan] Lance Bradford says he was so determined to get METALLICA tickets that he quit his job before camping overnight at a Ticketek outlet.

His employer would not give him the afternoon off to set up camp outside Canterbury University's student union, so the driller quit.

Bradford, 23, said he was "ripped and angry" when METALLICA said they were coming to New Zealand, but not to Christchurch.

This month, his favorite band announced a surprise Christchurch date, with tickets going on sale at 9 a.m. today.

"When I found out they were coming, I thought if they are willing to come down here, then I'm willing to quit my job and come down here to line up," Bradford said.

Read more from Stuff.co.nz.

End Of The Line For METALLICA...For Now - July 15, 2010

According to "The Pulse of Radio", METALLICA has confirmed that a newly added last show on its fall South Pacific tour, on September 22 in Christchurch, New Zealand, is the last gig the band has booked in support of its 2008 album "Death Magnetic". A post at the official METALLICA web site said, "All of our play dates have now filled up with the addition of this show...that's right boys and girls, this will be the last date added to the 'World Magnetic Tour'! So if you're waiting for us to come to the Polar Ice Caps, your undiscovered planet or even your basement, sorry, this is as good at it gets."

The post added, "It has been a very long, and most amazing run . . . What we DO care about is letting you know the immense gratitude we feel for all of your love and support over these past two and half years. When we embarked on this 'magnetic' journey, none of us ever, in our wildest dreams, imagined how truly incredible it would be and it's all because of hanging out with YOU!"

The post claims that METALLICA has played a total of 212 shows in 153 cities since hitting the road in May 2008 to promote "Death Magnetic", which came out that September.

The last show on the trek will be November 21 in Melbourne, Australia.

As for a new album, bassist Robert Trujillo told The Pulse of Radio that the band has been working on ideas for much of the tour. "Before we go onstage every night, we tend to jam and James (Hetfield, frontman) usually comes up with a lot of stuff," he said. "He's the kind of guy where he plugs in his guitar, turns a volume knob or a, you know, a tone knob, and he comes up with, you know, the greatest riff that you can imagine. So in the case, there's no shortage of riffs and ideas. I have a feeling that this next record is gonna be really cool."

METALLICA Fan Who Helped Bring Band To Christchurch Misses Out On Ticket - July 18, 2010

Stuff.co.nz reports: The Blenheim [New Zealand] man whose petition helped bring rock legends METALLICA to Christchurch is "absolutely slaughtered" that he missed out on a ticket.

Jamie Woods said he could not get to Christchurch last Thursday to get door sales, and he was not fast enough to pick up a ticket on the Internet.

"I'm absolutely slaughtered ... but I'm resigned to the fact I'm not going," he said.

"In the end I got what I wanted, that was for them to come down. I hope everyone else is happy, the lucky buggers."

Read the entire report from Stuff.co.nz.

METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, ANTHRAX Members Discuss Thrash Metal's Enduring Popularity - July 23, 2010

Jamie Thomson of Guardian.co.uk recently conducted interviews with members of the "Big Four" of 1980s thrash metal — METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX — about thrash's undying popularity and the recent Sonisphere festival shows featuring all four acts. A few excerpts follow below.

On thrash metal's enduring appeal:

Kirk Hammett (METALLICA): "It speaks to the core essence of the human psyche, bro. It's true. There's a beat and an energy that speaks to you no matter what cultural background, what age, what demographic. If you hear it and you make a connection, you're done man, you're in for life."

On the large crowd attandances for the Sonisphere festival shows featuring the "Big Four":

Kerry King (SLAYER): "METALLICA draws people out of the caves; everyone comes to see them. The rest of us are just icing on an already killer cake."

On the early days of thrash:

Scott Ian (ANTHRAX): "We were the underdogs, and we looked at the bigger bands and thought, 'We're true metal. Not you.' It's so fucking stupid when I think about now, but I totally get the mindset that we were in."

"Kids might grow up listening to BON JOVI or whatever, but then they get to 15 and they just don't want that any more — so they start listening to ANTHRAX and METALLICA. And that was our mission, to stop kids from going to the dark side!"

On thrash metal's enduring popularity:

Dave Mustaine (MEGADETH): "There's probably people still putting out glam metal and somewhere there's a bunch of girls with fake tits buying that shit, but for people who really like heavy metal, thrash is thinking man's music. They try and stigmatize metal people and make them look stupid. When I went to the White House in the '90s [as part of the Rock the Vote campaign], a lot of people thought, 'Well he's not going to be very smart,' and to the contrary, I was very articulate."

On how the arrival of grunge in the early' 90s affected the thrash metal scene:

Scott Ian (ANTHRAX): "When 'alternative rock' came out in the 90s, we were like, 'They're all over MTV, how the hell are they alternative? We're the alternative!'"

On why METALLICA's much-maligned 2003 album, "St Anger", had to be made:

Kirk Hammett (METALLICA): "It kept us from falling apart — we had something to focus on, and it kept us together as a unit. We've always taken chances and a lot of the time we've ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. But we never made a rap metal record, thank God."

On how METALLICA's "Death Magnetic" and SLAYER's "Christ Illusion" became the two bands' most commercially and critically successful records in more than a decade:

Kerry King (SLAYER): "In 1985 to 90, everybody was just slamming great records out. And here we are doing it again."

On the "Big Four" sharing the stage for the first time:

Scott Ian (ANTHRAX): "If you look back over the last 40 years you couldn't find another four bands that could do this. We're all here and we can do it — it's awesome."

On making peace with his past and finally burying the hatchet with METALLICA:

Dave Mustaine (MEGADETH): "Backstage, James [Hetfield, METALLICA's frontman] and I were talking, and hugging each other, and apologizing for the things we've done to each other in the past. And Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] and I were talking about going out for dinner. Who would have thought that would ever happen? But here we are, kicking ass and taking down names in the name of heavy metal."

Read more from Guardian.co.uk.

FEAR FACTORY, THE SWORD To Support METALLICA In September - Aug. 9, 2010

FEAR FACTORY and THE SWORD will open for METALLICA on the following dates:

Sep. 15 - Melbourne, Australia - Rod Laver Arena
Sep. 16 - Melbourne, Australia - Rod Laver Arena
Sep. 18 - Sydney, Australia - Acer Arena
Sep. 21 - Christchurch, New Zealand - CBS Canterbury Arena
Sep. 22 - Christchurch, New Zealand - CBS Canterbury Arena
Sep. 25 - Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena
Sep. 26 - Tokyo, Japan - Saitama Super Arena

LAMB OF GOD and BARONESS will provide support for METALLICA on all New Zealand and Australia shows in October-November.

METALLICA Song Headed Into Space? - Aug. 25, 2010

The Pulse of Radio reports that METALLICA's "Enter Sandman" could be one of the songs heard by the crew on the final flight of space shuttle Discovery this November, according to Gibson.com. NASA has launched a new "Wake-up Song Contest" that will allow the public to choose which songs the crew will hear on their voyage. The top two vote-getters will be used to awaken the crew during the 11-day mission.

There are 40 songs to vote from on the list, including tracks from THE BEATLES, FOO FIGHTERS, RUSH, U2, 3 DOORS DOWN, TOM PETTY, THE ROLLING STONES, STEVIE WONDER and others.

Aspiring musicians can submit their own original songs, with the winning entry to be played on the last planned shuttle mission aboard the Endeavor in February.

Endeavor commander Mark Kelly said in a statement, "Space shuttle crews really enjoy the morning wake-up music. While we don't have the best-quality speaker in the space shuttle, it will be interesting to hear what the public comes up with."

The "Six Feet Down Under" limited edition EP is now on sale! Pick up a copy of Metallica concert history with eight tracks never before released as live B-sides! Released in celebration of our return to Australia and New Zealand, this EP was compiled from fan submissions of bootlegs, sound board tapes from the vault, and live multi-track recordings from the previous four Trans-Tasman tours in 1989, 1993, 1998 and 2004. The sound is well, bootleg quality, but all part of the fun! Only available in Australia/New Zealand and in the Metallica Store and at MetClub.com! Orders will begin shipping early next week.

Tracklist:
Eye of the Beholder
Recorded live on May 4, 1989 at Festival Hall in Melbourne
...And Justice For All
Recorded live on May 4, 1989 at Festival Hall in Melbourne
Through the Never
Recorded live on April 8, 1993 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth
The Unforgiven
Recorded live on April 4, 1993 at the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne
Low Man's Lyric (Acoustic)
Recorded live on April 11, 1998 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth
Devil's Dance
Recorded live on April 12, 1998 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth
Frantic
Recorded live on January 21, 2004 at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney
Fight Fire With Fire
Recorded live on January 19, 2004 at the Entertainment Centre in Brisbane

You can follow the current Fall Australia/New Zealand tour at MetOnTour.com and download the shows within days after they happen on LiveMetallica.com... this will be the final stretch of the World Magnetic tour.
While you secure your copy of this limited edition EP, be sure and take advantage of our Fall Sale this week! Death Magnetic zip hoodies, girls' sweatshirts, thermals, and more are on sale now! So keep warm this autumn in style and save!

METALLICA's JAMES HETFIELD: Rehab Was Like The College That I Never Went To - Sep. 20, 2010

Australia's TheAge.com.au conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield prior to the band's September 18, 2010 concert at the Acer Arena in Sydney. You can now watch the chat at this location.

On how the band has changed over the years:

Hetfield: "I would we've matured some. I think the main thing is we've realized what's really important and what's not worth even battling over, and a lot of that has to do with internal band dynamics. Now that we've all got kids, we kind of realized how childish we are at times. [Laughs] Things are a lot better. I didn't think things could get better than our 20s, and then the 30s and 40s — we're in our 40s now. It's quite awesome."

On whether he feels METALLICA is still at the top of its game:

Hetfield: "I think we'll always think that. [Laughs] What other people tell us might be different, you know?! But I do feel that mentally, and I'd say physically, we're in better shape than we were years ago. Mentally, for sure — we're getting along really, really well. Physically, you know — we've been road-doggin' it for 30-something years, and we've all got our, 'Oh, my shoulder tonight,' or 'Oh, my throat' or 'My back.' There's always something."

On doing this for 30 years without a real break:

Hetfield: "Well, there have been times where we said, 'We've gotta take some time off.' After the 'black' album tour in the early '90s, we were on the road for almost three years for that album, and we had to take some serious time off from that. But, you know, I understand a lot of the METALLICA fans out there are just, 'OK, now that the tour is over, great. Now we're not gonna hear any music for another for another five years,' or 'They won't be back out here for eight years.' It's a long cycle for us and we're trying to get quicker with that, but we go at the pace we need to go at."

On when he thinks the band wasn't in such a good state:

Hetfield: "Oh, my God. We all kind of had our... Each individual bandmember had their, kind of, slippery times at different times — whether it was the drugging or the sexing or the drinking... The 'black' album was kind of the time when things got a little easier and, 'Wow, we're just touring everywhere.' It was, like, everything just lined up, especially in the United States, where it was just... we could do no wrong. And we got a little complacent and kind of uncaring of that responsibility. It wasn't horrible things that happened like you read about in other people's tell-all books, but we all had our personal messes that we went through."

On going to rehab in 2001 and how it changed him:

Hetfield: "Oh, man... Rehab was... It really was like the college that I never went to. Or, actually, the parents that were a little more teaching... or explained things a lot better about life. What happened in there was getting stripped down to the bone and then being kind of rebuilt in a different way — in more of an adult form. You never know what people don't know about life and what everyone thinks they know — things your parents teach you or whoever, things that you picked up along the way. Some people pick up some pretty unsafe survival skills. And it was not the country club that you see now on some of the TV. Rehab, the word, is just thrown around like it's nothing. 'Hey, it's the place to be now.' And that's really sad, because that's supposed to be a place where you are able to be yourself and just say, 'Help' — surrender completely — and it doesn't seem like that anymore. It's kind of sad."

On the documentary "Some Kind Of Monster" and whether it was a turning point for the band as much as it was for the fans in the way that they knew METALLICA:

Hetfield: "Well, that was a time... I mean, that was a rebirth for me. That was an unbelievable, a very cathartic experience in life. If I didn't go through that, all the other stuff wouldn't have happened, really, I believe. But as an artist, we thought it was totally worth taking that gamble or chance or whatever and being... You can't go wrong with honesty — you can't. And it's actually helped us quite a lot on the road, having fans relate to us a lot deeper, to another level. At the [pre-show] meet-and-greets, it's unbelievable what the fans will say now instead of just the quick, 'Hey, great, thanks. Hey, cool shirt.' OK, next. There's stuff like, 'You saved my life,' there's, 'My father died and I didn't know what to do and I heard your music.' There's a whole another level that it goes to."

On what his reaction would have been 30 years ago if somebody told him that 30 years later he would be playing a sold-out Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia:

Hetfield: "I would have said, 'You bet. You bet I am.' That was it. I was gonna do it. There was no holding back. There was no... There was another option, but it had to be music — it was, like, that was it; that's what I'm gonna do. I recall very clearly my brother saying, 'Oh, so you're gonna be a rock star and be on stage, huh?' And I was like, 'Yeah.' I guess I didn't know what sarcasm was back then. I was like, 'Yeah, I am.' And that was kind of it."

On what his favorite METALLICA album is:

Hetfield: "It's tough, because they each have a place in my heart and they all remind me either of what I was going through or what I wanted to have happen in my life. I like 'Ride The Lightning' a lot. That was the first album we really had to write for and we had a little more experience. I love the 'black' album — I liked the whole process of that. And this last one, 'Death Magnetic', really, really surprised me with what we did and the people's reaction to it."

On what surprised him about "Death Magnetic":

Hetfield: "Well, the fact that people embraced it, people liked it. It's like, 'Are you sure?' It still blows me away. I'm up there playing a song that's nasty, and yelling at people, and there's an 18-year-old girl going, 'Yeah!' What? [Laughs] Where's your parents? What's going on here? Or you've got some 50-year-old guy out there just headbanging like crazy. I guess he really does like this. We're not just up here still pretending that we're good. There's people that actually like the music and it still blows me away."

LARS ULRICH Says METALLICA Didn't Take Advantage Of Everything JASON NEWSTED Had To Give - Sep. 22, 2010

Dave Higgins of Australia's long-running rock station Triple M spoke to METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich last Wednesday night (September 15) in Melbourne just before the band hit Rod Laver Arena's stage for the first of five huge shows and a vast Australian tour. Watch a clip from the chat below.

Regarding the departure of METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted in 2001 and the addition of Jason's replacement, Robert Trujillo, Ulrich said, "When I think back on the Jason years, I look at an incredibly dedicated musician and an incredibly dedicated person to the cause; he was very, very engaged. He probably was never given an outlet to... I don't think we took advantage of... the band did not take advantage of everything that he had to give. That's how it played out, and we weren't in a place at that time where we were better dealing with it. The ironic thing is that his departure kind of brought the band closer, because we realized that he was leaving because we weren't capable of really dealing with each other. Rob is... It just fits. His personality really just gels with the personalities of the rest of us and it just really somehow works in a very organic, unforced way now; we don't force things."

According to MTV, Newsted quit METALLICA in February 2001 for several reasons, including his desire to play more of a creative role. He also felt the band had lost its focus and was spending too much time involved in litigation and political rhetoric. And finally, he needed time off to recover from neck and back injuries he sustained banging his head every night onstage.

In a July 2008 interview with Norway's VG TV, METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield stated about Trujillo's contributions to the band's latest album, "Death Magnetic", "I don't really have to say it, but I will — he's an amazing bass player; very competent. He can play pretty much anything we throw at him. Not only that, but obviously [Robert] playing with his fingers brings a fuller sound. He — and no disrespect to Jason — but Rob has already written more on this album than Jason had in his whole 14 years. A lot of that had to do with us not being willing, and I totally understand that, but just his material seemed to gel better. It feels as though we've known him forever, basically, is what it feels like. And there's still times when I see him in pictures with us, and I go, 'Oh, yeah! He's in our band. Dude, we kick ass even more now.' It's a good feeling."

METALLICA's HAMMETT On His Guitar Playing: 'I Am No EDDIE VAN HALEN, But I Am Still Learning' - Sep. 25, 2010

On September 15, Joe Matera of Ultimate-Guitar.com conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Have you started in any manner the songwriting process for the next METALLICA studio album?

Hammett: No, but we do have riffs here and there, but there are no complete songs as yet. But we all have tons of music that is just lying around; in fact all of us do. That is the great thing about METALLICA; there is never any shortage of ideas.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: You just performed a series of "Big Four" shows [METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX]. What was the experience like?

Hammett: The shows were really great and it was a vibe, man. It was like the Eighties all over again, which was very, very cool. We all kind of realized that we are all in this together and that we all had the same sort of objectives and goals. It's just that we had different ways of getting them. At the end of the day, it became more of a celebration of the fact that we are all still around and all standing and still functioning as bands, and that was a very cool thing. And it was a chance for us to kind of reflect and look back at all the times we had together and all the battles we had fought. It was good to know that all of us are still here and still doing it.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: When it comes soloing, what do you think are the important elements that each guitar player should consider when constructing a solo?

Hammett: Ideally, a solo should be like a good meal. Start off with a bang then have a good meaty middle section and then have a sweet finish. For me when it comes to the solo part, the first couple of licks really need to set the tone of the solo. And it should really just jump out and grab you.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: So is there anything that you specifically pay attention to when coming up with your own solos?

Hammett: What I have always tried to do is to come up with catchy things — you know, hooky parts in the guitar solo that will grab the listener's attention. I will try to put melodic parts into that. But, you know, sometimes I just want to make a bunch of noise.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: How do you think you have evolved as a player over the course of your career?

Hammett: That is a hard question to answer, man, because I am so close to my own playing. But I say that I intend to work on my jazz playing more now. You know, I think as a metal guitar player, I am decent. I am no Eddie Van Halen, but I am still learning, am still learning stuff day to day and still feel like I am growing. I also still think that my music writing is still getting better. I'm still on the up and up and I don't feel like I have reached a plateau. I still think there is a lot more for me to do and learn. And I am still very motivated to do that.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Do you have any ambitions to some day to venture out and do a solo album?

Hammett: Yeah, eventually, but right now I have to say that METALLICA is my home and I have no intentions of running away from that home. But I am going to put a book though. I am working on it and that in itself feels like I am making a solo album because it is so much goddamn fuckin’ work! It is all myself. I don't have a band I can rely on or seek support. So I think once I do this book thing, maybe I may start considering doing a solo album, but I don't know.

Ultimate-Guitar.com: Looking back on the "St. Anger" album and its lack of guitar solos, what do you think of that album today?

Hammett: I still love it, man. I think "Frantic", "Dirty Window", the title track and "All Within My Hands", those are just great fuckin' songs and some of my favorite. Frankly, I'm quite shocked that people have such an attitude and issues with it, because for me, it is just another METALLICA album.

Read the entire interview from Ultimate-Guitar.com.