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Rolling Stone caught up with Metallica at their Record Store Day signing event in northern California late last week. Drummer Lars Ulrich dialed us up to discuss the event and chatted about recording with Rick Rubin, bonding with his kids over Guitar Hero and learning to love the Web.
You went through four boxes of Sharpies signing
autographs on Record Store Day. Can you talk about that marathon
meet and greet?
I think the intense energy and all the love carried us through. I
didn't even take a pee break! It's probably the longest we've gone
for as long as I can remember. We used to be like, "Where's the
beer? Fire up the Misfits!" It would be a lot more reckless. Now
it's more personal and less about you and your beer needs. It's
funny. You're at home chilling out in your backyard, being a
parent, and driving your kids around town and you conveniently
forget. At 9 a.m., I spent ten minutes wiping the shit off my
nine-month old. At 12 p.m., I was in the dog park cleaning up dog
shit. Then you get into a car drive down to Mountain View and go,
"Holy shit!" By 2 p.m., they're saying how amazing you are. It's
easy to forget in your own little bubble.
What did you take away from the fans this
time?
I would say the main thing is that it continues to reinforce how
varied metal fans are; how difficult it is to define who they are.
You are talking about fans that cross all lines of age, gender and
cultural backgrounds — it's not categorizable. You see
parents there with their kids who say they finally found something
in common through Metallica. I walked away totally humbled, whereas
in my twenties and thirties there's these big black holes. I didn't
remember walking away with that feeling.
You signed a lot of Guitar Hero controllers. Is that
cool?
It's fucking way cool. Our kids love playing Guitar Hero and Rock
Band. It's awesome. There's something really positive coming out of
video games. It's so cool to sit there and have your kids talk to
you about Deep Purple and Black Sabbath and Soundgarden.
What made Metallica want to be part of Record Store
Day?
It was a no-brainer for us. It took three seconds to decide to do
it. The record store has been such a huge part of our lives. When I
was twelve, fourteen years old in Denmark, the record store was the
Holy Grail and the guy who worked there was my hero. I would go two
to three times a week and get Judas Priest, Accept, Triumph; this
guy was like a God to me. In America it was places in San Francisco
like the Record Vault where we'd sell our demos, T-shirts, hang
out.
How would you feel on the day the last record store in
America closed?
I'd do my best to try and be there playing "Fade to Black" as the
last song, but I don't think it'll come to that. iTunes? I'm there
as much as everyone else, I'm not against that. If you look at
vinyl, fifteen years ago CDs came out and yet it continues to make
more of a comeback. I don't think you'll be able to kill the record
store, at least not in major cities. I'm worried about the smaller
cities. I'm against these soulless megastores.
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You were one of the first artists to sue over copyright infringement and voice concerns over aspects of downloading. Eight years later, with bands like Radiohead embracing the Net and yet charting, how has your stance changed, if at all?
We have FLACs and MP3s for sale. It was never about downloading per se. We have the Vault where you can download shows from twenty years ago for free, full-on and it's been there for years. You can download recent shows days after they happen for cost. Back in the day there was a much bigger question about "on whose terms?" We said, "Wait a minute, it should be about the artist." Then all hell broke loose and we sat on the sidelines for a while. We've always been fiercely independent and controlling; sometimes to a fault. That's why we exist and why all these people show up.
And as far as the next record goes ...
You know, this is our last record under contract with Warner, so
we're looking at how we can embrace everything.
Like a 360 deal with Live Nation?
Mmm, we've never sold ourselves that way. No disrespect. We want to
be as free a players as possible. We've been observing Radiohead
and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes
for the next record, we'll be looking forward to everything in
terms of possibilities with the Internet.
What can you say about working with mad genius Rick
Rubin on this upcoming album?
Mad genius? You've heard then. [Laughs] It's been a great
year, and it's been a lot of fun — a chance to re-invent the
wheel again. It's great to have someone who sits there and throws
things in your face. He's not very methodical; it's all about the
vibe and the moment. We were interacting and playing off each other
more. There was little method to his madness, but you learn to
trust him and roll with it.
Have you thought about the climate into which you'll be
dropping this new album? What is the state of metal
today?
I think you saw. Metal is fucking alive and well and doing better
than it has in many years. It seems like most of the metal in the
Seventies and the Eighties is still revered. It seems like most
fourteeen year olds are into Deep Purple, Iron Maiden and Judas
Priest, as opposed to some alternative, grunge and especially the
rap-rock of the Nineties. When you've been around a while you tend
to disregard cycles, but there is a resurgence way deeper and more
penetrating into the fourteen-year-old mindset all over. It's
unbelievable.