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“OUR relationship is part of what makes Metallica special. If everything goes smooth all the time then something is wrong.

“You have to have friction as it creates energy, brainstorms, pro-activity and we go forward.”

Man-mountain James Hetfield is talking about his 27-year friendship with drummer and Metallica founder Lars Ulrich.

It’s one of rock’s most turbulent partnerships, a roller-coaster ride of egos, heavy boozing and over-indulgence.

SFTW are in Arras, an idyllic town in northern France, at La Grand-Place de Arras, a pretty town square.

Later the Californian rock lords, one of the highest-grossing live bands on the planet, will play a colossal live show in the square.

Metallica’s legacy speaks for itself. They’ve sold 100million records — and counting — worldwide.

They have achieved Gold or Platinum album status in 40 countries and won seven Grammys.

Since 1990, they’ve been one of the top five touring bands in the world with sold-out shows in more than 50 countries and all 50 states of the USA, playing live to more than 30million people.

In fact, since 2000, their album sales are only second to one other band — The Beatles.

Impressive, eh?

What’s also impressive is that after two decades of highs, lows and gargantuan excess, Metallica are still together and in their best form for years.

Next month they release their tenth studio album Death Magnetic, a collection of tracks that takes the band back to the essence of what made them great, and a more recognisable Metallica sound than on St Anger which fans and critics panned when it was released in 2003.

James says: “St Anger was the low point of the roller-coaster but we’re back at the top now.”

As well as being slated, St Anger marked an all-time low for the members of Metallica and they came close to splitting up for good. James left for rehab half way through making the record, with the band’s fallout revealed in the 2004 movie, Some Kind Of Monster.

It’s a legendary rockumentary for fans and non-fans alike.

Lars and James argued over band and song control and what time to finish work, while woolly-jumper-clad psycho- therapist turned performance- enhancing coach, Phil Towle looked on in an attempt to resolve tensions.

Witness

Lars laughs that he knew it was time to stop paying him the £20,000 a month fee when one day Phil came in with his own lyrics for their songs.

Some Kind Of Monster is a fascinating exposé with fans able to witness the breakdown of the band.

James says: “The mystique of Metallica was taken away. You could peek under the veil and see what was going on.

“We were filming the making of a record and it turned into something greater but it was a gift. It was a gift of some sort that we couldn’t ignore.

“Through the movie we saw what we really looked like. It was a great mirror to see yourself acting like a 12-year-old. We were frigging egomaniacs.

“We all had different character defects and it was good to see them on screen.

“I think it was more educational for us than for our fans. It was very therapeutic for us to put that out there.”

Today Metallica — James, Lars, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo are at a different crossroads in the band’s life.

Lars laughs: “I’m 44 years old. I argue enough with my kids about finishing their vegetables. I don’t like to argue about which guitar solo should be on song nine.

“These days I have nothing to complain about. If you hear me complain then you’ve got permission to smack me.

“I’ve been in Paris the past three days, I’ve got my family with me, I’m sitting on a silver couch, backstage in northern France — it’s all good.”

Today Metallica is a family affair. When the band arrive backstage (in separate Mercedes people carriers) Lars has his son with him, while James arrives with wife Francesca and their three children. 

They all venture off to different rooms, including a pre-show warm-up Tuning And Attitude room and upstairs to see Dr Don, the band’s chiropractor, who has been flying between Metallica’s shows and Beijing where he is the Seychelles Olympic team doctor.

Lars says: “Don is the hardest working guy on this tour. He’s the guy who puts our spines back in place. Whenever somebody’s arm flies off or somebody’s shoulder falls off. He’s there.”

Lars is walking around the backstage area in a navy dressing gown following his daily jog, joking with crew members and sipping one of Dr Don’s nutritional fruit smoothies.

It’s a world away from the band’s old days when sex, drugs, strippers and booze were all part of the Metallica day.

Lars smiles: “The old days were crazy, chaotic and involved strip clubs and talking to strangers in bathrooms just to nick their blow. Now it’s more about family, museums and kids. I’m proud that after everything we’ve been through over the years I can still speak in coherent sentences and have fathered three healthy children.

“But I still like to let my hair down as much as I can. Though there’s not much of it left,” he jokes rubbing his balding forehead.

“It’s just different. Last night, after we’d put the kids to sleep, me and my girl were out until 2.15am, looking for a place to drink. I’m telling you Paris is not what it used to be, because by 3am we were back at the hotel going ‘now what?’.”

Struggle

But for James it’s a different story. A recovering alcoholic, many years without touching a drop, he says it’s still a struggle. Death Magnetic is his first fully sober record.

He says: “The temptation to drink is with me for ever. When you’ve done something a certain way for so long, doing it a different way is difficult.

“You start to doubt yourself. I’ll never be cured. It’s one of those things that I’ll have to deal with all my life.”

Death Magnetic is also the first album that “new” bass player Robert Trujillo made with Metallica.

His recruitment in 2003 was documented in the film and his role is an essential part of the new Metallica.

James says: “There’s no doubt that having a new bass player, a new producer, a new record has helped with our new attitude.

“It feels like Robert’s been in the band for ever. He’s contributed a lot to this record. We were lucky to get him.”

Another change for Metallica on this album was teaming up with legendary producer Rick Rubin instead of longtime collaborator Bob Rock.

James reveals: “Knowing we wanted to move on was the main thing, it didn’t matter who was coming next.” I ask was it hard to turn their backs on Bob? “Yeah, but we didn’t really turn our back,” clarifies Lars.

“We stood face to face and hugged and shook hands and said goodbye. It doesn’t mean we won’t ever see him behind the desk again.”

James adds: “It was just that Rick Rubin had this very zen-like thing going on and that’s what we needed.

“He was more or less trying to capture the essence of the band and that’s some of the reason we got focused on the history of Metallica.”

Death Magnetic is Metallica’s most direct metal album since And Justice For All and before they broke through commercially with Metallica (The Black Album).

James reveals: “Yes guitar solos are back and we needed the change.

“Obviously we don’t want to try and redo anything we did in the past, but St Anger was the end of a chapter and it felt right to try and open a new chapter.

“There are critics of every album. Everyone thinks they know what’s better for us, but that’s OK too, you know. I’m an armchair quarterback when I watch my team play.

“Standout tracks on the new album include The Day That Never Comes and The Unforgiven III — a song about redemption and forgiveness, a deeply personal song to James. It takes me to another level. If there was any song that I could listen to 100 times in a row that would be it.”

And so why have Metallica managed to stay relevant after all these years and not become a novelty band like so many other acts their age have?

James explains: “We’re still relevant, we’re still writing and I don’t see us ever not writing. That is the forward progress of the band.

“We’re headlining places like Reading and so a lot of the older fans are bringing in the new ones.

“The youth of the world is very important and you can plug into Metallica’s history at any age.”

Lars adds: “Different people are showing up. There’s a lot of fresh faces down in the front ready to get pummelled.

“They’re ready for the passing of the torch to the next generation of fans.”

Metallica headline Leeds Festival tonight and Reading Festival on Sunday.

Metallica: A Culture Show Special is on BBC Two on 31 August at 11.20pm. Death Magnetic is released globally on September 12.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 7:43 pm and is filed under Band Info, Interview, James. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.