The German-language television network 3SAT recently conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield about the band’s new album, “Death Magnetic”, the “Some Kind of Monster” movie and the use of METALLICA’s music to torture Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prisoners. “Part of me is proud is because they chose METALLICA,” Hetfield said about the reports that the band’s song “Enter Sandman” was used during the interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani — known as the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11 — and that listening to the track brought al-Qahtani to tears “because he thought he was hearing the sound of Satan.” James added, “It’s strong; it’s music that’s powerful. It represents something that they don’t like — maybe freedom, aggression… I don’t know… freedom of speech. And then part of me is kind of bummed about it that people worry about us being attached to some political statement because of that. We’ve got nothing to do with this and we’re trying to be as apolitical as possible, ’cause I think politics and music, at least for us, don’t mix. It separates people, [and] we wanna bring people together. So, so be it. I can’t say ‘Stop.’ I can’t say ‘Do it.’ It is just a thing — it’s not good or bad.”
METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has commented on the premature release of the band’s new album, “Death Magnetic”, via a French record store. A shop in Paris reportedly sold a number of copies of the CD this morning well ahead of its official September 12 worldwide release date — with illegal “Death Magnetic” MP3 files making their way online by this afternoon.
During a guest appearance earlier today on “The Woody Show” on the San Francisco, California radio station Live 105 (KITS 105.3 FM), Ulrich stated about the French leak, “Listen, we’re ten days from release. I mean, from here, we’re golden. If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days. Trust me. Ten days out and it hasn’t quote-unquote fallen off the truck yet? Everybody’s happy. It’s 2008 and it’s part of how it is these days, so it’s fine. We’re happy.”
Watch video footage of Ulrich’s appearance on “The Woody Show” in two parts below.
We’ve already lived through “The Day That Never Comes” — in the studio and live. So this is the third time it has never come. Something like that. The stitched together, eight-and-a-half-minute, Metallica-sampling Metallica epic gets a high budget, short-film style video today, set in a region of California made up like an American-occupied Islamic state, with soldiers very freaked out by a woman in a burka. Lars writes:
METALLICA frontman James Hetfield joined reactivated NWOBHM legends SWEET SAVAGE (based in Belfast, Northern Ireland) on stage at their August 20, 2008 concert at Marlay Park in Dublin, Ireland (where they supported METALLICA) for a rendition of the SWEET SAVAGE classic “Killing Time”. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be viewed below.
A five-minute audio interview with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett conducted on August 15, 2008 at the 23rd Pukkelpop music festival in the village of Kiewit, near Hasselt (Limburg province), Belgium
Born to push you around
You better just stay down
You pull away
He hits the flesh
You hit the ground
Mouths so full of lies
Tend to black your eyes
Just keep them closed
Keep praying
Just keep waiting
It’s a sun-drenched Thursday afternoon in Acton, California, which is about an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles, and the air’s nothing if not arid.
Here, we find the members of Metallica — frontman James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. They’re all milling about, wearing shades, waiting. All of a sudden, a Hummer painted in desert camouflage and topped with a .50-caliber machine gun rolls by.
The vehicle’s carrying a group of what look like U.S. soldiers across the dusty terrain when, out of nowhere, there’s an awesome blast. One of the soldiers is wounded; he’s bleeding. Another soldier rushes to his aid, with a medic kit in hand, and starts tending to his wounds. Minutes later, a helicopter approaches, and the bloody soldier is flown to safety and into the capable hands of a military medical team.
Of course, this isn’t Iraq. It isn’t Afghanistan. It’s the set of Metallica’s video for their track “The Day That Never Comes,” the first single from Death Magnetic, the band’s first studio effort since 2003’s St. Anger (due in stores this September). (more…)
Metallica have denied that ‘The Day That Never Comes’, the first song from their new album, is an attempt to send a political statement about America’s ongoing involvement with the war in Iraq.The video for the song, which is due to be released in early September, depicts a solider aiding a wounded solider.
Speaking about the track, frontman James Hetfield said he hoped the band could put “the human element in what is an unfortunate part of life.
“There are people over there dealing with situations like this, and we’re showing the human part of being there,” he said.
“There are so many celebrities that soapbox their opinions, and people believe it’s more valid because they’re popular. For us, people are people — you should all have your own opinion.” (more…)
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The German-language television network 3SAT recently conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield about the band’s new album, “Death Magnetic”, the “Some Kind of Monster” movie and the use of METALLICA’s music to torture Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prisoners. “Part of me is proud is because they chose METALLICA,” Hetfield said about the reports that the band’s song “Enter Sandman” was used during the interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani — known as the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11 — and that listening to the track brought al-Qahtani to tears “because he thought he was hearing the sound of Satan.” James added, “It’s strong; it’s music that’s powerful. It represents something that they don’t like — maybe freedom, aggression… I don’t know… freedom of speech. And then part of me is kind of bummed about it that people worry about us being attached to some political statement because of that. We’ve got nothing to do with this and we’re trying to be as apolitical as possible, ’cause I think politics and music, at least for us, don’t mix. It separates people, [and] we wanna bring people together. So, so be it. I can’t say ‘Stop.’ I can’t say ‘Do it.’ It is just a thing — it’s not good or bad.”
METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich has commented on the premature release of the band’s new album, “Death Magnetic”, via a French record store. A shop in Paris reportedly sold a number of copies of the CD this morning well ahead of its official September 12 worldwide release date — with illegal “Death Magnetic” MP3 files making their way online by this afternoon.
It’s a sun-drenched Thursday afternoon in Acton, California, which is about an hour’s drive north of Los Angeles, and the air’s nothing if not arid.
Metallica have denied that ‘The Day That Never Comes’, the first song from their new album, is an attempt to send a political statement about America’s ongoing involvement with the war in Iraq.The video for the song, which is due to be released in early September, depicts a solider aiding a wounded solider.
