Apple Music’s Zane Lowe sits down with Metallica at the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam for a wide-ranging conversation ahead of the launch of the group's M72 World Tour. The band tells Apple Music why they’re “the four biggest Metallica fans in the world” and discuss still chasing acceptance 40 years later, longevity and gratitude, the art of crafting setlists, the infamous Snake Pit and their constantly evolving stage production, the ritual of opening their concerts with “The Ecstasy Of Gold”, the never-ending journey to find the ultimate riff, buying a vinyl pressing plant, latest album 72 Seasons and more.
Read a few experts, and view the full hour-long video below.
Metallica tell Apple Music about still chasing acceptance 40 years later…
Lars Ulrich: "…people kind of roll their eyes when I say this, but still chasing acceptance or still chasing fitting in, or still chasing like, 'Hey, we're still hovering on the outside. We're these misfits and this disenfranchised musicians that don't really belong in the cool kid’s club.' And people go, 'You're so successful.' Yeah, but 40 years later, I still feel like I'm on the outside."
Kirk Hammett: "We're still waiting for the invite to the cool guy’s club. Well, that's what it feels like. It's a feeling."
James Hetfield: "We chase that but we don't want to be in it. No, we don't."
Kirk Hammett: "As far as I'm concerned, this is the cool guy club for me."
James Hetfield on longevity and gratitude:
James Hetfield: "I don't think through COVID, through deaths, through accidents, through broken bones, there's never been a doubt in my mind that we wouldn't continue, you know? It might suck right now but we're going to push through this in some form or another, your Napsters, all of these things."
Zane Lowe: "Not even during those really tough personal times for you the first time around 20 years ago when you were really going through that first wave? We spoke about that before, but that wasn't a moment when you were like, is this my life?"
James Hetfield: "Well there was a moment where it definitely had to be taken away to realize how much I care. And how much I care about it, and how much we all care about that thing too. And that it's needed at times, you know? When you're pampered, when everything's fine, when something, the rug gets yanked out from under you. Gratitude, realizing what you do have and how much you do love it and you're going to miss it. We don't know much else, you know? We love what we do and this is what we get to do, and be of service to ourselves in the world with it."
Lars Ulrich tells Apple Music about his longtime role as the author of Metallica’s setlists:
Lars Ulrich: "I mean, I don't relish, but I accept it and James likes to point out, I obsess over it in the best of ways, of course… And I take it seriously, first of all, the fact that these guys trust me enough to carry that is a huge thing. So in terms of not letting the team down, of course, but I've been doing it for a long time, basically the whole time. And I have tools now available and so it becomes a combination of new album, it becomes a combination, obviously, of what's called the toe tapping favorites of…We did a whole run last summer where we played Enter Sandman had always obviously lived toward the end of the set…We played it third all last summer and the look on people's faces would come out. We say hello with Whiplash, we go into Creeping Death…People are like, "Holy f**k, is it time to go home already?"
Kirk Hammett tells Apple Music why he loves heavy metal so much:
Kirk Hammett: "…thank God for this music called heavy metal. That we all coexisted and live our lives in and draw inspiration from, you know? It really encapsulates, at least for me, so much of my inner experience ever since I was a kid to just this moment, you know? It's why I love this music so much. It's so emotional and it reflects the entire humane experience like in Inamorata, sadness, heaviness. But there's uplifting parts of that song too that bring you out, and there's contemplative parts of that song too, you know? Thank God for heavy metal, because there's other types of music where it's just straight. You can't go those places."
(Video and photos courtesy of Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1)
