By Robert Hilburn
Q: What was the plan when you came off the road in the summer of
1993??
A: The main thing was we needed to walk away from what we were doing.
We had been together for 15 years or so, and the longest break we
ever had was probably two or three months - and that's not enough
time to really wind down. Plus, we had never been through anything
as physically and mentally draining as that last tour.
Q: Did any part of you worry about what a long break like that might do
to your fan base? There doesn't seem to be a lot of loyalty these days
in rock.
A: It was a matter of priorities. What does it do to an audience if you
end up burning yourself out to the point of never wanting to do it
again? Besides, you can't worry about things like fan bases. The
minute you start trying to plan your moves in reaction to what you
think your audience might want, that's the minute I think you have
already lost. You never should sit there and go, "Well, here comes
Green Day or whoever, so how should we react?"
Q: I suppose the same thing applies when you are thinking about your
music. There was a lot of grumbling form die-hard Metallica fans last
time that your album was too accessible. Does that intimidate you at
all - the fan reaction to change?
A: The point people forget is that we change as people and musicians. You
can't keep doing the same thing over and over or you'll get bored.
That's why you'll find some changes on the new album. The thing that
would worry me would be if one of my favorite bands doesn't change. But
we caught the grumbling long before ["Metallica"]. When we put a ballad
on our second album, there were purists in the hard-rock world that were
freaking. In fact, every time we put a record out, 95% of the people
are thrilled about the fact we explored some new musical territory, but
you also have the 5% who are closed-minded and want you to put out the
same record in a different sleeve. There are plenty of bands who do
that. But we choose not to be one of them. This time, for instance,
we put some bluesy stuff on the record and even some country and
Southern influences.
Q: Do you ever see doing another marathon tour like the last one?
A: No. No. No. No. That's an answer for all of us. We will never do
that again because we realize the whole thing would just crumble. That
doesn't mean we won't tour a lot. We just won't play every place you
can put up a stage, which is what we did last time. We did a month in
the Pacific Rim at a time when almost nobody else had. We played the
Singapores and the Jakartas. We played Tel Aviv and Athens. We went to
Europe three times.
Q: How did you use the year off?
A: Mostly it was just an enriching experience - a chance for us all to think
about ourselves and our life away from the band. It was the first time
we really got to spend any extended period of time thinking of ourselves
as individuals rather that being one-fourth of Metallica. The result,
in my case, is I am more comfortable with myself, a bit less manic.
Q: What did you do in the studio last year when you found you had 30 songs?
A: Well, we liked all the songs, so we started looking at options. We
thought about a double album like the Smashing Pumpkins, or maybe
putting out two seperate albums like Guns N' Roses did with "Use Your
Illusion." We even thought about staggering release dates like U2 did
with "Achtung Baby" and "Zooropa." In the end, we decided to take the
14 songs that were the furthest along and record them and put them out
and then go out and play some shows for a year and a half or so, then go
back and put out the other album. This way we would keep things fresh.
We could even play some of the songs from the next album on the tour.
Q: Were you as suprised as everyone when Lollapalooza invited you to
headline the shows?
A: Totally. I remember we were with [our managers] in New York when they
showed me the fax and I checked the calendar. Was it April 1 or
something? I was suprised that they came to us because the perception
of Lollapalooza is so far from what we do. But I personally don't see
it as much of a stretch.
Q: What do you mean?
A: There were a lot of divisions between alternative rock and hard rock
and metal five years ago when Lollapalooza started, but that has changed
a lot. I think the boundaries have come down, and that's healthy. I
think musical tastes are so wide in America today that you could put
Metallica and U2 and Oasis and PJ Harvey and Waylon Jennings and Dr. Dre
and the Wu-Tang Clan together and it would be great.
Q: What broke down those barriers?
A: I think you have to thank Kurt Cobain for a lot of that. If you go back
five years or so, we had the punks and the metal kids and the modern
Hüsker Dü crowd, if you will. Cobain came along and somehow
fused it together. The aggression and attitude of Nirvana appealed to
a lot of the metal kids. There were definite hints of Black Sabbath
riffs in the music. At the same time, Nirvana wasn't about being a
great guitar player. It was about emotion and purity and opening up,
which is what a lot of the alternative crowd loved about Nirvana.
Q: "Hero of the Day" on the new album speaks about finding heroes. Like
Cobain, you and the other members of Metallica are viewed by lots of
young people as heroes. Cobain felt uncomfortable being seen as a hero.
Do you like being a role model?
A: To tell you the truth, I could never understand this thing about role
models, whether you're talking about some basketball player or
politician or rock star. Why should you pattern your life after what
they do or say? You don't know them. The way they live their lives may
have nothing to do with what you admire in their professional life. I
always think you should look within and seek out answers for yourself...
educate yourself to understand different sides of issues. That's the way
I was brought up. But I hope the songs do speak to people and help them
find inner strength. ...If there is any truth in what we say, it's in
the songs.