THE BEAST

Reflecting on his participation in Taylor Hawkins ‘ tribute shows in September, METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich said the following during an appearance SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” this past Monday (November 28): “The one thing in this band is the four of us don’t stray a lot. And I think a big part of the fact that  METALLICA , 41 years in, is still as functional as we are is because we just haven’t strayed a lot.

“Of course,  Kirk  [ Hammett ] has gone and done his solo stuff, and  James  [ Hetfield ] did something with one of the  Waylon Jennings  kids a few years ago, and I’ve done one or two things, and [ Robert ]  Trujillo goes back to  SUICIDAL  [ TENDENCIES ] occasionally and  INFECTIOUS GROOVES , but we don’t stray a lot.

He continued: “ Dave Grohl  [ FOO FIGHTERS  frontman] called me three or four months ago and asked me if I would partake in the  Taylor Hawkins  tribute shows at Wembley and at the L.A. Forum, and, obviously, before he was done explaining it, I just said, ‘Yes,  Dave . I’ll be there. Just tell me what you want and I’ll show up with bells and whistles on.”

“Straying outside of the  METALLICA  world is not the most comfortable thing for me. I think a big part of why we just love staying inside the  METALLICA  universe is because there’s that safety in numbers, and we just support each other and have that thing. But playing with  Grohl  and the other three  FOO FIGHTER  guys, and then at Wembley we did, with  Brian Johnson , the  AC/DC  singer, we did an  AC/DC  set, and it was so much f**king fun to play.”

When asked about the special kind of energy that comes from musicians with different backgrounds playing together, Lars said: “For me, and I use the word ‘wheelhouse’ a lot, playing those  AC/DC  songs is right in my wheelhouse. If they had said — I mean, I love  RUSH  — [but] If they had said, ‘Come up and play  ‘2112’  with  Alex  [ Lifeson ] and  Geddy  [ Lee ], I’d go, ‘I think there’s somebody more qualified to do that than me.’

“But playing those  AC/DC  songs with the four  FOO FIGHTERS  guys and  Brian  was just a f**king next-level magical experience. And then in L.A., a couple of weeks later, we did a  BLACK SABBATH  medley with  Geezer Butler , O.G. bass player and absolutely one of the geniuses of the early days of hard rock and metal, we did a couple of  BLACK SABBATH  songs. So it was great fun to go do that.

Asked if he could play a RUSH song with Lee and Lifeson , Ulrich said: “Could I do it? Obviously, playing with  Alex  and  Geddy  would be incredible. Some of the guys,  Chad Smith  played and  Dave  played a couple of songs [with  Geddy  and  Alex ]. It would be an uphill thing. It would take a lot of rehearsal, a lot of prep.  ‘2112’  would probably be too much of a bite of the apple for me. But in terms of just feeling comfortable, and kind of doing the thing that exists sort of where I am, that  AC/DC  stuff is right in my f**king pocket. And I love that so much.”

After  Stern  noted that  Ulrich  could probably play some of the  LED ZEPPELIN  material with  Robert Plant  and  Jimmy Page  if he wanted to,  Lars  added: “I could do some of that, yeah. I could do the  DEEP PURPLE  stuff, definitely do the  SABBATH  stuff. Obviously, I’ve studied all three of those for close to 50 years now, so that’s definitely in the wheelhouse… The first band I ever saw was  DEEP PURPLE . When I was nine years old, I went and bought a  DEEP PURPLE  album the next morning. And  BLACK SABBATH  came soon after.  ZEPPELIN  was there also, but primarily  DEEP PURPLE  and  SABBATH . So when I say I’ve studied it, it’s just been there for 45, 50 years for me.” Via MetalAddicts