Next year will see the iconic metal outfit Metallica turn 40, and drummer Lars Ulrich has said that they’re keen to keep going, as it “feels like all the best years are ahead of us.”
Starting back in 1981, the legendary collective has churned out ten studio albums and have a whopping nine Grammy Awards under their belt. With all this in mind, drummer Lars Ulrich says that he still thinks there’s more to come in the band’s career, with the best yet to come.
Chatting with Rob Dietrich, the mastermind behind Metallica’s Blackened America Whiskey, Ulrich details that the band turning 40 is a bit crazy: “It always feels like we’re just getting started. Forty fucking years! Yeah, it’s crazy. We’re in 2020 here, so I guess next year is the 40th anniversary.”
“All those clichés about ‘age is just a state of mind,’ but there is definitely a part of me that still feels like all the best years are ahead of us. I guess that’s kind of how I have always thought.”
Although us fans like to hold onto the past and reminisce about the great career Metallica has had thus far, Ulrich says that he doesn’t do that as much, and tries to keep his focus honed in on what’s still to come.
“I can’t spend a lot of time in the past, and I can’t spend a lot of time going down memory lanes. Obviously, when people like you and I are talking or if I’m doing interviews or whatever, I can hang in the past, but when I’m not doing that, I spend most of my time in the future — [focusing on] what’s ahead.”
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On the focus of questions he typically gets asked, Ulrich noted that he typically can’t choose a favourite Metallica record, saying that “the next one” is always his favourite, and he’s “always” thinking ahead.
“But, listen, it’s been an awesome ride so far. Forty years next year, and I’m just thankful for James [Hetfield, vocals], Kirk [Hammett, guitar] and Rob [Trujillo, bass] and thankful for this incredible ride.”
“And it feels like, I guess, in some peculiar way, that we’re getting closer and closer. I guess social media, the way that we connect with the fans nowadays, still touring all over the world, the spirit and the way we connect with the fans just feels more and more pure, more and more transparent and more and more honest. We just throw it all out there.”
Thinking back on his part in their last album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct from 2016, Ulrich notes that it was an amazing record that felt very intense and intimate.
“I guess, always working on trying to break down that barrier between the band and the fans and trying to make us all one. The indoor stage of the last couple of years, playing in the round, with the snake pit, and the shows we’ve played in the last few years outdoors, it just feels like we’re connecting at a more intimate level than we ever have before.”
With that being said, Ulrich leaves with a final statement leaving us on the edge of our seat with what’s to come for Metallica: “So, like I said, hopefully we’re just getting started.”
Check out ‘Nothing Else Matters’ by Metallica:
