Metallica has never been shy to sing praises of the band’s that inspired their own musical trajectory, now they’re paying kudos to cult San Fran act the Grateful Dead.
Drummer Lars Ulrich recently sat down with CNBC, in an interview that saw him explain that the Grateful Dead approach to working independently within the music industry had a profound impact on the way Metallica ran their ship.
“As far as Metallica is concerned, we have our own record label, [and] we pretty much try to control all the different elements in our little bubble, our little ecosystem,” Ulrich explained.
“We’re financially independent… we sort of model our existence on the Grateful Dead — who considered themselves to be living outside of the mainstream — that’s been our dream, to just be independent, autonomous, to be able to create the music and not owe anybody any money.
“So when you say, Who has the control? we like to think that in our bubble that we do, but obviously, we’re also very fortunate in that we can channel the success that we’re so grateful for into financial independence.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Lars Ulrich mused on what he believes the future has in store for live music. Revealing that he believe’s it will be one year “at the earliest” before artists can return to playing arenas and stadiums.
“As we, unfortunately, have to come to grips with, the last thing that will happen are big concerts, you know 20,000 people in an arena, 50,000 people in a stadium,” he noted. “The good news,” he noted, “on the live concert front, [is that] when Metallica and other bands like Metallica play big arena or stadium concerts again, then you can pretty much count on the fact that COVID, as we know it now, is over.”
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