Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has discussed how he’d fare holding the sticks for a number of legendary bands, including Rush and Black Sabbath.
During a stop by The Howard Stern Show last week, Ulrich was asked by the titular host if he could play Rush songs live (as per Louder Sound).
“Could I do it? Obviously, playing with Alex (Lifeson) and Geddy (Lee) would be incredible… It would be an uphill thing,” he admitted. “It would take a lot of rehearsal, a lot of prep. 2112 (Rush’s 1976 album) would probably be too much of a bite of the apple for me.”
Ulrich revealed that he’d feel much more comfortable playing for AC/DC, claiming that the Aussie hard rockers’ “stuff is right in my fucking pocket. And I love that so much.”
Stern also suggested that Ulrich could handle Led Zeppelin songs alongside Robert Plant and Jimmy Page well, to which the Metallica man agreed.
“I could do some of that, yeah,” he replied. “I could do the Deep Purple stuff, definitely do the Sabbath stuff. I’ve studied all three of those for close to 50 years now, so that’s definitely in the wheelhouse.
He continued: “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.”
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While on The Howard Stern Show, Ulrich also recalled his recent performance on drums at the emotional Taylor Hawkins tribute shows in London and Los Angeles. The shows saw him team up with the likes of Brian Johnson and the Foo Fighters in London, and Geezer Butler and Sebastian Bach in the California city.
“Playing with Grohl and the other three Foo Fighters guys…at Wembley we did, with Brian Johnson, the AC/DC singer, we did an AC/DC set, and it was so much fucking fun to play,” he said.
“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.”
In Metallica news, the band just announced their new album, 72 Seasons, which is set to arrive next April (pre-order here). You can listen to their new single, ‘Lux Æterna’, below.
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