METALLICA
T
OVERVIEW
& INTERVIEW
ight pants were the rule in the
parking lot debauchery of the
Atlantic Richfield Corporation
Arena in Sacramento the night
Metallica played. No baggies were
to be found in the sea of spandex
and Levis. Father-in-Law patrolled
the perimeter but the masses
gathered unheedful. "Hey pigs,"
someone screamed. "Want to buy
some dope?" Sixteen hundred
beer cans and bottles littered the
handrail of a long walkway leading
to the arena. Inside, only non-
alcoholic brew would be served.
The tule fog sat low and blurred
the lights under the cold night. It
BY
BRIAN
BRANNON
Local radio station KRXU 93 received
a standing ovation when its name
flashed on the large video screens
strategically placed high above the
packed coliseum. Scenes from a
preview biography rolled over the
closed circuits, and someone flashed a
"Metallica for President" banner.
Cheers rose to the sonorous sounds of
"Enter Sandman" and intense head-
banging began all around. Everyone
PHOTOS BY KRISTIN
stood tall and ready as the black-
clothed band members ran wild.
Hammett was wearing a Sisters of
Mercy T-shirt. Ulrich wore no shirt at
all. Hetfield resembled the king of
beasts as he stalked the stage to roar
in every direction. Bassist Newsted
stepped up to lend his voice for some
spirited back-up vocals. The band
burst into "Creeping Death" and sparks
of fury resonated. The stands echoed
already knew the words and mimicked with the word "Die" in a voluminous
them automatically.
response to the maelstrom of growls,
drums, distortion and low end.
Suddenly, a live video feed from the
dressing room pre-empted the viewing.
James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett
flipped off the crowd while Jason
Newsted sipped a cold one. Lars
Ulrich said, "We can't hear you," and
the response was a thunderous roar of
The screen returned to the bio, and
was icy, to be sure, and the crowd stomping feet in double-bass-fashion.
roared as they spotted somebody
from the band. Barbie dolls in hot
pants stood freezing in the chilling
night, but holy Toledo mama, they
looked good doing it.
We herded through ropes and
sidewalks closed for no good
reason, and passed the final body
cavity search at the door. We
found our seats promptly but had
to show our tickets to a large-
mouthed bitch whose friends had
snagged our seats. After a bit of
discussion we took our rightful
places and our opponents moved
one row closer to the action.
INTERVIEW WITH KIRK HAMMETT
Between concerts and sessions, Metallica's master
of strings, twenty-nine-year-old Kirk Hammett
collects toys, artwork, comics, magazines and
books. His favorite authors include HP Lovecraft,
Robert Howard, Ramsey Campbell, Robert
McKennan, Clive Barker, Stephen King. Dan
Simmons and Edward Gorey. The latest editions to
his collection are a sixties Frankenstein paint-by-
numbers set and a resin kit of a monster from the
fifties B-movie It's a Terror from Beyond Space.
Would you say doing things your own way is a
key to Metallica's success?
It's one of them. It just never felt right with
someone trying to dictate how we should market
ourselves, how we should write our songs and
how we should behave. That's stupid, because
originality is the one thing that stands out in this
profession. A lot of things tend to suppress
originality and creative drive.
Are you happy with the latest album?
Yeah, I think it's one of our best albums. Obviously
it is very different, but what makes it one of our
best albums was our initial focus on writing
shorter, more simplistic songs and experimenting
Hetfield, wearing a Danzig shirt, said,
"I hate making videos. They're boring
as shit." Fade to Clint Eastwood. A
thousand butane candles went up as
Clint surveyed a boneyard. Live strains
Lars drove his moveable drum stage
to another position as Jason banged
his hair and the band rushed through
Harvester of Sorrow" and "Sanitari.
um." Hetfield needed no microphone,
because the crowd was singing for
him. Lights flashed in dramatic dynam-
ics, Hetfield screamed, "Leave me the
fuck alone!" and the song ended in an
uproar. "This new shit must be a little
too heavy for you," he taunted, as the
grueling guitar of "Sad But True"
burned down. After a rousing rendition
of "Enter Sandman" began to emanate of "Wherever I May Roam," Hetfield
from the stage and whiffs of good
weed filled the air. This was the
moment the crowd has waited for:
Metallica, the Bay Area's favorite
bangers, had taken the stage.
and crew bailed backstage for refresh-
ments, leaving Jason to jam a thick
and freaky bass solo and bask in the
light of a thousand screams. "Fuck.
you guys are loud," he told the vocal
Fire bombs exploded and the band crowd. Jason's solo led into "Never-
raged forth. Hetfield took center stage
as Hammett and Newsted strutted the
floor. Everyone rose and video shots of
the performance rocked from every
monitor. At least eight mike stands
with vocal harmony We've left what we've done
previously behind us by taking chances, going for
those things and seeing what comes out.
Like the black concept?
Yeah. That was something that came from sitting
around for like ten or fifteen minutes. People
think it had some deep meaning underneath it,
but it didn't have anything like that at all. That
happens a lot. The newest example is the song
"Don't Tread on Me." A lot of people thought that
was a pro-war, pro-Persian Gulf song, but in
reality, that tune had been around a long time
before anybody even knew who Saddam Hussein
was. A lot of people misinterpreted that as being a
pro-war song like, Let's go out there and kick ass."
That song is basically about the 'Don't Tread on
Me' flag that was used in the revolutionary war. It
was a huge misunderstanding based on a very
wrong assumption. People are quick to assume
things. I'm not for war in any shape or form, I'm
pretty much a chicken shit.
What would you say to people who would accuse
you guys of selling out, since this new album is
over-produced, or slicker, or whatever?
We would have been selling out if we put out an
more." followed by "The Unforgiven,"
which received a brilliant Bic-flicking
sea of applause.
Another drum stage rose amidst the
pounding toms and chunka-chunka
album full of fast songs, because we'd know it
would be guaranteed to sell. That would be the
easy way out. For us, that's selling out. We took a
lot of risks and felt we had to go in a direction that
was radically different from any we'd ever taken.
This album still has all the basic Metallica
elements in it. It has James' pissed-off style of
singing. The lyrics and the guitar sound are still
really heavy. There are a lot of heavy
songs and some fast songs, just not any ultra,
mega-fast songs
What bands are you listening to now?
Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili
Peppers, Ministry, Mudhoney, My Bloody
Valentine, Sonic Youth, Neil Young and Fishbone.
I've been listening to Nirvana for like two years,
but now they're trendy, so I'm not going to say
Nirvana. I still listen to the Misfits, Samhain,
Minor Threat and Discharge
Is it true there's a clause in your contract now
that says "no skateboarding"?
That's bullshit, I don't know who the hell said that.
I mean, even after James broke his wrist twice
we're still skating. I also like mountain biking
nowadays. The good thing about mountain bikes
CALLAHAN
rolls of Lars' skin solo. The double-
bass beats rolled like the hoofs of a
thousand charging horses thundering
down a vertical slope. He switched
sets and collapsed a few times,
saying. "Ahh, one more." Then Hetfield
joined in on the other kit and the dual
jungle groove action began. Lars
introduced him as "the guitar player
who thinks he can play drums," and
the two marched a bouncing multi-
timbral beat until Hetfield banged into
"Walk This Way."
Out stepped Kirk Hammett, "a guitar
player who only plays guitar," said
Lars. Hammett hammered a mind-
altering solo of immense proportions,
complete with strafing runs and
kamikaze dive bombs before breaking
into "The Assassinated Marionette,"
a.k.a. the Alfred Hitchcock theme, à la
wah-wah. He romped across the en-
tire stage, up and down the stairs,
swinging his guitar around his head,
dragging it down the stairs, kicking and
pounding on it, only to have another i
conveniently handed to him during an
appropriate pause.
"Ride The Lightning." "For Whom The
Bell Tolls" and "One" blazed like the
ferocious flames that rose from center
stage and shot twenty-five feet high.
Hetfield had the house turn up the
lights as he announced "Whiplash" and
warned the uninitiated that, "If you ain't
singing along, you're going to look like
an asshole." No one really cared what
they looked like at this point; everyone
was too busy screaming out loud. I
is they have brakes. Jason rides his bike a little, but not as
much. He's more into playing hoops.
What's in the future for you guys?
Just trying to finish this tour. It's still too early to talk about
what the new album's going to be like or anything.
Well, you guys like to catch people off-guard anyway.
Absolutely
52 THRASHER MAGADE