Stereo Warning: New interview with Lars Ulrich from Metallica

Here's the interview with Lars we promised. It's gonna come in installments, so check back for parts II and III.

At this level in your career, you hardly need any more publicity. Why still keep such a busy schedule and do these interviews?
It's a way of communicating with the fans. You choose your path early on and it was pretty clear for us early on that the bands that we idolized were more accessible. The people I idolized were on the level and were accessible. We've always prided ourselves and enjoyed being accessible. It's okay to sit and talk about what you do. You choose to answer the questions you want, and the ones you don't want to you come up with a silly, smart-ass or sarcastic comment and find a way around it. I don't mind it.

The kids are definitely interested in what you have to say and you work hard to give your fans a lot of access into the inner workings of Metallica, probably more so than any other band.
Maybe more so than they should have, ha ha ha. But it's the path we've chosen. People sit there and talk about the movie (Some Kind of Monster, ed.) but once you open yourself up you have to deal with that. Either you open yourself up and its carte blanche or you shy away. Our path has been the carte blanche accessibility, for better or worse, warts and all as they say.

I know you pushed hard for that. Was it because you as a teeneager got to hang out with Diamond Head, who you used to look up to at the time?
Maybe a little. Certainly Iron Maiden, Motorhead, all the bands I was interested in, I got close to. They were always very open to let me in. I was also extra keen and extra fanatical but I always got in there and I always appreciated when the bands that you idolize make you feel special by letting you be part of what they were doing. So I've always tried to do that to the best of our ability, but sometimes the numbers get hard. You want to go sign autographs in a record store but 2,000 people show up and it can be overwhelming. But you do the best you can.

Magazines made a big deal about you flying on different planes last summer in Europe. What's the travel arrangement on this tour?
We're flying home a lot after shows so we're travelling together. People have a tendency to focus on something that can be perceived as negative. The reason we travel separately a lot is we want everybody to be comfortable, not that we don't wanna hang out together. James Hetfield doesn't want to base in Copenhagen for two weeks he shouldn't have to just because I want to. It's about giving each other space and freedom to be comfortable in that crazy touring bubble. Guys that are content have a tendency to want to tour longer and be more productive. It's an investment back in the band. Sure, it can be perceived as overkill or excess and I understand that, especially with English magazines, but it's okay. You set yourself up for that.

They didn't complain when you took them on the private jet though.
No, of course not. People always try to find something to bang the drum about.

How is your relationship with James? Is he still your best friend?
He's more than my best friend. He's as close to a brother I've ever had. We're partners in a gang. It's beyond friendship -- as Bon Jovi would say, it's blood on blood. Especially for a bunch of people that aren't particularly like-minded. We don't have a lot in common. The only thing we really have in common is Metallica and the fact that we're passionate parents, but that's enough to keep us great friends great buddies.

Do you talk a lot about your kids?
Yea we talk a lot about that stuff. It's a great thing that we've all experienced parenthood at the same time. It's not like one guy has a bunch of kids and the others run around strip clubs every night. Everybody is on the same page.

Do you ever miss the wild old days?
I'm glad I lived them. I have a lot of great memories and I had a lot of fun. We had a lot of crazy shit that was going on. I don't need to live it anymore. A lot of kids that grow up around hard rock and metal have a tendency to be loners, outcasts and misfits, and I don't mean it necessarily as a negative thing. I was a loner. I spent a lot of time alone. I'm an only child and a lot of times in social circles guys can be awkward. When you're in a band all of a sudden girls pay attention to you, so you spend a lot of time chasing after girls, especially when as a youngster you were kind of an outcast because you didn't get a lot of girl action when you were 17. All of a sudden you are 25 and making up for that lost time. In some way it also can help give you confidence and identify who you are, because you feel better about who you are. But when you're 44, I've got a great girl, I've got three beautiful kids, I don't need to validate who I am anymore through that kind of partying or pursuit of being accepted or noticed. I've had a lot of fun but now it's not something that identifies who I am. I can drink like every body else, but mostly red wine not vodka tonic like it used to be.

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR MORE FROM LARS, INCLUDING HIS WISH TO WRITE A MOVIE, HIS PASSION FOR ART AND HIS REGRETS ABOUT THE NAPSTER AFFAIR.

Tags: photos pictures lars ulrich metallica james hetfield kirk hammett rob trujillo robert trujillo