Metallica's third proper bass player after Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted deserves all of our praise. First, he's been in the world's biggest metal band since 2003, making him their longest-serving bassist.

Second, he's an absolute monster bass player, powering through funk, rock and metal styles with ease and panache. Third, he produced a documentary, Jaco, in 2012, telling the tragic story of Jaco Pastorius. Finally, he bought Jaco's famous ‘Bass Of Doom’ and restored it to the Pastorius family.

Robert Trujillo's story is one that began not long before the arrival of Metallica's self-titled 1991 album – in the very same city, in fact – when he joined skate-thrash mob Suicidal Tendencies near the end of the '80s.

In 1996, came an even bigger break – and quite possibly the ultimate dream for anyone who grew up listening to Black Sabbath. While Suicidal Tendencies certainly brought him success, joining Ozzy Osbourne's band was the move that enabled him to perform at the top level.

All of these influences and experiences brought Trujillo to the moment famously documented on Metallica's Some Kind Of Monster film, where he auditioned for the band, annihilated the competition and was given a cool million-dollar advance as a “welcome to the family.”

“One thing about being in Metallica is I've always felt challenged,” Trujillo told Bass Player. “It's a lot easier now than it used to be: when I first joined Metallica, I was kinda struggling! I had to learn over 20 years of catalog, plus the 12 songs from St. Anger which had never really been performed as a unit.

“Then there was that magnitude of press and everything else that goes with being in Metallica. I was juggling all of it.”

In this clip from the Beneath the Bassline documentary, Trujillo spoke about his 2003 audition to replace bassist Jason Newsted, as captured in the 2004 band documentary Some Kind of Monster.

“It was a two-day audition, but the first day was more fly-on-the-wall,” says Trujillo. “Bob Rock had already recorded bass guitar and he was also producing St Anger, so I’m just there at the studio watching guitar tracks go down.

“The evening rolls around and Lars says, ‘Hey, let’s go get a drink.’ I could hold my own with a few beers, but we end up drinking until 5 in the morning. I wake up with the worst hangover of my life, and now I’ve got to play with Metallica.”

“James is sober. He’s gone through rehab. So I decided I would connect with my bass tech and decide what bass I was going to use, and what amp.

“What I was really trying to do was get away from Hetfield because I didn’t want him to smell the alcohol on me. Lars was probably just testing me to see how much I could handle, but I just felt like a loser.”

Bassists Pepper Keenan, Jeordie White, Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner and Chris Wyse – among others – also tried out for the role, but after three months of auditions, Trujillo was officially declared the new bassist.

Instead of squandering his advance on a blur of decadence, as – let's face it – many of us would be tempted to do, Trujillo chose to lock himself in a room, armed to the teeth with nothing but Metallica tablature books. He was the new guy, and in his eyes, he had everything to prove.

“Everyone else had the music figured out because they wrote or recorded it, but the new guy needs to do his homework. Any time a band has an archive, it's almost guaranteed that at some point they're going to play an obscure song. The fans are going to call for it, so once I was caught up, it felt easier to adapt.”

Metallica has had its fair share of musicians enter and depart the lineup over the years, but while the likes of Cliff Burton, Dave Mustaine and Jason Newsted may all be household names, one of the earliest electric guitar players that ever jammed with the group is often overlooked.

That probably has something to do with the fact he joined Metallica before they even considered themselves Metallica – and in a new interview with Reality Check TV, Lloyd Grant himself claims this is precisely why James Hetfield and co don’t consider him an original member of the group.

“I don’t think Metallica wants to say I am an original member because the band weren’t really formed then,” he says (via Blabbermouth). “I was looking for people to play with and we had a magazine, or a weekly [publication] that comes out on every Thursday, and Lars [Ulrich] put an ad in and I answered the ad. And we started jamming and so forth.”

Despite his humble origin story, Grant did play a fairly influential role in the pre-Metallica years, and though he started his days jamming with Ulrich, he’d eventually go on to lend his hand recording an early draft of Hit the Lights in 1982.

Grant’s involvement with Ulrich and his colleagues eventually petered out, and as the guitarist once explained in an interview with Metal Hammer, he ultimately left the picture when Metallica began to officially take.

“I didn’t really interact too much with the other guys,” he recalled. “We would be jamming in Lars’ apartment, but he was still looking for people to play with and so when I wasn’t there he was finding other people to play with, too.

“He met tons of people and would play with them in either the rehearsal studio or his place, but it got to a point with me where we’d not just be jamming but actively trying to write songs. It didn’t happen often – maybe once a week – but I do remember he brought a guy into the practice once and it was James Hetfield.

“They’d got a tape and it was an early instrumental version of Hit the Lights, but at that point there still wasn’t a name for the band.

“I think we stopped playing around the time he started getting together regularly with James and Ron McGovney. By the time he’d got the full band together we weren’t playing any more.”

As for if he ever received a formal invite to join Metallica, Grant went on, “No; they didn’t need to, because by then they already had Dave Mustaine.

“Even when he left, they’d got Kirk Hammett in the wings, so they’ve always had someone great waiting.”

Grant briefly joined Ulrich and Metallica in 2011 during a week-long celebration of the band's 30th anniversary – footage of which can be found above.

There was no question that when Fender launched a Stratocaster spec’d up by and bearing the name of Colombian guitar superstar Juanes that it was going to sell. This HSS Strat even has an onboard mid-boost preamp. Sheesh! 

But it doesn’t hurt to have some organic marketing pushing the thing, a little help from your friends, and Juanes could count on Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Rob Trujillo and Lars Ulrich, who have put together a demo video for his new signature guitar.

Posted to Kirk Hammett’s Instagram page, shot by Metallica’s touring photographer, Brett Murray, it is not going to put the wind up Andy Martin anytime soon – there’s some work to be done on the production values to challenge the top-tier gear demo pros.

But in the years to come, this demo might be looked upon as a culturally significant document, then moment when Ulrich broke his 40-year taboo on promoting guitars – and finally felt comfortable playing guitar for his public. 

No, Ulrich is not entirely sure that what he is holding is a Strat – Kirk can confirm to the affirmative – but that’s not what’s important right now.

“We fuckin’ love you and you know that!” says Ulrich to camera, directed to Juanes. “You know what? I just want say one thing, you know we love you. For 40 years, guitar manufacturers have been trying to get me to flaunt their product. It took your guitar, and your signature… Strat? It took this for me to free myself to the point of sharing my guitar-playing abilities with the world.”

As such we get some open chords, strummed up across the fingerboard a la Keith Richards, and the feeling that Ulrich is holding back on us. This is one half of the most powerful writing duo in metal history – he knows what’s what.

Besides, Hammett was on hand for shred duties, ripping some pentatonics on the neck pickup to show us what this Juanes Strat can do. “Cool guitar, man. It’s a really super-cool guitar,” says Hammett.

And it is. Finished in Luna White – the color named after Juanes’ oldest daughter – it has a solid alder body, a bolt-on maple neck with a Deep C profile that fills out as you ascend the fingerboard, and very modern compound 10”-14” radius. 

And it really is a “do anything Strat”, with its HSS pickup configuration featuring a pair of Custom Juanes Ultra Noiseless single-coils at middle and neck positions, with a Custom Juanes Alnico II humbucker. But the pièce de résistance is an onboard mid-boost preamp capable of applying an extra 12dB of oomph to the mids at the touch of an S1 Switch.

“I like going straight into the amplifier when I can, or might just use one pedal here and there,” Juanes told Guitar World. “But I decided that having a boost on my actual guitar could come in handy, especially when I’m playing shows. I have everything right here in my hands and it’s all very clear for me.”

You can read all about the Strat and more in GW’s in-depth interview with Juanes, and find out more at Fender. As for Hammett, Trujillo and Ulrich, is this the start of a demoing career? 

If so, Juanes approves.

“I can’t believe this! Thank you guys so much,” he wrote, commenting on the post. “This is absolutely fucking cool! Such a honor to know you guys have my guitar.”

What else do you want to see Metallica demoing? An Epiphone Dave Mustaine Flying V Prophecy? John 5’s Ghost Telecaster? Answers on a postcard.

Even after 40 years of Metallica’s evolution, For Whom The Bell Tolls, track three of the group’s era-defining Ride The Lightning album, has retained its status as one of the most recognisable bass guitar anthems in the history of metal. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2014, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett revealed that Metallica’s first truly heavy song took shape, strangely enough, on bassist Cliff Burton’s acoustic guitar. “Cliff would play that riff a lot in the hotel room, when him and I were hanging out,” said Kirk. 

“He used to carry around an acoustic classical guitar that he detuned so that he could bend the strings. Anyway, when he would play that riff, I would think, ‘That’s such a weird, atonal riff that isn’t really heavy at all.’ I remember him playing it for James, and James adding that accent to it and all of a sudden, it changed. It’s such a crazy riff. To this day, I think, ‘How did he write that?’ Whenever I hear it nowadays, it’s like, ‘OK, Cliff’s in the house.’”

The song starts with a 4 bar bass riff that’s classic early Metallica. A triplet feel combined with a Bb5 tritone chord that’s rounded off with a triplet quarter note run to break things up. It’s a crushing example of Burton’s ‘lead bass’ approach and his frightening fingerstyle technique. “Ride the Lightning was the first time that both Cliff and Kirk got a chance to add what they were doing,” said drummer Lars Ulrich. “They just came from a different school, especially Cliff, who came from a much more melodic approach.”

During the studio sessions for Ride The Lightning, Cliff’s influence really began to assert itself. According to producer Flemming Rasmussen, who recorded the band in Copenhagen’s Sweet Silence Studio, while it was “Lars and James that were more or less in charge” in terms of pure musical vision, “from an artistic point of view it’d probably be Cliff.”

“He was more like a soloist than a regular bass player,” said Flemming. “The first time I recorded him, I tried all sorts of shit to make him feel comfortable, because he was more used to the live environment. Eventually, I put his amp in another room, and he’d play in the main room like he was onstage, with the sound blasting from these speakers. It was pretty wild.”

Prior to joining Metallica in 1982, Burton cut his teeth with California-based power trio Agents of Misfortune. At 09:53 of this next clip, Burton can be seen jamming For Whom the Bell Tolls having entered a local Battle of the Bands contest. Rickenbacker 4001 in hand, Burton is clearly the star of the show. “The bass player was completely outrageous,” Ulrich said of their first viewing of Cliff on stage. “We just looked at each other and said, ‘That’s our new bass player.’”

Burton was tragically killed in a bus accident in September 1986 and has since become something of a bass legend. He was only with Metallica for the first three albums, Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, and Master of Puppets. 

Metallica’s 72 Seasons, their first album since 2016’s Hardwired… to Self-Destruct, is available now on Amazon.

Earlier this month, Megadeth frontman and electric guitar player Dave Mustaine sat down for an interview with Songfacts.

In it, he confirmed his next Gibson signature guitars – an Explorer and a 24-fret Les Paul, to be exact – and discussed his desire to work with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, his former bandmates in Metallica, again.

Seemingly buried within Mustaine's discussion of his time in Metallica though, was a truly fascinating tidbit. According to Mustaine, Ulrich, not Hetfield, was the true author of the opening riff to Master of Puppets, one of Metallica's most enduringly popular and influential songs.  

"Lars is a really great song arranger," Mustaine said. "And believe it or not, I watched him on a piece-of-shit acoustic guitar write the opening riff to Ride The Lightning."

Now, before you have us arrested for clickbait in the first degree, let us add that Mustaine then sang the riff in question, which was – interviewer Greg Prato quickly realized – decidedly not Ride The Lightning.

"You know what that was? It was a guy with a guitar that doesn't know how to play," Mustaine said, singing the riff. "It wasn't anything really mind-blowing by any means. The way James played it made it mind-blowing."

Included in the interview, and audible below, is an audio clip of Mustaine singing what he describes as Ride The Lightning, but sounds a whole lot like the Master of Puppets riff. 

When the discrepancy was pointed out to Mustaine, he responded, "Yeah, whatever that is. I don't fuckin' know their song names. I don't listen to them. 

"I totally respect them, I just don't listen to them," he explained. "It's not out of me not liking them. When they come on the radio in my car, a long time ago I would change the channel, but I don't anymore. It's just music, and I've been able to put all that stuff behind."

Earlier this month, Mustaine said that though he and Hetfield had been tentatively discussing working on a project together, a disagreement over a “publishing discrepancy” led to the discussions falling through. 

“Something had come up about the publishing discrepancy that we have been arguing about for years and years and years, and I told James, ‘I’ll do it but we’ve got to get this stuff sorted out first,' Mustaine told Guitar.com. "And he said, ‘Oh yeah, sure.’

“So I said, ‘Now these two songs you and me split, 50/50. Lars didn’t write on this song – you know that. I don’t know why you gave him percentages but I’m not. I’m not going to sign another deal that’s gonna confirm that because I never agreed to that.’

“And James said, ‘Well, Lars has a different recollection of that,’ and I said that’s fine; there’s his side of the story, my side and the truth is somewhere. And that blew his mind, and we haven’t talked since. You know, I was trying to be really friendly with him; he told me that the last three projects they did bombed, and they wanted to go back and use all the stuff that I was on, and I said sure. As soon as I said that ‘three stories’ bit, it was over!”

When Guitar World connects with Myles and Layne Ulrich – the two members of garage rock duo Taipei Houston – they’re in Austin getting ready for the eight-hour drive to Arkansas for their next show with alternative rock overlords Melvins, who have invited them out for a second run of dates. 

If their surname sounds familiar, as you might have already guessed, it’s because their dad happens to be one of the world’s most famous drummers. 

Though it has to be said the music they play actually has very little in common with Metallica, sounding more like the fuzzed-up indie rock you’d expect to hear from groups like The White Stripes, Queens Of The Stone Age and Royal Blood.

Having officially formed last summer, the Ulrich brothers have been working hard on getting material ready for their debut album – titled Once Bit Never Bored, set for release next month. If it sounds like the two-piece are a lockdown band moving fast, it’s because that’s exactly what they are – and in the process making up for lost time just like every other musician on the planet…

“We kinda just ended up back in San Francisco during lockdown and had a lot of time on our hands,” says Myles, who plays drums live but also is responsible for the guitar work on the album, while his younger sibling handles vocal and bass duties. 

“Being brothers, we’ve been making music together on and off for a long time. This felt like a real opportunity to dig deep and really focus and get into it. We started writing all the time.”

Two brothers cutting their teeth together musically is nothing out of the ordinary, though having one of the most recognizable drummers in the world sat beside them at the dinner table growing up certainly makes their story more unique. So what exactly did they learn from the man known universally as Lars, though behind closed doors more intimately referred to as ‘Dad’?

“I guess the main thing was seeing how they [Metallica] are working on what they do constantly, trying to see what can be improved on,” says Layne. “That’s the main thing we’ve learned: ‘We like these songs, but how can we grow and make them even better?’ It’s an important thing to be aware of.”

“For me it was so cool to grow up around so much music, getting a chance to be around people who were and are very inspired by their craft,” agrees Myles. “They take what they’re doing very seriously. You can see the dedication and how much of a lifestyle it is. That’s been the coolest part for me: having the privilege to be around that, learning from people who are always trying to innovate creatively.”

Were there ever any introductory lessons to get them started on their musical journeys, we wonder, even if as basic as how to hold a pair of sticks or strum a chord?

“Honestly, when I started, he completely steered clear,” shrugs Myles. “He was like, ‘Go do it with your friends or get a drum teacher!’ Not because he didn’t want to do it himself, but because he wanted us to find our own paths musically, which is really cool and that’s what we’ve tried to do. I don’t know if there’s a soundbite piece of advice he gave us. We both came into being interested in music our own way, listening to bands like Arctic Monkeys, stuff like that…”

Which makes sense, when you think about it. It’s no secret Lars Ulrich is a bit of an Anglophile – he’s definitely the member of Metallica you’re most likely to bump into backstage at Glastonbury or spot watching Liam Gallagher from the side of the stage. As they go on to explain, the two members of Taipei Houston share a similar deep appreciation for British culture. Who knows, one day they might even pack their bags with a one-way ticket and relocate for good…

“I fucking love it over there!” grins Myles. “I want to move down. We came over to play Reading and Leeds, as well as The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, which was so pretty because we were playing right next to the beach. I love the UK very much.”

Here the pair talk us through the head-caving tones on their debut album and explain how they fill out more musical space than your average duo when performing live on stage…

You’re both multi-instrumentalists. Take us back to the moment you decided to take up music and what kind of bands inspired you most…

Layne: “I properly started around 12 or 13. I was taking lessons when I was a lot younger, though that didn’t really go anywhere. My early teens is when I started to get properly interested and bass was my first instrument, or at least the first one I took seriously. It was a great window for me to get into more music. 

“A lot of the stuff I started off playing was Arctic Monkeys and Rage Against The Machine, but also music like funk and soul. The bass was a great instrument for me to get into music and learn how to be creative on my own.”

Myles: “I started playing when I was about 12 or 13, too. I was first learning drums and then I moved onto guitar as well, it was all around the same time. That said, I didn’t play much guitar until we made this record!” 

Who would you say are your biggest heroes?

Myles: “Dave Grohl is a really big one for me for drums, as is [Black Sabbath's] Bill Ward. On guitar, I’d have to say it’s people like Jonny Greenwood, Jack White and Tony Iommi. All of the Sabbath guys just generally!”

Layne: “For me, it’s mainly Geezer Butler and Lemmy. Both of them have been very inspirational to me because they’re more than just traditional bass players. I’ve always been into people who kinda push the boundaries. 

“The main thing we get really interested in are the musicians who are also great songwriters, from Josh Homme to Alex Turner. They’re very song-oriented players. Obviously I have to mention Paul McCartney because he’s a songwriter and a bass player… you can’t not say him [laughs]!”

Bands like Sepultura, Pantera and Gojira have capitalized on the musical connection between two siblings – one handling rhythm while the other focuses on melody. In your case, does the genetic connection have any impact on the chemistry?

Myles: “I mean, I don’t know if I can say for sure at this point. But given how much music we’re making together and how much time we’re spending together on tour, we’re pretty close to being telepathic! [laughs]

“I don’t know how much of it is environment or something else. But I do feel like we’re way more on the same page about things creatively and performance-wise than I’ve ever been with anybody else, for whatever reason. We’ve been playing together for a very long time. And yeah, maybe there is something in the genetics.”

Layne: “What I would say is that the experiences you have growing up together is kinda what becomes the DNA of who you are later on, and also how your creativity works. We’ve gotten to share a lot of things. As he’s my older brother, Myles ended up introducing me to so much music when I was young which naturally affected how I think about music. 

“Also, at this point, a year and a half into the band it’s developed even further. We’ve doubled down on working together and building up that partnership and trust, it’s like we’ve invested even further. It’s been a really rewarding experience.” 

When performing live, what’s your method to covering bass and guitar sounds at the same time? We assume there’s some signal splitting involved…

Layne: “So we kinda came about that in an interesting way. We never actually said we were going to be a duo, especially as there was guitar in the recordings and we’re always writing with guitars. I guess we were thinking we might end up getting a guitar player. 

“At a certain point we realized we were writing all of it and recording all of it – could we just do it with the two of us live? So that’s what we decided, thinking it could be fun to try and trim it down and reinvent it even garage-ier. I started looking at tutorials about how I could get the different sounds, which comes down to signal splitting. Myles did a lot of research and deep-diving into finding specific pedals and crazy sounds.”

Myles: “To make a long story short, the bass rig is essentially two splitting pedals and a bunch of different fuzz pedals to give each different part of the signal its own character. There are also octave pedals being used to bring it into guitar and bass worlds at the same time. 

“It’s a pretty simple rig once you can see the signal flow. My favorite thing about it was picking the right fuzz pedals and combining them to create some interesting noises.”

Speaking of pedals, As the Sun Sets has some pretty extreme fuzz and glitch sounds. What are we hearing, exactly?

Myles: “The main guitar fuzz is a Z.Vex Mastotron and the main bass one is a Z.Vex Woolly Mammoth. So on that track and others it’s those two. The diving and glitch at the end I’m doing manually with a [PS-6] Boss Harmonist to dive the frequencies.”

Layne: “And finding those Z.Vex pedals was a bit of a happy accident that came from looking at the bands and artists that we like and the gear they use, then trying out a bunch of different stuff. I’ve seen other people running through their rigs with all kinds of boosts and three different pedals for each part. 

“Ours is actually pretty straight the whole time. There isn’t much changing, it just stays as this one thing. The Z.Vex pedals are great because they sound more unique and alien compared to other fuzz pedals. We both really like how different they sound.”

Is the Boss Harmonist what we’re also hearing on Drop Song? 

Myles: “Yeah! It’s the divebomb setting. I thought it would be interesting to use that rhythmically as part of the riff. We just chanced upon it and felt it sounded so gnarly, we wanted to find a way to use it more. It was all about messing around creatively and using it as part of the actual riff.”

Layne: “With a lot of these pedals, once you find that one specific thing that you love, they become such powerful tools.”

So what’s the main pedal you’re using for pitch shifting – is it a POG or perhaps a DigiTech Whammy?

Myles: “There’s a bunch of songs on the record that had the [Electro-Harmonix] POG on the guitar, with all three octaves boosted. I just love how insane that makes your guitar sound, like it’s fucking the amp up the whole time.”

The song Respecter certainly comes to mind when you say that…

Myles: “Totally! I just love that sound. When I discovered it, I felt like it made my guitar sound like it was about to blow up. It just sounded so cool.”

Layne: “Respecter is like the POG poster child for the album! One thing I found that was interesting looking back on the album is that whenever we found a strong sound, it would help inspire the direction for the rest of the song. So on that one we found this really cool POG sound and that meant the whole song ended up being like that. It made us think about how far we could take it. 

“The gear helped shape the songwriting in so many ways, especially the pitch-diving stuff – that became a writing tool, for sure.”

Talk us through the rest of the rig and signal splitting. What are your main guitar and bass amps?

Layne: “I’m running through a [MarkBass] Little Mark Tube 800. I love the way those amps sound. In the studio, we ran it through a couple of different cabs just for options. Those amps don’t sound like a normal bass amp, they’re almost more synthy or electronic. 

“One thing we talked about in terms of production was how some electronic music had made it harder for rock music to hit us deeper – because a lot of that stuff has crazy subs and deep 808s. If you’re using traditional low-end, it’s good to beef it up a little bit. So that’s why I like those amps, they sound very colorful and electronic, which really helps our overall sound.   

Myles: “Live, we’re running a [Fender] Twin Reverb and [Fender] Hot Rod Deville. In the studio, we borrowed a bunch of vintage stuff from people, using some crazy old '70s Hiwatt heads. There was a Suhr Marshall clone too, plus a few other things. We used my American Jazzmaster, that’s like my go-to baby. The other main guitar was Layne’s Tele Deluxe.”

Layne: “Because of the pedal rig we’re running, the Fenders work great. They’re really powerful and full-bodied with a lot of definition, but also very simple. They also take pedals very well, which is very important. To get that fuller kind of sound in the studio, we’d balance that with other things. The Fenders were there, but we also wanted other things to make it sound even bigger.”

Hypocrite has what feels like the heaviest riff on the record… Taipei Houston at your most metallic, pardon the pun!

Layne: “There you go [laughs]. Yeah, that was a really fun one. We were just making music together and jamming. That was one of those songs that just happened all of a sudden. We had to get the phone out really quickly to try and record it. That song went through a bunch of different iterations, we were experimenting with different octaves.”

Myles: “Half the album is made of songs that we came up with in five minutes. The other half is like one riff that we came up with that we’d end up completing six months later or whatever, so a lot less simple in terms of being written.”

Hello From the Bottom has some really interesting descending slides, which add a lot of motion to your ideas…

Myles: “When I wrote this song, all the riffs seemed to arrive at a certain moment. I was trying to create industrial sounds that really rocked in an unconventional way. I like different styles of music, so it was me trying to mix them together and find something else. 

“I was thinking a lot about the rhythms mainly – all of those riffs started with me playing on drums first. It ended up being one of my favorite songs on the album, I love how alien and weird it came out.”

Layne: “I always say on stage how much I love what Myles did on that song. Because he’s the drummer and the guitar player, he comes at it from a different place to me. Sometimes what I play feels like what I’d expect to hear… while Myles’ background in drums brings some interesting ideas I wouldn’t think of.”

So what are the chances of you guys adding members further down the line?

Myles: “We’re definitely 50/50 on it. There is more material we’ve been working on with more layers. But at the same time we love the challenge and excitement of being a duo. It’s an inspiring way to do it and makes things harder because you have to think and be more creative, which pushes you. 

“On the other hand, it would be cool to have another person and have the freedom to switch over to guitar or synth. It would be nice to fill out our sound. Both directions would be exciting.”

• Once Bit Never Bored is out now via C3 Records.

Taipei Housten, the band featuring Lars Ulrich’s sons Myles and Layne, have released their debut single, As the Sun Sets.

Distancing themselves from the thrash metal of their father’s band, Metallica, As the Sun Sets finds the sibling duo dabbling more in the realms of garage rock, with an array of attitude-heavy electric guitar riffs flavored with a beautifully dialed and grungy fuzz tone. Check it out below.

The duo formed Taipei Houston – with Layne on bass guitar and Myles on drums – when they moved back to their childhood home during the pandemic. Since live shows have opened up again, the pair have been playing shows throughout Southern California. They’ve since been booked to appear at this year’s Reading and Leeds festivals in the UK in August.

Back in 2020, Lars Ulrich spoke to Rolling Stone about his sons’ then-new band.

“When I was their age, my [music] tastes were literally just half an inch wide,” he recalled. “When I was 19, it was New Wave of British Heavy Metal. That was it. But between the two of them, it covers so much ground. Both of them are huge Radiohead fans; they listen to a lot of Arctic Monkeys, they definitely listen to a lot more noise rock, White Stripes and Jack White, and a lot of punkier stuff.

On whether his boys were fans of Metallica, Ulrich continued: “I don’t know if ‘fans’ is the first word I’d use. But I think they respect it. They’re appreciative.”

Taipei Houston isn’t the first musical outing conceived by the offspring of Metallica. Back in March, Bastardane, the band featuring James Hetfield’s son, Castor, launched their debut album, Is This Rage? And Robert Trujillo’s song Tye plays in a metal trio named Ottto.

Tye Trujillo is a formidable musician, and has played bass guitar alongside the likes of Korn and Suicidal Tendencies, and even recorded guitar for the Stranger Things version of Metallica’s Master of Puppets.

Catch Taipei Houston this Thursday, July 28, at Lollapalooza, Chicago. For full dates, head over to Taipei Houston.

Jon “Jonny Z” Zazula – co-founder of Megaforce Records, the label that launched Metallica's debut album, Kill 'Em All – has died aged 69. 

Confirming the news on Facebook, Zazula's daughter Rikki hailed her father as a “true legend”. “Our dad lived a life as fast, hard, heavy, powerful and impactful as the music he brought to the world,” she says. “His passion and persistence fueled the careers of arguably the most influential metal bands and industry greats of a generation.

“To us he was simply daddy… Our father and mother were a powerhouse partnership in love, life, and business. Together they believed in the unbelievable, their passion, rebel perspective, and persistence built an empire from a box of vinyl in a flea market – into a multi platinum selling record label, management company, and publishing house.”

She continues: “Although we are devastated he is gone, they are finally reunited. And it feels impossible to imagine a world without him in it. For all of us who knew and loved him, keep it heavy! RIP daddy you will truly be deeply missed, but, never forgotten… your LegaZ will live on forever, not only in us and your grandchildren, but, in every headbanger on this planet for all of eternity!”

Zazula reportedly died from complications related to the rare neuropathic disorder chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and osteopenia.

Prior to founding Megaforce Records in 1982, Jon Zazula and his late wife Marsha owned Rock N' Roll Heaven, a record store at a flea market in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Metallica's 1982 demo, No Life 'til Leather – which featured Hit the Lights, Motorbreath and Seek & Destroy – was a top-selling item at the store.

According to broadcaster Eddie Trunk's comments in a 2016 interview with Classic Rock, he was a customer of Zazula's at his record store when he was starting out working in radio.

He said: “One day, he came up to my radio station, and said, ‘I’ve got this band, and I can’t get anybody to play it. Can you play it on the air?’ He pulled out of the bag Kill ‘Em All. Just to get him out of there, I played a song from it, and he scribbled on the cover of the album, ‘Eddie, you were the first. Thank you, Johnny Z.’

“He said, ‘If I can ever get this band to take off, I’m going to hire you to work for my record company.’”

The newly established Megaforce Records launched Metallica's debut full-length, Kill 'Em All in 1983, along with their sophomore effort, Ride the Lightning, in 1984. Zazula acted as the band's first manager during this time. Metallica's third album, Master of Puppets, was released in 1986 via Elektra.

Trunk continued: “A couple of years later, Metallica blows up, and he calls me and says, ‘I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is I’m starting my record company and I’m going to hire you. The bad news is Metallica is leaving me.’

“Kill ‘Em All was not only a game changer in terms of not only introducing a new genre of metal, but it was a personal game changer for me, because it indirectly got me into the music business.”

Aside from Metallica's first two albums, Megaforce Records also went on to release albums by Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, King's X, Stormtroopers of Death, Raven and more.

Honoring Zazula in an Instagram post earlier today, Metallica wrote: “Heavy music lost one of its great champions today when Jonny Z left this world far too soon. In 1982, when no one wanted to take a chance on four kids from California playing a crazy brand of metal, Jonny and Marsha did, and the rest, as they say, is history.

“He was a mentor, a manager, a label head and a father figure to us all... Metallica would not be who we are or where we are today without Jon Zazula and his wife, Marsha.

“Our love and sympathy go out to Jonny’s children and his grandchildren, whom he cherished and brought to our shows from the time they were in diapers. We hope they will be able to take some comfort in knowing that he is reunited with Marsha, and that he helped bring so much incredible music to so many. Hopefully there’s a great show goin’ on up there tonight to welcome you!”

Drummer Lars Ulrich subsequently penned his own tribute, writing: “Thank you Jonny for taking a chance on these crazy, noisy, uncompromising and undisciplined dudes from NorCal who didn’t know what was up, down or sideways, but who were ready, willing and more than able to fucking throw it all to the wind and go for it. Thank you for giving us a sense of belonging and ultimately, a sense of self-worth.”

Frontman James Hetfield simply wrote: “God rest your soul Jonny. My heart is full of gratitude for taking a chance on me and my bandmates.”

Zazula release his autobiography, Heavy Tales: The Metal. The Music. The Madness. As Lived By Jon Zazula, in 2019, detailing the story of how he and his wife signed one of the most influential bands in music history.

Remember Prince Midnight, who made an electric guitar out of his dead uncle's skeleton? Well, it turns out that macabre six-string wasn't just a one-off creative endeavor, as the DIY-savvy musician has just revealed his latest bizarre build: a toilet featuring a life-sized clay replica of Lars Ulrich. Yep, you read that right.

Built as part of the eccentric inventor's new plumbing company, Hellmouth Plumbing Supply, the toilet is fully functional, and allows the user to sit in the legendary Metallica drummer's lap while they, er, do their business.

And if for whatever reason you want to try the toilet out for yourself, it'll be publicly usable in the bathroom of Tampa, Florida venue The Brass Mug on December 3, as part of Hellmouth Plumbing Supply's upcoming “immersive art experience” there. Prince Midnight's band – Prince Midnight and the Searing Torment – are also set to perform.

Regarding his inspiration to create such a thing, Prince Midnight explains: “This is my way, albeit unconventional, to honor Lars Ulrich and Metallica... The first band I ever loved was Metallica, the first record I became obsessed with, the first music I ever dove into, the first concert I ever attended was Metallica in Tampa in the early '90s.

“I could have painted a picture or made a traditional sculpture,” he adds, “but no one would have even noticed, and really, that's not the kind of art and performance that I do.”

He continues: “Some might find that the concept of making this toilet to be a work of absurdism, or even feel offended by the notion that it’s being presented as a work of fine art, but that’s how every creative is treated when exploring new creative spaces. I’m fine with that. In fact, I revel in it.

In terms of the process, creating the toilet reportedly took “an incredibly long time”. “I bought a ton of natural clay from the art store to sculpt the body and legs and then I used alginate to mold and cast my own hands and feet in resin,” Midnight says. “I saved the facial sculpt for last, using photos of Lars from the '80s.

“Then, I ran steel rebar through the whole thing with fiberglass batting so it's pretty rugged. My backyard has essentially been an auto body shop for the last couple of months.”

Like most things this unusual, the Lars Ulrich toilet is one of a kind, though Prince Midnight has created a series of metal-themed toilet lids under the Hellmouth banner, including ones honoring Slayer, Morbid Angel, Minor Threat and more.

Tickets for Prince Midnight's Hellmouth Plumbing Supply art exhibition at The Brass Mug in Tampa on December 3 are available now.

Gojira singer and electric guitar player Joe Duplantier is a major Metallica fan, and in a recent interview with Rock Sverige he discussed how James Hetfield was the musician most important to his musical formation, calling his right hand a “hammer.”

“James Hetfield has something... if there was a school for rock, he would be my teacher,” Duplantier said (via Ultimate Guitar). “I want to follow his course. His right hand is a hammer, an unstoppable hammer. He's the foundation of the rhythmic section in Metallica.”

Duplantier went on to say that Hetfield’s rhythm work is so dominant that, onstage, even drummer Lars Ulrich follows his lead. What's more, Hetfield barely keeps any drums in his in-ear monitor mix.

"I think Lars is just dancing around James' guitar,” Duplantier said. “Everybody follows James. One time we were on tour with them, we became friends with their monitor engineer because he was doing our monitors too, we hired him. We gave him like $100 in cash every day, 'Can you do our monitors? We don't have our own monitor guy.' And he was like 'I got you.' ”

Duplantier continued, "Then when Metallica played, one time he gave me James' spare in-ears. This little box, a receiver. He said, 'Joe, come here!' – because he saw me watching James and analyzing his fucking right hand. It's out of this world. It's not necessarily impressive on a technical level, it's the precision and the consistency and it's sharp.

"He gives me a little radio there and I plug it in, I have my own in-ears and I'm like, 'Oh my god, oh my god! This is James' fucking monitors! What?' I plug them in and put them in my pocket and look at him and I was amazed to see that there were almost no drums in there. Who does that?

"Maybe there was some hi-hat, but he was flying through the songs, playing and singing and it was only him, in his monitors. A little bit of drums to stay connected to the rest, but some people need a lot of drums because they're so chaotic and are just sitting on the drums, like in my case for example.

"This guy can do a whole show and I'm pretty sure everybody's following him, even Lars," Duplantier said. "I think Lars follows James when he plays."

Gojira are currently gearing up to release new album, Fortitude, which is due out on April 30 via Roadrunner Records. You can hear latest single, Amazonia, below.

Since the 1980s, the playing of Metallica's maestro of electric guitar Kirk Hammett has been an influential and inspirational force to aspiring guitarists, metal fans and music lovers alike.

It goes without saying that, just as we all have our favorite Metallica songs, we all have our favorite Kirk Hammett guitar solos, too. It shouldn't come as a surprise, then, that Kirk also has his own top solos from his portfolio.

Speaking with Metal Hammer, Kirk has revealed all and dished on his three favorite solos he loves to play.

In no particular order, Kirk starts off with Hero of the Day, a decision he believes may be a controversial choice. "A lot of people would disagree", he says, but reasons that the major-to-minor melodic phrasing and the 'rhythmic thing' that kicks off the solo "brings the next part to the next level."

Kirk's follow up choice is one of the few songs he says he can be let loose on live and improvise over: Fade to Black.

"I get to improvise, change it all up, never play the same solo twice," he says. "I love knowing that I'm dancing on a knife edge, that's the excitement I love for."

Last but not least, Kirk recalls the time bandmate Lars Ulrich asked him to record a solo on the demo of One, his final solo pick.

After a tame start of fiddling, figuring out and jamming over Hetfield's changes, Hammett said "OK, press record."

"Next thing I know, my hand is tapping on the neck, following the chord progression – it just came out of air!"

In 2002, Hammett told Guitar World, "The main guitar solo at the end, with the right-hand, Eddie Van Halen-type tapping, came almost immediately.

"That guitar solo was just a breeze; what was going on with the rhythm section in that part of the song was just very, very exciting for me to solo over."

Metallica singer and electric guitar player James Hetfield recently revealed that he has “tons of material” written for a new Metallica album. 

Now, in a new interview with Phoebe Bridgers as part of a Musicians on Musicians conversation for Rolling Stone, ‘tallica drummer Lars Ulrich confirmed that the band is perhaps even further along on a follow-up to Hardwired… to Self-Destruct than we imagined.

“We’re three, four weeks into some pretty serious writing,” he told Bridgers. “And of all the shit – pandemics, fires, politics, race problems, and just fucking looking at the state of the world – it’s so easy just to so fall into a depressive state.

“But writing always makes me feel enthusiastic about what’s next. It’s like, ‘Fuck, there’s an opportunity here to still make the best record, to still make a difference. To still do something that not even turns other people on, but turns me on.’ ”

That said, putting together a tight, thrashy Metallica jam in 2020 isn’t quite so simple. As Ulrich recently stated in an interview with CNBC, there are some unforeseen challenges to making an album during a pandemic.

“Being in a rock and roll band and working virtually is not super-easy,” he said. “Time delays, all these things make it really hard.”

As for what he misses the most about music-making in pre-COVID days?

“The main thing we miss is being able to hear each other,” Ulrich said. “If we’re all four in a room together we can connect with each other and we can hear each other.”

He continued, “If I’m doing what we call steering, which means that I’m playing a beat and they’re playing to me, I can’t hear what they’re playing, and vice versa. We can’t all hear each other in a universal fashion. “So there are some significant complications we have."

But, Ulrich added, “Our production team is speaking to software makers all over the world to figure out how to crack the code on this.”

How have you been making use of your quarantine time? 

If you’re Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, you’ve been spending at least part of it being blown away by your two sons whipping up a prog-jazz-metal instrumental jam on the Beatles classic, Eleanor Rigby.

The performance, by Myles and Layne Ulrich, came about after their dad was invited by Salesforce to be a guest at one of the company’s fireside chats. 

Musical guests traditionally perform a song at the end of the interview, but as Ulrich told Rolling Stone, “I’m like, ‘Nobody wants a fucking drum solo.'”

Enter 21-year-old Myles, a drummer who has studied at Berklee College of Music and also plays clarinet and guitar, and 18-year-old Layne, who plays guitar and bass, who have both been sequestered at home due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Ulrich asked them to whip something up, and in 30 minutes they came back with this glitchy octaver-fuzz-bass-and-drums Beatles jam, which sounds closer to cult math-rock heroes Lightning Bolt than anything from the Fab Four.

“It was like this insane, three-minute Blue Cheer, crazy, garage-rock version of Eleanor Rigby,” Ulrich said.

“Obviously, there’s been some incredible versions of Eleanor Rigby along the way, but I’m pretty sure there’s never been one that had this kind of sound, this kind of feel, this kind of energy and madness to it. 

"I was like, 'You know what, boys? You done me proud.' ”

Ulrich then filmed the rendition for Salesforce.

“That’s me standing in the corner filming it, going, ‘Holy fuck!,' ” he said.

At the same time, Ulrich wasn’t wholly surprised by his children's musical prowess. He reports they listen to everything from Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report and Stanley Clarke to Radiohead, Arctic Monkeys and the White Stripes.

As for what they think of Metallica?

“They’re appreciative,” Ulrich offered. “I think they’re fans enough, I would say.”

Metallica kicked off the newest leg of their ongoing WorldWired tour in Lisbon, Portugal on May 1. The opening night setlist for the newest trek saw the band add several less-played songs to the lineup, including the St. Anger opening track “Frantic,” which was last performed eight years ago at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

You can check out pro-shot video of the performance above.

Metallica’s current European WorldWired run wraps August 25 in Mannheim, Germany. 

For more information and a full list of dates, head over to Metallica.com.

Metallica have announced a special, one-off concert with the San Francisco Symphony.

The show—which will take place Friday, September 6—will be the first concert at the city’s Chase Center venue, and will mark the 20th anniversary of the band's 1999 live album, S&M.

“We’re honored to take part in the Grand Opening of the Chase Center in San Francisco as we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of S&M,” the band wrote in an Instagram post. “Join us at what is sure to become a cultural landmark in the Bay Area for S&M².”

S&M—produced by Bob Rock, singer-guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich and conductor Michael Kamen—was released in November 1999, and was the last Metallica album to feature former bassist Jason Newsted.

A Chase ticket pre-sale is live now, while tickets go on general sale Friday, March 22nd at 10 a.m. PT. You can purchase them at chasecenter.com.

Earlier this week, during the Polar Music Prize ceremony, Ghost teamed up with Candlemass for a dramatic cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman." You can check out the cover above.

Lars Ulrich and Robert Trujillo of Metallica, who were being awarded the prize, were on hand to witness the cover themselves. The award was presented to the band by no less than Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden.

Earlier this week, Ghost—hot on the heels of their new album, Prequelle—announced a massive North American tour. You can check out the dates of the tour below.

For tickets and more information on the band, head on over to ghost-official.com.

Ghost Tour Dates:

• Oct. 26 - Tulsa, OK - Cox Business Center Ballroom
• Oct. 27 - Kansas City, MO - Arvest Bank Theatre at the Midland
• Oct. 29 - Louisville, KY - Palace Theatre
• Oct. 30 - Indianapolis, IN - The Murat Theatre Nov. 01 - Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom
• Nov. 02 - Peoria, IL - Peoria Civic Center - Theatre
• Nov. 03 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee
• Nov. 04 - Ames, IA - Stephens Auditorium
• Nov. 06 - Omaha, NE - Orpheum Theater
• Nov. 08 - Albuquerque, NM - Kiva Auditorium
• Nov. 09 - El Paso, TX - Abraham Chavez Theatre
• Nov. 10 - Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre
• Nov. 12 - San Diego, CA - Spreckels Theatre
• Nov. 13 - Sacramento, CA - Sacramento Community Center Theater
• Nov. 15 - San Jose, CA - City National Civic Center
• Nov. 16 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
• Nov. 17 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
• Nov. 19 - Midland, TX - Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center
• Nov. 20 - Austin, TX - Bass Concert Hall
• Nov. 21 - New Orleans, LA - Orpheum Theatre
• Nov. 23 - Orlando, FL - Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts - Walt Disney Theater
• Nov. 24 - Miami Beach, FL - The Fillmore at Jackie Gleason Theater
• Nov. 25 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall
• Nov. 27 - North Charleston, SC - North Charleston Performing Arts Center
• Nov. 29 - Mobile, AL - Saenger Theatre
• Nov. 30 - Atlanta, GA - Roxy Theatre
• Dec. 01 - Jacksonville, FL - Florida Theatre
• Dec. 02 - Charlotte, NC - Ovens Auditorium
• Dec. 04 - Richmond, VA - Dominion Energy Center
• Dec. 05 - Wilkes-Barre, PA - F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts
• Dec. 07 - Laval, QC - Place Bell
• Dec. 08 - Toronto, ON - Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
• Dec. 10 - Baltimore, MD - The Hippodrome
• Dec. 11 - Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater
• Dec. 13 - Albany, NY - Palace Theatre
• Dec. 14 - Boston, MA - Wang Theatre
• Dec. 15 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center

Metallica have announced the second North American leg of their WorldWired tour. Taking place this fall, and deep into the following winter, the tour will find the band visiting arenas in 34 cities that they couldn't make it to on the first leg, including some they haven't been to in decades.

• For the first time in nearly 30 years, the band will stop by Grand Forks, North Dakota, with a show at the city's Alerus Center. The band will also visit Birmingham, Alabama, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, El Paso, Texas and State College, Pennsylvania for the first time in two decades. You can see the full itinerary below.

Metallica are currently supporting their 2016 album, Hardwired...to Self Destruct. The band also recently announced a massive reissue of their landmark 1986 album, Master of Puppets, and a reissue of their 1987 covers EP, Garage Days Re-Revisited.

For tickets and more info, stop by metallica.com.

Metallica 2018/2019 North American Tour Dates

September 2 - Madison, WI @ Kohl Center
September 4 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
September 6 - Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena
September 8 - Grand Forks, ND @ Alerus Center
September 11 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center
September 13 - Winnipeg, MB @ Bell MTS Place
September 15 - Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre
October 16 - Milwaukee, WI @ Wisconsin Entertainment and Sport Center
October 18 - Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
October 20 - State College, PA @ Bryce Jordan Center
October 22 - Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
October 27 - Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center
October 29 - Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
November 26 - Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
November 28 - Boise, ID @ Taco Bell Arena
November 30 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena
December 2 - Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
December 5 - Portland, OR @ Moda Center
December 7 - Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
December 9 - Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center
January 18, 2019 - Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
January 20, 2019 - Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena
January 22, 2019 - Birmingham, AL @ Legacy Arena at The BJCC
January 24, 2019 - Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
January 28, 2019 - Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena
January 30, 2019 - Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena
February 1, 2019 - Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
February 28, 2019 - El Paso, TX @ Don Haskins Center
March 2, 2019 - Lubbock, TX @ United Supermarkets Arena
March 4, 2019 - Wichita, KS @ Intrust Bank Arena
March 6, 2019 - Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
March 9, 2019 - Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
March 11, 2019 - Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse
March 13, 2019 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena

Back in August, Metallica announced an extensive reissue of their 1986 album, Master of Puppets. To promote the reissue—which came out November 10—the full band appeared on drummer Lars Ulrich's Beats 1 online radio show, It's Electric!, to discuss the album.

During the interview—the first part of which you can watch above—the band discusses how the songs came together, and the musical impact the band's late former bassist, Cliff Burton, had on the album.

The band also shares their memories of the album's creation, a particular highlight being Hammett's tale of when Ulrich first played him the "Master of Puppets" riff.

Part 2 of the interview will air on Beats 1 Radio on Sunday, November 19.

Metallica have announced that they will live stream their performance at this Thursday's Band Together Bay Area concert at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

The concert—which was put together to benefit the victims of the recent wildfires in Northern California—will also feature performances from Dead & Company, Rancid, G-Eazy, Dave Matthews and Raphael Saadig.

"We’re extremely saddened by the suffering that so many are feeling in the Bay Area, but are also inspired by the enormous outpouring of love and support from all around the country and want to jump in and help in the way we know how to—through music,!" the band said in a statement on their website.

The stream will be available on the band's YouTube channel and Facebook page beginning at 5:45 p.m. PT Thursday. Fans can also stream the concert on the Tipping Point and Band Together Bay Area Twitter pages.

All funds from the ticket sales will benefit the Tipping Point Community, who set up an Emergency Relief Fund for low-income communities impacted by the crisis.

Saturday night, October 28, Metallica brought their WorldWired tour to the Manchester Arena, the venue at which a deadly terrorist attack took place during an Ariana Grande concert back in May.

In the wake of the tragedy, "Don't Look Back in Anger," one of the most enduring hits by hometown heroes Oasis, has become the city's de facto anthem, with numerous artists making a point of covering the song as a tribute to the city's resilience in the face of tragedy.

During the instrumental portion of the band's set, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujilo led the crowd in a powerful sing-along of the song.

You can see the performance below.

Tuesday night—October 24—Metallica played a record-shattering show at London's O2 Arena.

During the show, the band performed the Hardwired... To Self Destruct track "Spit Out the Bone" for the first time ever. Luckily for us, the folks over at Metallica TV captured the performance in its entirety.

You can watch it below.

"[It] is getting rid of the human flesh part," frontman James Hetfield told Colombian radio station Radioacktiva about the song's title. "And machinery is so much more efficient. And ourselves as people, [we're] very… I don't know."

"We want things quicker, we want the convenience of technology, but at what point is convenience leaning into dependency, and we need it, or else we don't know what to do."

Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 has premiered a cover of the Metallica classic, "Enter Sandman."

The guitarist recorded the cover with his band, The Creatures—Ian Ross on bass and Rodger Carter on drums. You can check it out below.

Speaking to Guitar World earlier this year about the recording of his most recent solo album— the intricate, technical Season of the Witch—the guitarist said “I was like a fighter training for the fight, which is being in the studio.”

"It would be about three weeks of complete and utter training for hours and hours every day of just one song," he continued. "I would get these complicated songs down so well and I would know every single part and every harmony, then go into the studio and knock a song out in about two hours.”

For more on John 5, stop by john-5.com.

Back in August, Metallica announced a truly gargantuan reissue of their landmark 1986 album, Master of Puppets.

Multiple editions of the reissue feature entire discs of demos, live recordings and other previously unreleased material. Now, you can hear the latest nugget from the reissue, an early demo of the album's title track.

This particular demo of "Master of Puppets" was recorded in June 1985, at the The Carlson House in El Cerrito, California. Though the song had already largely taken shape by this point, it's fascinating to hear it as a scrappy, lo-fi recording.

The Master of Puppets reissue will be available physically on November 10 as a Standard LP, Standard CD, 3 CD Expanded Edition, and Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set and digitally as a Standard CD (available to stream and download), a 3 CD Expanded Edition (available for download only), and a Digital Deluxe Box Set (available for streaming and download).

The Expanded Edition will include previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, interviews, live tracks, and a 28-page booklet. The Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set will include a 108-page hardcover book including never before seen photos, outtakes and previously unreleased interviews, three LPs, ten CDs, a cassette, two DVDs, a lithograph, a folder with handwritten lyrics, and a set of six buttons.

You can listen to the demo below, and preorder the Master of Puppets reissue here.

Today, Lars Ulrich released the first half of his 90-minute interview with Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. The interview took place on It's Electric!, Ulrich's online radio show on Apple Music's Beats 1.

The often hilarious, wide-ranging interview covers a range of subjects, from the Foo Fighters' performance at the massive Glastonbury Festival, to the band's pre-show, backstage routine (and how it contrasts with Metallica's), to Grohl's friendship with Paul McCartney and how the band ended up backing Mick Jagger on Saturday Night Live.

Ulrich, for his part, also gets in an anecdote about how he came incredibly close to being the drummer for U2 for a night...

To hear this, and other amusing stories, you can watch the first half of the interview in its entirety below.

Concrete and Gold—Foo Fighters' ninth album—is set for release Friday, September 15. You can preorder it here.

Ernie Ball has announced the launch of the “Hetfield + Hammett Experience,” a partnership with longtime Ernie Ball artists and legendary guitarists James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett that will grant three lucky winners the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hang with the guitarists at Metallica Headquarters in San Francisco, CA.

Winners will also take home their choice of a Hetfield or Hammett Signature ESP Guitar as well as an Ernie Ball Prize Pack complete with their favorite gauge of Slinky guitar strings and other prizes. The contest launches today, September 7, and runs through October 31.

“I have to say that HQ is kinda like NASA,” Hammett said. “You need the right credentials to get in, you need to know the right codes to get through the door. There are constantly people around making sure that whoever is there is there for a purpose. It’s pretty tight because it’s like the brain control…the mission control for all things Metallica.”

This is a pretty cool opportunity to get into Metallica’s creative space and see what it is, why it is, and what is in there that inspires us, Hetfield said. “For me, as a fan of other bands, it would’ve been pretty awesome to have shown up in Phil Lynott’s writing space. This is gonna be a very special moment for whoever gets to show up at HQ.”

“To have artists like Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield trust our strings for over 35 years is something the Ernie Ball family is incredibly thankful and proud of,” Ernie Ball President Brian Ball said. “It also means our strings have been along for the epic ride of ‘Seek & Destroy,’ ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls,’ ‘Sad But True’ and many of the band’s biggest hits. We’re excited about this contest and looking forward to connecting the band and a few lucky fans in a special way.”

Fans can enter Ernie Ball’s “Hetfield + Hammett Experience” by purchasing qualifying packs of Ernie Ball Strings at Guitar Center or from Musician’s Friend, then entering the codes found inside the packs at ernieball.com/metallica for a chance to win.

Metallica's James Hetfield was unharmed after a frightening fall during the band's performance Monday night, September 4, in Amsterdam.

Hetfield fell into one of the four trap doors that allowed tables of percussion to be lifted onto the stage from below. After escaping from the trench will the help of some of the band's crew, Hetfield asked the crowd "Is everybody ok?"

"Yes, I'm ok," he continued. "My ego, not so much. But we're fine. Hurt my feelings a little bit."

You can watch fan-shot video of the incident below.

Metallica have announced a massive reissue of their 1986 album, Master of Puppets. The album has been comprehensively remastered, and will be available in various digital and physical configurations.

The Master of Puppets reissue will be available physically on November 10 as a Standard LP, Standard CD, 3 CD Expanded Edition, and Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set and digitally as a Standard CD (available to stream and download), a 3 CD Expanded Edition (available for download only), and a Digital Deluxe Box Set (available for streaming and download).

The Expanded Edition will include previously unreleased demos, rough mixes, interviews, live tracks, and a 28-page booklet. The Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set will include a 108-page hardcover book including never before seen photos, outtakes and previously unreleased interviews, three LPs, ten CDs, a cassette, two DVDs, a lithograph, a folder with handwritten lyrics, and a set of six buttons.

Master of Puppets was originally released on March 3, 1986, on Elektra Records and went on to become the first Metallica album to be certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album has been certified 6x Platinum in the United States and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

The reissue is available for pre-order now. You can pre-order it here.

Those who pre-order the standard album will receive an instant download of "Disposable Heroes (Remastered)". Those who pre-order the expanded or deluxe editions will receive an instant download of "Disposable Heroes (Remastered)" and "The Thing That Should Not Be (Live at the Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL - May 25th, 1986)".

Below, you can watch Metallica frontman James Hetfield unbox the reissue, and check out the tracklist for the 3-disc expanded edition of the remaster.

3 CD Expanded Edition Tracklist

DISC ONE: MASTER OF PUPPETS (REMASTERED)

1. Battery (Remastered) (5:12)
2. Master of Puppets (Remastered) (8:35)
3. The Thing That Should Not Be (Remastered) (6:36)
4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Remastered) (6:27)
5. Disposable Heroes (Remastered) (8:16)
6. Leper Messiah (Remastered) (5:40)
7. Orion (Remastered) (8:27)
8. Damage, Inc. (Remastered) (5:32)

DISC TWO: RIFFS, DEMOS, ROUGH MIXES & INTERVIEWS
Previously Unreleased

Battery (Early June 1985 Demo) (4:42)
Master of Puppets (Late June 1985 Demo) (8:21)
The Thing That Should Not Be (September 1985 Drum Room Demo) (6:22)
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Late June 1985 Demo) (9:02)
Disposable Heroes (May 1985, Writing in Progress II) (5:42)
Leper Messiah (1985, from James' Riff Tapes II) (0:56)
Orion (November 1985, Work in Progress Rough Mix) (8:23)
Damage, Inc. (1985, from James' Riff Tapes) (1:55)
The Money Will Roll Right In (Work in Progress Rough Mix) (2:58)
The Prince (Work in Progress Rough Mix) (4:50)
Metal Madness Magazine Interview with Cliff (19:30)

DISC THREE: LIVE FROM THE DAMAGE, INC. TOUR
Previously Unreleased

Metallica has released a 12-minute video chronicling the recording and creation of "N.W.O.B.H.M. A.T.M.," a track that would later morph into Hardwired... To Self-Destruct's "Atlas, Rise!"

Shot by the folks over at MetallicaTV, the video shows the song's evolution essentially from the ground up; from Hetfield and Ulrich trying to assemble disconnected ideas into a song map, to Ulrich working on drum fills for the song, to the recording of Hetfield's vocals.

While Hetfield is recording his vocals, he mentions that some of the song's lyrics were inspired by the classic 1984 horror film, Children of the Corn. He even reveals that the line "Wish 'em to the undertaker" is, in fact, a bit of a shoutout to pro wrestler The Undertaker.

You can watch this neat video, and then see the final result—the official music video for "Atlas, Rise!"—below.

Metallica have announced that they will livestream their performance tonight at the Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, the final North American show of their current "WorldWired” tour.

The stream will be available for viewing both on a webcast website the band created, and on the band's YouTube channel.

"What a summer!! Thank you to some of the craziest, most passionate, intense avid fans on the planet!! This has been another memorable and special summer run for us seeing so many new faces along with lots of old friends as you welcomed us back for our first tour of North America in over eight years," read a statement on Metallica's website.

"As we near the end, we want to share one more evening with all of you by streaming the final night of the WorldWired North American tour live, this Wednesday, August 16th, from Edmonton."

You can view the stream yourself at 8:45PM Mountain Time (10:45PM ET / 9:45PM CT / 7:45PM PT).

"Enter Sandman," "One," "Creeping Death" and...Rihanna's "Diamonds"?

Something in that selection of songs is definitely out of place. But, in a preview of their appearance on the Apple Music-exclusive web series, Carpool Karaoke: The Series, you can watch Metallica sing the massive Rihanna hit, a Disney selection and other unexpected tunes with comedian Billy Eichner.

"A few of you who watched the Grammys back in February may have noticed during one of the commercial breaks that we took a spin around the Los Angeles area with comedian and actor Billy Eichner," read a post on Metallica's website. "With James behind the wheel, we did a little backseat driving and singing and even made a pit stop for some grocery shopping!"

Carpool Karaoke: The Seriesis the Apple Music-distributed spinoff of the enormously popular Late Late Show with James Corden skit, which featured Corden driving around with various pop stars, belting out covers and the artists' own hits.

You can watch a preview of Metallica's appearance below.

Last night, Metallica teamed up with the San Francisco Giants for the fifth annual "Metallica Night" at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Lars Ulrich tossed out the first pitch, while James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett performed their own take on "The Star-Spangled Banner."

The celebration has become a tradition of sorts for the Bay Area band, who last year not only performed the national anthem and threw out the first pitch, but also honored Giants legend Willie Mays, one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

"We are fortunate enough to live in the Bay Area and hook up with the Giants," Hetfield told Bay Area station Live 105 back in 2015 about "Metallica Night." "They are a bunch of local boys doing good and we are hopefully in the same department as that. It's basically a fun night. Local people. Local music."

You can watch a video of the band's performance, courtesy of MetallicaTV, below.

Metallica’s MetOnTour video crew have shared footage of the band’s July 19 show at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montréal. Below you can see their pro-shot footage of the band playing "Motorbreath," a highlight of their incindeary 1983 debut, Kill 'Em All.

Metallica is currently wrapping up its North American tour, with a handful of remaining dates on the West Coast and Canada. They will then spend the fall embarking on an extensive tour of Europe.

When discussing the tour with Rolling Stone, drummer Lars Ulrich said that the band was humbled by the immense crowds they’ve drawn throughout the past year. “It was like, 'Holy fuck, people really still care about this band in ways that you stopped taking for granted literally decades ago.' It was very inspiring and kind of eye-opening."

Metallica fans are most likely familiar with drummer Lars Ulrich’s father, Torben Ulrich. As Lars puts it, his dad has been “a fairly large presence in and out of Metallica’s history for 35 years.”

Torben Ulrich is a former professional tennis player as well as a serious jazz fan (tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon is Lars’ godfather). Given his jazz leanings, one has to wonder what Torben thinks of the thrash metal his son makes in Metallica.

Lars opened up on the subject in a recent TV interview that’s been shared by Sound Box.

“I think he appreciates Metallica,” Ulrich says, “especially when we’re daring and when we’re a little unorthodox, when we play strange sideways tempos that I don’t even know what [they] are. He appreciates that side of it. When we play a little safer and a little straighter, he raises an eyebrow.”

Torben was clearly displeased with the group’s work on 2003’s St. Anger.

“There’s a famous clip in the movie Some Kind of Monster that we did [in 2004]. There’s a scene where he comes to listen to some of the stuff we were working on [for St. Anger], and you sort of see him standing over the mixing desk and he doesn’t look too pleased.

“And I ask him, ‘What do you think of this music?’ And there’s a long, long, long pause. And he goes, ‘I would delete that.’ A lot of Metallica fans know him by association, so it’s very cool.”

As Lars revealed this past January, his father is a fan of Hardwired…to Self-Destruct, the group’s latest album, released last November.

“I played him the first two songs a couple of months back and he dug it,” Lars says. “He was very into it. He thought it sounded very much like Metallica.

“I saw him for Thanksgiving dinner and he unprovoked—unprovoked!—started talking to me about how awesome the record was. I got more positive vibes out of him than I have for any Metallica record for quite some time.

“He got it on CD, and he asked if he could also have—[laughs] he’s 88 years old!—he’s got an iPod now, and he asked if he could have it in digital form. So I’ll take that as a good sign. The days of ‘Delete that’ are over, at least on this record.”

You can watch the Sound Box clip below. The clip about his dad begins at 3:45.

Metallica have written and recorded more than 100 songs in their 35-year career. Several of those have gone on to become staples at the group’s concerts.

Is there one that stands above all others as the quintessential live Metallica song?

Lars Ulrich says there is: “Seek & Destroy,” the second-to-last track on their debut album, 1983’s Kill ’Em All.

“The one song we never rehearse is ‘Seek & Destroy,’” Ulrich tells The Ringer. “And that’s one song we always play live.

“So I would say that makes it the quintessential live Metallica song because it’s only ever played live. ‘Seek & Destroy’ is basically in every show, and that’s the song that kind of has the most life. It’s always different, there are different raps, different things. It’s loose; it’s crazy. It’s a little loopy. So to some extent, it is the quintessential live Metallica song.

“It was the show closer for probably around a decade or so, which is pretty crazy.”

In the interview, Ulrich also says Metallica have performed “Master of Puppets” more that any other song.

“The top ones, obviously: ‘Master of Puppets,’ ‘Creeping Death,’ ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls,’ ‘Fade to Black,’ ‘Seek and Destroy,’” Ulrich says. “Those are probably the top five.”

You can read the full interview here.

Below is a clip of Metallica performing “Seek & Destroy” from their Quebec Magnetic DVD, which documents the group’s two shows at the Colisée Pepsi in Quebec City, Canada, October 31 and November 1, 2009.

Appearing on The Late Late Show last night, Lars Ulrich said James Hetfield “was livid” over the mic failure that marred Metallica’s performance with Lady Gaga at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, February 12.

The group performed “Moth into Flame” from their latest album, Hardwired….to Self-Destruct. Though Hetfield’s mic worked during the line check prior to their performance, it failed when the song began and didn’t come back on until the final verse.

“We get offstage, we get [backstage], and I haven’t seen him like that in 20 years,” Ulrich tells Late Late Show host James Corden. “I mean he was livid. He’s aged really well and he’s a pretty chill guy, but the first five or 10 minutes in that dressing room was not a lot of fun.”

According to TMZ, Hetfield’s mic was accidentally unplugged by a stagehand. But a spokesperson from the Recording Academy says that “either a dancer or an extra clipped the line running on the floor and it unplugged at the base of the mic. It was, of course, accidental.”

Check out Ulrich’s appearance below, along with a clip from Metallica’s Romanian fan club that purports to be a web feed of the performance with Hetfield’s vocals intact. The club, RoLoad, says the mic problem affected only the TV broadcast, not the web feed.

James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich take a look back at Metallica’s formative period in a four-part Spotify series titled Landmark–Metallica: The Early Years. The documentary, a first for Spotify, debuts August 18, with all four parts making their premier simultaneously.

The film is divided into chapters titled “Metal Militia,” “Metal Up Your Ass,” “Sophistication and Brutality,” and “Armageddon’s Here.” Each features exclusive interviews with Hetfield, Hammett and Ulrich along with rare archival footage, reminiscences from their peers, new animation by Anthony Schepperd and a companion playlist.

Chapter one is devoted to Hetfield and Ulrich’s first encounter. In it, Hetfield recalls, “When I met Lars, he was pretty much a stinky European kid,” while Ulrich says of the guitarist, “He was really awkward.” Chapter two brings Hammett into the band and covers the making of their debut album. Chapter three is devoted to late bassist Cliff Burton, and chapter four follows the group’s early ascent.

Apparently, Hulk Hogan almost joined an early version of Metallica.

The former WWF champion wrestler, who once starred in his own reality TV show, Hogan Knows Best, told The Sun in London that he and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich were pretty tight during Hogan's days as a session musician.

Yes, Hulk Hogan was a session musician.

"I used to be a session musician before I was a wrestler," Hogan said. "I played bass. I was big pals with Lars Ulrich, and he asked me if I wanted to play bass with Metallica in their early days, but it didn't work out."

Hogan added that he's a big fan of The Stone Roses, the recently reunited -- and legendary -- Manchester, England, band.

"I love the Stone Roses," he said. "They're getting back together, right? That's cool man. I used to work out to some of their songs."

Check out the video below to see Hogan sitting in (on bass) with Diamondback:

Photo: hulkhogan.com