Dear Superstar: Lars Ulrich
Posted Tuesday 11/04/2008 12:00 AM in
Guide
by
By Mark Yarm, Photographs by Antonin Kratochvil
 Click to see more photos of Lars |
Gregg_Lauer, Glastonbury, CT
Listen, there’s nothing up with the audio quality. It’s 2008, and that’s how we make records. I’ve been listening to it in my car, and it sounds fuckin’ smokin’. Rick’s whole thing is to try and get it to sound loud, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Me and James made a deal that we would hang back and not get in Rick’s way. That’s not to put it on him—it’s our record and I’ll take the hit, but part of being in Metallica is that there’s always somebody who’s got a problem with something that you’re doing.
Aside from putting out an album with an all-black cover, what was Metallica’s most Spinal Tap moment?
caulfield44, Santa Cruz, CA
It was somewhere in Wisconsin on the Black Album tour. I had two drum kits; they would start under the stage and rise out while I was playing them. Halfway through the set, I go over to the other drum kit, count the song off, and the drums don’t rise up. I played the next 15 minutes under the stage.
My mom wants to know why you’re always spitting your drinks at the fans during your shows? I like it, but my mom doesn’t understand.
LARSULRICHFAN1988, Plettenberg, Germany
I’m sharing. From the drum kit, the way you get to share what you’re drinking is to project it into their mouths. Unsanitary? Listen, I’m AIDS-free, TB-free, hep-free.
Have you ever considered putting out a Lars Ulrich solo album?
captainhellbound, Newark, NJ
This will be the shortest answer of the day: No. When I think of my bucket list, at the top would probably be film—either writing, producing or directing. But a Lars Ulrich solo album? I’ll spare the world.
When you toured with Guns N’ Roses in 1992, what was the most batshit insane thing you saw Axl Rose do?
abdilarue, Corvallis, OR
Axl’s a friend, and I don’t want to compromise that. But as for “fun” crazy: He wrote his [half] brother, Stuart, a $25,000 check every day to throw these lavish theme parties. It was like, we’re in Indianapolis, so there were Formula One cars everywhere, with all the girls dressed up in pit-crew uniforms. It was decadence at the highest level I’d ever seen, a Caligula kind of outlandishness. There were orgies, sure. Was I involved? Yes. Well, I was in the same room—we’ll leave it at that.
