News METALLICA RESPONDS...
03.07.01
Metallica.com has announced that Metallica will "DISCUSS ALL IN FORTHCOMING SO WHAT! MAGAZINE." Says the blurb: First Jason Newsted departs, then comes a Playboy interview from late last year that seems to pit the band against each other and let's not forget the whole Napster escapade...finally the fans who have stuck through thick and thin will get to hear the only stories you can count on. Those which Lars, James and Kirk tell. Members of The Metallica Club will get the REAL story in the upcoming issue of the band's Fanclub magazine, So What! (*due in late April) Lars, James and Kirk sat down for lunch and set the record straight on all the recent band activities and issues, as well as shedding new light on previously undiscussed band matters. It will be the ONLY story Metallica fans need to read for the real story. Keep your eyes open... Members of The Metallica Club can already read a preview of the interview in the Members Area.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON
03.04.01
Happy birthday to former Metallica bass player, Jason Newsted! Jason turns 38 today!
PLAYBOY PRESS RELEASE
03.02.01
The following is the press release regarding Metallica's interview in Playboy.
Metallica's Final Interview In Playboy Playboy Interview Traces Events and Emotions Leading to Breakup CHICAGO, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Metallica, once a fearsome foursome that recently became a tattered trio, is the subject of Playboy's April Interview (on newsstands Monday, March 5). In January, during the band's longest hiatus from recording and touring, this heavy metal juggernaut announced the departure of its bass player, Jason Newsted. This coincides with Metallica's major victory over Napster, making them the most newsworthy band of the year. On a mid-January morning, in the middle of the longest respite from touring and recording the band had ever taken, Metallica issued a terse but emotional press release, in which bassist Jason Newsted announced his departure from the group because of "private and personal reasons and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years." A few hours later, a source close to Metallica told Playboy that Newsted's decision had capped a nine-and-a-half-hour band meeting the day before at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco, the sequel to a similar marathon caucus a week earlier. Newsted's resignation, the source said, had been "very well discussed" by the band. Music journalist Rob Tannenbaum, who met with the members separately, writes in Playboy, "I wasn't surprised that Jason Newsted quit Metallica. Just two months earlier, I'd spent a day with each of the four, and I've never seen a band so quarrelsome and fractious. Each talked about his need for solitude. The most unhappy Metallican was Newsted, whom I met at a Marin County recording studio. Newsted gradually admitted that he felt 'almost stifled' in Metallica. He added, 'I would not leave Metallica for another band. I would do it to live my life, not depart to play in another band.' According to [a source close to the band], Newsted said he might move to Montana and not touch a bass for two years. [The source also] admits that the bassist's clash with Hetfield was a 'precipitating factor.'" In the April Playboy Interview, Metallica discuss their war against Napster, their wars with each other, sleeping with groupies and much more. Drummer Lars Ulrich says, "It's an interesting time to interview the four of us separately. You're hearing people get things off their chest -- almost using you as the middle man." Hetfield adds, "It is a pretty difficult time for us right now." The following are selected quotes from the April Playboy Interview: On Metallica's war against Napster and Metallica fans siding with Napster: Ulrich: "Obviously, this has been the f*cking wake-up call of the millennium to everybody who has anything to do with intellectual property." On fans not sympathizing with the rich, Ulrich says, "So it becomes about 'these greedy rock stars.' But understand, 80 million records later, I don't know what the f*ck to do with all the money I have. The real issue, for me, is choice. I want to choose what happens to my music." Hetfield: "[Metallica fans sided with Napster] Because they're lazy bastards and they want everything for free. I like playing music because it's a good living and I get satisfaction from it. But I can't feed my family with satisfaction." Ulrich: "If you'd stop being a Metallica fan because I won't give you my music for free, then f*ck you. I don't want you to be a Metallica fan." Hetfield: "I've gotten in plenty of arguments with fans who just wanted to 'discuss' it. This poor girl in Atlanta, I made her cry. She felt money was evil. Why don't you go live in Canada or some socialist country?" On band conflict: Hammett: "There are a lot of soap operas and petty dramas that come with being in this band." Hetfield: "I remember throwing [Ulrich] into his drum kit a couple of times, throwing some cymbals, cutting his head open." Ulrich: "I've gotten into a couple of fights with Jason." Hetfield: "I'm definitely not the smartest guy in the band, so winning an intellectual argument is not going to happen. Resorting to violence used to work. And intimidation." Newsted, on his love of music: "Five years ago, the band took priority over all other things. Now, families come first. I understand that. A family is more important. I'm the only one who's not married, and music still plays the biggest part in my life. Metallica is the biggest heavy metal band there has ever been. Those guys will be happy taking six months away from the music. They have other things on their minds. If I even try to go six days without playing with somebody, I have anxiety-type things happen." Newsted, on taking time off: "James and Lars started this thing together. They came through all of the hardships. And they have serious, written-in- stone feelings about the band, about how it needs to be run. That's very, very hard to swallow sometimes." On criticism: Hammett: "When the second album came out, we had slow songs, for God's sake! Even our fans f*cking criticize us. We have bulletproof vests on when it comes to criticism. We feed off of it." Hetfield: "Metallica loves to be hated." On groupies, Ulrich says, "We all had some pretty slutty moments. I don't think there's anybody in this band who hasn't had crabs a couple of times, or the occasional drip-d*ck." |
