James Hetfield Opens Up (Again) About His Metallica Bandmates

It’s always nice to know what people in massive bands think about their colleagues, isn’t it? Those other musicians, smashing skins and shredding strings in the pursuit of, well, whatever it is the group in question is aiming for. Excellence, mainly, obviously.

Anyway, Metallica are no strangers to laying themselves bare – you have seen Some Kind Of Monster, right? (Fuck sake, go and watch Some Kind Of Monster, already.) And now, frontman James Hetfield has spoken to The Calgary Herald about his bandmates – as reported by Loudwire.

On co-founding drummer Lars Ulrich, Hetfield offered: “He does not take no for an answer. That’s good and bad when you’re a partner in a business. When you sic that bulldog onto somebody else, it’s great. He’s really good at the big picture, where I can get stuck in details. He’s very into what a fan would love – he’s the biggest Metallica fan there is.”

Which is fortunate, given his day job, really. When asked about guitarist Kirk Hammett, a part of the band since 1983, Hetfield remarked: “He’s got an innocence about him. He’s not really concerned about life. He flows through it really well, and good things happen to him. He doesn’t feel the need to control things.”

And on relative new boy Robert Trujillo, bassist with the iconic foursome since 2003, Hetfield said: “Been in the band longer than any bass player, [but] he’ll forever be the new guy. Hopefully there’s not another new guy. He’s extremely dedicated. He’s always practising. He challenges us: ‘How about this?’ [He’s a] dedicated musician.”

Metallica’s most recent, tenth studio album, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, came out in November 2016 and picked itself up a five-K! score. Because, well, it’s Metallica, isn’t it. Metallica doesn’t fuck about when it comes to Metallica. Check out the band’s most recent video from Hardwired…, Now That We’re Dead, below.

Words: Mike Diver