James Hetfield On Being A "Lone Wolf" During Lockdown: "I Miss People… As Much As I Say I Don’t, I Do"

In an insightful new interview for Metallica fanzine So What?, frontman James Hetfield has opened up about how he has found these past few months of coronavirus lockdown, admitting that he's really starting to miss people – despite proudly describing himself as a "lone wolf".

"…That reminds me of the phrase, 'You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone,' you know?" he says (via Metal Injection). "Where certainly, 'Okay, gosh, I’m tired of touring,' and now I really want to get out and do some shows. Not tour like we were – crazily – but seeing familiar faces, the family, the rehearsal, the creative process, HQ itself, just everyone that works there. God, I just missed it so much."

He continues: "It’s my choice to live away from it, but with the whole distancing and all of that… gosh. You know, I always really prided myself on – or had a romantic notion of – the lone wolf; that’s how I am, and that’s how I want to be. But I miss people. And as much as I say I don’t, I do."

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Continuing with this personal insight into how James has been coping, he also reveals in the interview that he's working on recognising "that it's okay that I'm, say, feeling depressed, and get depressed", adding, "I’m a little more sensitive than I want to admit, I suppose."

Of course, as well as having plenty of time to delve into his own brain during quarantine, Papa Het says that Metallica are "gonna continue to stay connected and write music".

"For me there’s been two sides of the coin in the band," he explains. "There’s been, 'You’re on the road,' or, 'You're writing.' And so [right now] we can’t be on the road, I guess we’re writing. It’s the easy choice of the fork in the road, so that’s what we’re doing. I’m writing, they’re writing. At some point we’ll get together. I know Greg has definitely fiddled around – heh heh – with the Zoom connecting. We did this song for the upcoming Disney movie over Zoom, and it was very cool. So again, like Napster or whatever else it is, the internet, people start freaking out about it. You know, COVID, no live shows. Okay. You adapt and it’s important to be of service with our music, so let’s do what we can out there, and we’re adapting."

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