Metallican James Hetfield: ”Uusi albumimme alkoi muotoutua konkreettisesti viimeisen kahden kuukauden aikana”

Legendaarisen Metallican nokkamies James Hetfield antoi hiljattain  TwinCities.com-sivustolle haastattelun liittyen yhtyeen tulevaan “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct” -albumiin, joka julkaistaan 18.11. yhtyeen oman Blackened Recordings -levy-yhtiön kautta. Hän kertoo seuraavaa levyn tekoprosessista:

“We’ve been working on this record, realistically, for eight years. But it’s been two years starting to put songs together.

“Literally, the last two months is when it all started to come together. There’s no rules any more as far as you’ve got to do what the record company says or what the manager says. It’s got to be cool and fun for us – that’s the number-one priority.”

Blackened Recordingsia Hetfield kommentoi seuraavasti:

“As if we don’t have enough going on! We finally own our own masters. We can put music out our way. We even bought our own record press, over in Germany. It’s awesome. You can do colours, you can do whatever you want.”

Uuden levyn tiimoilta keikkailua hän kommentoi:

“We’re not planning to go out and kill ourselves for three years. We love the road, we respect the road – but it can kill you.

“We’ve paid our dues. We want to tour smarter, be prepped for every gig, feel in the best health we can.

“It might be no two-in-a-rows. Maybe we’re only out for two weeks at a time. We want, by the end of each show, to know we gave it our all and we feel great about it.”

Lisäksi Hetfield kertoo olevansa yhä ylpeä yhtyeensä ja laulaja Lou Reedin yhdessä tekemästä ”Lulu” -albumista:

“Lou was such a character,” he recalls, “and just like any artist, was really insecure. That’s why he had a real friggin’ attitude. He was certainly not afraid to tell you what he was thinking.

“At one point Lars said, ‘You’ve got to trust me on this.’ Lou said, ‘Trust you? Fuck you – I don’t trust anyone!’

“I knew we had to handle him with kid gloves. But we earned his trust and he earned ours. I’m still blown away he wanted to collaborate with us.”