Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich recently spoke with Newsweek about the band's current WorrldWired tour in support of their latest album, Hardwired...To Self Destruct. An excerpt is available below.

Newsweek: Over the years, Metallica has earned a reputation for being a band that tours often, not unlike the Grateful Dead.  

Ulrich: "Not only do we tour a lot on the back of records but we also tour even when there's no records. Touring is obviously an important thing for us—to get out and run away with the rock and roll circus, and increasingly now, with more of the far corners of the world opening up in terms of infrastructure and production elements. So there are more places you can play and more countries you can visit.

You can play your own shows, you can play festivals. We kind of found a way to do it in a way that's tolerable. We do it in two-week increments so we never leave home for more than two weeks and no one goes off the deep end or loses their mind. You minimize the risk of the whole thing derailing into the black abyss. We managed to get a functioning, balancing dynamic. We never feel like we're away from our domestic situations for too long. Its working for us. For me, getting out there, I'd say in my day the two hours onstage is the safest place. There's no one to bug me. I'm the captain of my own ship up there and the best thing in the world is those two hours up on stage."

Newsweek: The pyro displays, including a giant fireworks display at the end of the show, certainly works well for a large stadium show. But Metallica has also been known to play small, intimate club shows. Any thoughts on one vs. the other?

Ulrich: "When you go out there and you play the big places like the football stadiums, they can have such a bland uphill feel to them. It’s difficult to create a sort of atmosphere of intimacy, so adding a few gadgets (works well), and the more people there are, the better the gadgets. The smaller the place you're playing, the more you can rely on the music. But gadgets are important when you're playing to 75,000 people because it gives everybody, even the people that are not close to you, something they can focus on. You try and create as much of an atmosphere and intimacy as possible, and sometimes some shit that blows up and some flames or something is always good."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Metallica's tour schedule is currently as follows:

July
5 - Orlando, FL - Camping World Stadium*^
7 - Miami, FL - Hard Rock Stadium*^
9 - Atlanta, GA - Suntrust Park*^
12 - Detroit, MI - Comercia Park*^
14 - Quebec City, QC- Festival D'Ete
16 - Toronto, ON - Rogers Centre*^
19 - Montreal, QB - Parc Jean-Drapeau*^
29 - Los Angeles, CA - Rose Bowl*+

August
4 - Phoenix, AZ - University of Phoenix Stadium*+
6 - San Diego, CA - Petco Park*+
9 - Seattle, WA - Centurylink Field*+
11-13 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands
14 - Vancouver, BC - BC Place*+
16 - Edmonton, AB - Commonwealth Stadium*+

* With Avenged Sevenfold
^ With Volbeat
+ With Gojira
# With Local H