Rolling Stone caught up with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich to discuss his activities during quarantine due to the current coronavirus pandemic.

On the music that has been getting Ulrich’s attention lately, he said: “I would say that the Fiona Apple album [Fetch The Bolt Cutters] is just stunning. The first day it came out a week ago, I think I sat and listened to it for three, four hours straight and was reading the lyrics. To be honest with you, I was kind of taken aback by how unusual and brilliant it is, because it’s unconventional. Every few years, there’s a record that comes out and has a different sound. I think the last Arctic Monkeys from two years ago [Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino] also had a little bit of that same effect, where it’s just not what you expect and then you hear it and just go, ‘Wow, it is still possible to do something different musically that feels unique, fresh, or unexpected.’ So I would say the Fiona Apple album definitely. I also love Ed O’Brien’s album. And his performance on Kimmel, a week ago, we’ve been watching that quite a bit.

“Other than that, I guess you find you reach out to a lot of your old friends [musically], also. Probably the music that I’ve listened to the most in the last two or three months is Rage Against the Machine. Am I the only one who thinks that their music just grows more and more relevant every day? [Laughs]. It connects more and more to what’s going on in the world. It just feels like all four of those albums were recorded last week. And when I’m doing my sad little exercises, I’ll put them on and go, like, ‘Holy fuck,’ and just hear something in ‘Calm Like A Bomb’ or ‘Sleep Now In The Fire’ or ‘Bombtrack,’ and go, ‘Seriously? What the fuck? Where does this even come from?’ So Rage Against The Machine is always a reliable friend.”

Professionally-filmed video footage of Metallica performing "One", at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland on May 11, 2018, can be seen below:

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich joined Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff on Tuesday (April 28)  for an instalment of the live streamed fireside chat series to discuss how Metallica are staying connected and giving back through All Within My Hands Foundation. Watch below.

During the chat, Lars was asked about the possibility of the band recording new music while in quarantine:

"A lot of that will, obviously, have to do with how long stay-at-home orders stay in place. A lot of that will have to do with if there's a second wave of the virus. Who knows what our world will look like six months from now? But, obviously, the one thing that you can depend on with creative people, for better or worse, is that they can't sit still for very long. And I can tell you that on these weekly Metallica Zoom sessions, we are talking about how we can just be a band again. And there are many different phases to being in a band, but the most basic one, and certainly where it started 37 years ago, is to just have four guys playing music together. The fact that it ends up being shared all over the world and connecting with millions of people, that's much later and a whole different thing. But at its core essence is just four guys in a room, or connected via Zoom, the Zoom Room, making music together. And I can tell you that all four of us are really excited about what that could look like. So, will there be a Metallica quarantine record? I can't tell you, because, again, I don't know how long the quarantine will last. But if you and I and the rest of the world are still sitting here six months from now or a year from now, I'd say there's a very good chance."