METALLICA Drummer Lars Ulrich Talks Glastonbury Festival And New Studio Album With BBC Radio 1; Audio Available
May 11, 2014, 10 years ago
Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich recently spoke with BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe about the band's upcoming show at the 2014 Glastonbury Festival. During the interview Ulrich revealed that writing for a new album is well underway and a producer will be chosen in the near future:
"It's down to one or two names, both of them who are certainly not gonna surprise anybody. We've just gotta kind of circle the wagons and figure it out."Metallica are officially confirmed for the 2014 Glastonbury Festival, taking place June 27th - 29th at Worthy Farm in Pilton, England.
Organizers state: "So finally the truth is out there - Metallica will mark their first ever appearance at Glastonbury Festival by headlining the Pyramid Stage on Saturday night. They join previously announced headliners Arcade Fire, who play on the Friday, and Kasabian, who close the show on Sunday night."
Metallica have issued the following: "We’ve made no secret that there was still one live music festival on our wish list that has eluded us... until now! It is with a great deal of pride that we announce that we have been tapped to headline the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival on Saturday, June 28th! There is such a vibe at Glastonbury and it's maybe the most quintessentially English festival, so when we finally got that call to visit Worthy Farm, we just had to reply with a resounding “YES!”
Glastonbury is the largest green field festival in the world and over the forty plus years of its existence, a widely diverse group of artists have graced the stage including Paul McCartney, Oasis, David Bowie, U2, Muse, Stevie Wonder, Radiohead, Neil Young, Jay-Z and so many more. We’re psyched and honored to be among the first hard rock bands to hit the Pyramid Stage and join this prestigious group.
As this is a late addition to the schedule, this show will not be a “By Request” night... guess we’ll have to go back to writing the set list ourselves! For those of you looking for the By Request show or a second dose of ‘Tallica, we will be just down the road a week later at Knebworth for Sonisphere on July 6th, which we thought might be our only chance to visit the UK this summer until the Glastonbury call came in last week. Hope to see you at both!"
TheGuardian.com spoke with Lars Ulrich about the band's spot on the Pyramid Stage.
Q: Some people have suggested that Glastonbury-goers might not be very familiar with Metallica’s work. How will you win over the doubters?
A: "Listen, we just go out and do what we do. Isn’t it wonderful, 33 years in, to be able to place yourself in situations where that’s even a distinct possibility that you actually have to go and, like you say, win people over? I don’t know if the competitive fire burns with quite the same spark as it did 20 years ago, so I don’t know if we’re as concerned about that stuff as we used to be. But obviously, playing to any people who may not be overly familiar with what you’re doing is always interesting. Right now [my reaction] is one of jubilation and ecstasy and appreciation for being given a chance to be invited to the hallowed grounds of Glastonbury. So I’m not really looking at anything other than, fuck yeah, here we come!
The one thing we’ve figured out along the way is that Metallica have a tendency to get some fairly strong opinions out of people – which is a great thing, because nobody seems to just be neutral and dismissive. Everybody’s always got an opinion about what we do, or what we’re playing, or what we had for breakfast, or whatever. That’s something you find the good in, because it means that people care. And it’s better to have people care than not have anybody care. So we’ll find the good in all of it, thank you very much for asking!"
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