{"id":2047,"date":"1984-11-01T00:00:57","date_gmt":"1984-11-01T00:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=2047"},"modified":"2013-05-28T16:26:05","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T16:26:05","slug":"feature-metallica-mf8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-metallica-mf8\/","title":{"rendered":"METALLICA – Lightning Raiders (MF8, 1984) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

METALLICA – Lightning Raiders<\/strong><\/span><\/span>
\nBernard Doe<\/span>
\nMetal Forces, Issue 8 (1984)<\/span><\/p>\n

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Metallica (l-r): Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Cliff Burton<\/b><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Pic: Fin Costello<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nThe first Metal Forces<\/em> poll was more or less dominated by one band: Metallica. Being voted number one band, album (Kill \u2019Em All<\/em><\/a>) and guitarist (Kirk Hammett), proved without a doubt that the band had had the biggest impact on the world\u2019s underground metal scene since Iron Maiden in the heydays of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement.<\/p>\n

1984 has seen the band follow-up the success of Kill \u2019Em All<\/em> with another ten-star classic album in Ride The Lightning<\/em>, as well as acquiring major new management and recording deals.<\/p>\n

Europe has seen a lot of the San Franciscan metallists during 1984 through touring and recording their album in Copenhagen, and now as the year comes to an end Metallica are back, undertaking their first European headlining tour.<\/p>\n

London was once again port of call for the band before kicking off the tour in Belgium, so it gave me a chance to talk to drummer Lars Ulrich and catch up on events since we last spoke at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

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Lars Ulrich<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Pic: Fin Costello<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Firstly, I asked about Ride The Lightning<\/em>. Were the band happy with the end result? After all, first reports suggested that the band were having problems achieving the sound they wanted whilst recording the album? \u201cYeah, I think we were as happy as we could be,\u201d reveals Lars. \u201cA few of the songs were only written just before we had to do the album, so I think we might have arranged them a little differently if we had had the opportunity to put them down on tape first, and then gone away and listened to them before doing the album.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initial sound problems you spoke about was really due to all our gear getting ripped off just three weeks before we got to Copenhagen. For instance, James (Hetfield) had this one in a million Marshall head that he lost, and he had problems getting the rhythm sound he was looking for and the sound that Metallica are known for. We probably went through every Marshall in Denmark, including all of Mercyful Fate\u2019s gear, before finding one that was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

How has the album been received then, particularly in the States where I\u2019ve heard claims from hardcore bangers that Metallica have sold out! \u201cThe difference with Ride The Lightning<\/em>, compared with Kill \u2019Em All<\/em>, is that it\u2019s not like just one complete track like Kill \u2019Em All<\/em> was, and the way it\u2019s different is because not all the tracks are played at \u2018Metal Militia\u2019 speed. You see, the one thing we realised between making Kill \u2019Em All<\/em> and Ride The Lightning<\/em>, was that you don\u2019t have to depend on speed to be powerful and heavy. I think songs like \u2018For Whom The Bell Tolls\u2019 and \u2018Ride The Lightning\u2019 reflect that sort of attitude.<\/p>\n

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James Hetfield<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cI think generally most people have received it favourably and certainly a lot better than I think anyone in the band thought it would. Okay, there\u2019s always the odd letter or comment like, \u2018If you don\u2019t play ten \u2018Metal Militia\u2019\u2019s on every album then it\u2019s not Metallica and it\u2019s not good\u2019, but we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing the way we feel at a certain time. The band has matured and we\u2019re still learning. If people think we\u2019re wimping out then fuck \u2019em, we don\u2019t need that kinda shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too true. It all seems to boil down to the attitude of many underground metal fans who, to keep face with their hardcore tag, think that as soon as a band starts gaining a bit of major success \u2013 no matter if the music changes or not \u2013 then they\u2019re selling out or wimping out. Lars agrees: \u201cYeah, we even get letters from fans who ask Metallica not to get big because it would take the fun out of liking us!\u201d<\/p>\n

As I said earlier, Metallica have spent much of 1984 in Europe. I suggested to Lars that maybe the US fans thought they were being ignored? \u201cIn Europe you can build yourself to some sort of level on an independent label. But in the States, it\u2019s hard to get beyond a certain level until you have a major deal. So we concentrated most of \u201984 on trying to establish ourselves as a major band throughout Europe, and I think that has worked and it will be confirmed after the Ride The Lightning<\/em> tour has finished.<\/p>\n

\u201cTouring in the States is just fucking great and we all really miss it, so the first six months of 1985 have been put aside for touring there. We\u2019ve only done about one and a half gigs in the US during \u201984. But there\u2019s been such a lot of shit with legal hassles in the US with the change of management, record companies etc, so really under those circumstances for much of that time the only place we could work was in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how did the deal with Elektra Records come about? It had been reported earlier in the year that Metallica were about to sign to Bronze Records in the UK? \u201cWell, we were offered a deal by Bronze. But after looking through the deal and at the company for a few weeks we said \u2018No thank you\u2019. At the end of the day, we decided that maybe we would be better off in the long run if we waited to see what else would happen.<\/p>\n

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Cliff Burton<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\u201cThen we went back to the States in the summer to do a one-off gig with Raven, where a lot of things happened. We came away with a new label (Elektra), new management (Cliff Burnstein and Peter Mensch at Q-Prime) and a new booking agency (ATI). It was really funny, because as soon as we got off stage we all agreed that it was probably one of the worst gigs we\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I would like to say, is that the year and a half we were with Jonny Z. at Megaforce and Crazed Management were real good. It was he who pushed us into this direction and no matter what people hear, the rumours and whatever, we still appreciate what he did. But in the end we just outgrew each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new deal with Elektra in the States is for eight albums \u2013 the first of which was, as Lars put it, \u201cthe official release\u201d of Ride The Lightning<\/em>. In the UK the band are contracted with Music For Nations for the third album, but after that Metallica, as yet, don\u2019t have any commitments in Europe. <\/p>\n

To coincide with their European tour, Music For Nations have released \u2018Creeping Death\u2019 (my favourite track on Ride The Lightning<\/em>) as a 12\u201d EP, as well as a limited edition picture disc. On the B-side are cover versions of Diamond Head\u2019s \u2018Am I Evil?\u2019 and Blitzkrieg\u2019s \u2018Blitzkrieg\u2019. I asked Lars the reasons behind those choice of B-sides? \u201cWell, heavy metal record companies in Europe prefer to have \u2018unavailable anywhere else\u2019 type shit on the B-side of singles. Now, we\u2019re not a band who likes to submit our own songs solely for B-sides because we like to have them on albums, so we just went into the studio and knocked out a couple of cover songs. It\u2019s the only two cover songs that we still play at rehearsals, or live for the seventh encore!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kirk Hammett<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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Metallica\u2019s new booking agency in the States, ATI, handle such rock giants as Iron Maiden, Kiss, Def Leppard etc, and there are moves to get the band a support tour in the US with one of the major acts \u2013 Kiss I believe are a strong possibility. This will surely be the ultimate test as to whether or not Metallica, and the whole power metal trend in general, will be accepted at a major level.<\/p>\n

What were Lars\u2019 views? \u201cWell, Cliff Burnstein who signed us to our new management deal in the States, has this big belief that what we are doing will be the next big thing in heavy metal \u2013 especially in the States which is something like 80% of the market \u2013 and this whole Ratt, M\u00f6tley Cr\u00fce<\/a>, Quiet Riot, Black \u2019N Blue thing will get kinda old and die out, and that Metallica will lead the way in a sort of new \u2018true metal\u2019 trend. One step further out than say Iron Maiden, who are at the moment the most extreme metal band with major success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI honestly believe that the kids who are into the Priest, Maiden, Kiss, Sister thing will take onto what we\u2019re doing. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s something that\u2019s going to happen overnight, but it could gradually start developing and Metallica could be the front runners of a new branch of heavy metal. Also, we haven\u2019t had to change to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well, as I\u2019ve often said before, Metallica have already extended the barriers of the underground metal movement no end and I\u2019m sure I speak for all true metal fans, dedicated to the cause, when I wish Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton even further success in their bid for world domination.<\/p>\n

Interview taken from Metal Forces, Issue 8 (1984)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

METALLICA – Lightning Raiders Bernard Doe Metal Forces, Issue 8 (1984) Metallica (l-r): Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Cliff Burton Pic: Fin Costello The first Metal Forces poll was more or less dominated by one band: Metallica. Being voted number one band, album (Kill \u2019Em All) and guitarist (Kirk Hammett), proved without a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metallica"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2047"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74449,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2047\/revisions\/74449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}