Lars Ulrich recalls how he met James Hetfield

Metallica drummer and leader Lars Ulrich recalled how he met James Hetfield. He talked about this moment with Kerrang magazine, remembering that both of them loved the New Wave of the British Heavy Metal bands like: Angel Witch and Diamond Head.

Lars Ulrich said about meeting James Hetfield for the first time:

“I remember connecting with him. And I could see that, even though he was painfully shy or whatever, that there were some distinctive similarities. I spent six months talking to people about heavy metal, and they’d mention Styx, Journey, KISS, or whatever.

“I’d talk about Angel Witch, Diamond Head or Tygers of Pan Tang. He had a connection to the music and the things I was throwing out there that seemed a little more authentic or trustworthy.

“Not much happened during that first meeting because he was kind of the wingman, or the plus one, for a guy named Hugh [Tanner, who played in Leather Charm with Hetfield].

“If James was sitting here, he’d tell you that the drum kit I showed up with was in such bad shape that every time I hit the cymbal, it kept falling over. Which is accurate.

“Hetfield and I ended up staying in touch. And when I came back from traveling in Europe a few months later, I called him up and said: ‘Hey, do you want to play and see what happens?’. And he was up for it.”

Metallica

In more than 30 years of career, Metallica have released ten studio albums. Besides four live albums, ten video albums, among others. They became one of the most influential and successful bands of all time, having sold around 200 million records worldwide. The band has already received nine Grammy Awards, joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. In addition, they had six consecutive first albums on the Billboard 200.