For the last twenty-three years, Metallica has become known as one of the hardest rocking metal bands in the world…
Edward Douglas / Comingsoon.net
July 9, 2004
For the last twenty-three years, Metallica has become known as one of the hardest rocking metal bands in the world, influencing many other bands over their amazing career. On July 9, they make the transition to film stars of sorts, when they appear in Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, the latest documentary from Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky that looks at three turbulent years in the band’s career where they dealt with the emotional and creative conflicts that cropped up while making their latest album, “St. Anger”.
ComingSoon.net talked to the band-singer James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett-about their lengthy career, their decision to make the movie and the effects the movie on their personal lives, including Hetfield’s stint in rehab.
CS!: Can you talk a bit about the genesis of the film and how it came to be made?
Lars: Our relationship with Joe and Bruce goes back to Paradise Lost, where we gave them access to our catalog for their film. We’ve always talked about maybe working together one day, and in one of those roundabout kind of ways, this whole thing started happening. We had a 30-second handshake deal that went ” Film whatever you want. When someone tells you to turn the cameras off, you turn them off. And when it’s all said and done, we’ll figure out what the f*ck to do with all this footage.” That was literally the extent of it.
Kirk: The movie started out as a promotional film. As we were shooting, we had no idea that it would ever become a full-length documentary. It kind of just ended up that way. We had no idea it was heading in that direction, so we were just totally casual with it. I also think that’s why it’s so intimate and there’s so much honesty.
CS!: At what point did you realize that what you had was something far more than a promotional film?
Kirk: After the sequence of events that happened, we realized that we had more than just a promotional film, and we made the decision to keep the cameras rolling no matter what happened. We trusted Joe and Bruce as filmmakers to give them full reign.
Lars: Over the course of the next couple years, Joe and Bruce realized that they had what they considered to be a very unique film with a very strong dramatic thread going through it. The record company was sitting there, saying that they could turn this into 30-minute segments on VH1 for their version of the Osbournes. When I started hearing stuff like that, I got scared sh*tless. I talked to the rest of the band and it was decided that we had to buy this back, so we can give it to Joe and Bruce and let them fulfill their vision.
Kirk: The actual point up to James leaving to rehab was there, and that’s stuff that goes a little bit deeper than your average TV reality show. At that point, we just had to trust Joe and Bruce and see where it all went. We didn’t really want it to become trivialized.
CS!: Have you seen the movie a few times, and is it hard to watch some of the stuff that went down now and is there anything you’d want to take out?
Kirk: More than a few. I’m in the double digits now. There are certain things that I can definitely do without, but then I realize that the movie would not be as truthful and the storyline would probably have been affected on a certain level. I had to come to terms with that and come to peace with the fact that we have to leave those parts in even though they’re difficult for me, because it would affect the overall message. I really believe in the message of this film, which is all about communication.
James: One of the things I learned in rehab was that if you’re in a situation that you think you need to control, just step out of it and look at it as if you were another person. This is excellent for that. Being able to see yourself run out and slam a door, and see the things you don’t like about yourself and want to edit out of the film. You know you need them in there. Things you want to take out need to stay in.
CS!: Did you have any regrets about the cameras being there?
James: I’m a control freak, remember? I wanted to change my perception of how I am. I don’t want to be the whiny teenager, and the best way for me to do that is to see it and keep seeing it, and do it different. Everyone went through that phase. I remember Kirk saying “I want to take that part out. I look very indecisive. I’m not very indecisive, am I?” It was very revealing.
CS!: When James entered rehab and didn’t return for ten months, were you feeling that this was the end of the band?
Lars: When James went away and I didn’t hear anything for months and months, I didn’t view it as his decision alone to whether the band was going to continue or not. When he came back, I was very scared that it would be conditional. I’m not a great guy with rules and I’m not great when it becomes conditional, because I think it loses some purity. I was going to stick it out and just see where it was going to go. For a while there, it looked pretty grim from where I was. When James came back, we spent three or four months just talking before we even played a note of music and in that time, we seemed to get enough on the same page to at least give it another go around. As you see in the movie, it has a happening ending. I love movies with happy endings!
Kirk: When James went off to rehab, we decided to keep the cameras rolling, because we really didn’t have anything else to film except maybe the demise of the band.
CS!: The movie doesn’t cover your time in rehab, James, but what was going through your hell at that time?
James: : Well, why didn’t the cameras follow me? Maybe because I couldn’t recover with that around. I had to unplug from the band and from my family. It was just like going into a little cocoon, and it was difficult for me. I used the excuse of my celebrity to not get the help I needed, but something needed to happen. I probably did it for my wife and my kids, but eventually ended up doing it for myself.
CS!: It must have been difficult for the other guys to not know what was happening with you and what you were going through.
Lars: Where I come from, with my upbringing and the values in Denmark, it’s about being respectful to other people. It was fine that James was away doing his thing, but just let us know what the f*ck you’re thinking. I didn’t have a conversation with him for four months. That’s kind of difficult for a guy like me. Literally, he just showed up at the studio one day, walked in the room, sat us down for five minutes, and said “I’m going away to rehab. I’ll be back in five weeks.” And then he walked back out the door, and then he came back ten months later. It was just a bit odd.
James: I see how difficult it was for the guys not knowing what was going on in there. It might have seemed selfish, but for it to happen, that’s what had to happen. I couldn’t care take them and their path on it. I really had to do this for me. It was a college for my soul, and it felt like I got some instructions on how to do life. I tried myself and was not doing too good.
CS!: The film’s most telling scenes are the therapy sequences with the band working through their problems with their therapist, Phil Towle. What was your attitude on his involvement in the project?
James: There’s a part of me that when I see an older man that I respect or can teach me things, it’s automatically like a father figure to me. A lot of the things that I didn’t learn from my dad, I’m still seeking, and then Phil showed up.
Kirk: I think he had a big impact on us as people. Phil was important and instrumental in us staying together, and he gave us a lot of tools to be able to communicate with each other. For instance, after James got out of rehab, we didn’t feel very connected with him because he was a completely different person. It was not the James Hetfield we were used to dealing with, so Phil helped us reconnect with the new James Hetfield. If it wasn’t for Phil Towle, I probably wouldn’t be here now talking to you guys. I think he really saved the band.
Lars: If Phil did not save the band, then he helped saved the band, but it was also our willingness to go there. In order to go through this, you have to be open to it. We were just the right combination of people and personalities at a time in both our career and lives where we were ready to explore some of this stuff. Not just for the survival of the band, but also, for our own sanities.
James: My perception changed after I started to see how invasive it was. Phil started handing me lyrics, and I thought that I’d better take this and use it. Later on, [producer Bob Rock] asked “Why is he contributing?” I went from being completely shut off from everyone to being completely open and I belong somewhere in the middle. There’s a pretty revealing scene in the movie where we’re trying to tell Phil that we’re ready to fly and crash on our own, and then his issues start to show up, but even after that, I respected him even more, because he’s human. Phil struggles with how he’s perceived in the movie.
CS!: Are any of you worried that your own images might be softened too much by how you’re portrayed in the movie?
James: People know us as the crazy rock idols, and I think this film shows us in another extreme, as the struggling humans. And somewhere in the middle, is us.
Kirk: If anything, there’s a lot of power in the truth. I don’t think you can dispute that this movie is a very truthful depiction of who we are.
CS!: Are you worried about a fan backlash about how you’re portrayed in the film?
Kirk: I don’t know and at this point, I just don’t care. We are who we are, and that is us! It doesn’t get any more honest or truthful. If anyone has a problem with that, then they’re just chasing some mythology or fantasy of who they want us to be. If we’re not, then that is their problem, not ours. If you don’t like it, read a book or something.
CS!: How have things been on the road since the film wrapped?
James: Things are going pretty well, and we are treating situations differently. We’re not sitting around the table every morning asking how we’re feeling–that would drive anyone insane!–but it’s good to check in with each other, and we’d never do that before. Touring has been fun in a different way. Not BS fun, where we all go out and get drunk and end up in a gutter, but it’s been fun like “we’re on stage together and this moment is awesome! We’re all in the moment together!”
Lars: There’s so much less tension, and we’re enjoying what we’re doing more. If someone f*cks up, we don’t come off stage and point fingers. We just sit there and go “That was an interesting variation on the norm” and then we laugh. It’s very relaxed, and it’s a lot more human than it’s been. It took us a while to get there, but we’re kind of enjoying being humans and having fun with it.
CS!: Considering some of the problems, what has kept the band together all these years and kept you on such a high level?
Lars: It’s not definable in a single sound bite. It’s a bunch of things. It’s the chemistry between the people, but it’s also some level of X-Factor that you just can’t put any definition on. I think it’s almost a perverse fear of repeating oneself creatively and always trying to go different places. We always try to hover in our own space, do our own thing, and keep all other entities really far away from us. I really feel that we’ve always been loners. Metallica is its own thing and we’re not really part of a scene or part of the music business.
James: Yeah, I know that magic happens when we get together. When we’re playing on stage and when we’re all firing on all cylinders, it’s amazing. After connecting, it’s never felt better. As a band, we’ve gone through so much stuff behind the scenes. The movie is really framed to be able to just say, “Here. Check it out. Here is the other part of us that makes this work.”
Lars: I think that’s a big part of the fact that we’ve been able to survive while so many of the other bands that were our peers have not. In times of need, when you really need to step it up, we sidestepped our own individual needs and prioritized Metallica as a collective. We all hold Metallica in such high regard that we’re willing to sacrifice some individual things to make Metallica the best that it could be. I think a lot of the other bands coming out of the 80s, they didn’t do that. It was more about the individual than the collective and for us, it’s been the opposite.
CS!:Kirk, as someone who joined Metallica years after it was formed by Lars and James, how did you handle the tension between them?
Kirk: It’s something that I’ve been dealing with ever since I joined the band. It’s just that with the film, now is the first time that anyone has seen me in that position, which I was thrown into, because people were either too intimidated or too sycophantic to just step up and separate those guys.
CS!:Considering your career and the influence you have had on so many other bands, where do you see yourself in the scheme of things? Do you see yourselves on the level as a Led Zeppelin or an Aerosmith or Jimi Hendrix?
Lars: Obviously, we’re aware of that, but it’s not something we walk around and embrace on a daily basis. I guess I’m scared of thinking that way, because I’m scared that it will affect what we do.
James: I recognize the contribution we’ve made. We’ve made this our life’s work, and this is our passion. And those bands you’ve mentioned, some of them are still around and some aren’t. I’m glad that we can continue and hear those things. I don’t think Led Zeppelin was ever asked that, because their careers have been so short.
Lars: When I sit down and think of who our peers are, I don’t think of Aerosmith, AC/DC and Van Halen. I think our peers are Korn and System of a Down and Audioslave. We always maybe look to the guys that are a little younger rather than the guys that are a little older, just to keep it fresh to us.
Kirk: Those guitarists are such big influences on my own playing that it’s hard for me to see myself on that level. If other people want to see me in that light, I guess it’s flattering, but to me, I just want to become a better musician.
Lars: This year, after going through what we went through for those three years, we’ve been a little more receptive to that kind of praise. It’s nice when the MTVs of the world call you up, and they want to put you on four thrones and have all these bands that you consider to be your peers pay tribute to you. That kind of stuff is awesome.
James: Our career has been very long and we’re just grateful to still be doing it after 22 years. We’re not done.
Lars: This has probably been the greatest year of Metallica’s career, and then to be able to cap it off with this f*cking thing is pretty cool.