It's been four long years since the last Metallica studio set — and drummer Lars Ulrich revealed that recording new music during the pandemic is proving to be an uphill climb. Metalheadzone transcribed some of Ulrich's recent CNBC interview, where he shed light on the band's next album: “We have been trying to do as much as we could in the last seven months, trying to make a difference with our foundation, with our music, and with connecting to people. We have been working the last six-to-eight weeks virtually. I can give you some advice if you want advice. Being in a rock n' roll band and working virtually is not super easy. Y'know, time delays, all these things make it really hard.”
He went on to explain that the lack physical interaction while creating is the main obstacle: “The main thing we miss is being able to hear each other. If I’m playing from San Francisco, Kirk (Hammett) and James (Hetfield) are two guitar players either from Oahu or Colorado, there are significant time delays, it’s very hard for us to play at the same time.”
He went on to say, “I’m calling what we do 'steering.' Which means I’m playing at B and they’re playing to me. I can’t hear what they’re playing and vice versa. If there’s steering, we can’t all hear each other in a universal fashion so there are some significant complications. We have our recording team in the production scene who are speaking to us all over the world. Nobody has quite figured it out yet.”
Although Metallica are now firmly considered the elder statesmen of metal — Lars Ulrich admitted to us a while back that there are a few things he misses about the band's early days: “I miss elements of it. I miss the chaos of it. I like chaos. But at the same time, I mean, what that represents mostly to me is not having any responsibilities. Now I got two kids at home — there's a lot different things that you gotta make sure is happening now, and sometimes I miss not having those responsibilities.”
