Metallica frontman James Hetfield, during his first public appearance since entering rehab last fall, was asked during an interview when the band might record its next studio album.
Hetfield responded, "“That’s a great question. We don’t know,” adding, "I don’t know what’s gonna happen next. That’s the beauty of this. We’ll sit down and figure out what works best for us. Whatever is coming up, we don’t know. And we kind of thrive off of the fear of the unknown — a bit — and being scared just enough to feel alive.”
Hetfield made his remarks this past Thursday (January 30th) at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, where the “Reclaimed Rust: The Hetfield Collection” exhibit, featuring 10 of his custom vintage cars, was unveiled.
Hetfield's return to rehab after 17 years of sobriety led Metallica to cancel fall dates in Australia and New Zealand. Five U.S festivals and a South American tour are on tap for 2020. The band's last album, Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, arrived in 2016.
Drummer Lars Ulrich explained to us a while back why it takes longer now for the band to deliver new music: ["There's a lot of factors that play into that. I mean, the two obvious ones are basically the world is a busier place to tour, there's more places to play than there was 20 or 25 or 30 years ago. And then obviously as you advance in age and, you know, still find a way to stand up straight most of the time, you obviously need more chill time, which obviously then means that it just takes longer."] SOUNDCUE (:23 OC: . . . just takes longer.)
In other news, a San Francisco-area mansion once owned by Lars Ulrich was recently sold for $10.3 million. The 13,000-square-foot, six-bedroom home in Tiburon sits on a 20,000 square foot lot and overlooks the bay from San Francisco. Amenities included a recording space and an indoor basketball court. Public records list Ulrich as a past owner of the property, which is now under a trust.