Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich revealed in a new interview that the band members are exchanging new musical ideas via Zoom and email while continuing to shelter in place.
Ulrich explained, “We're just starting, in the last four weeks maybe, we connected again…we have now connected creatively, and now we're sort of in discovery mode, I think is a good way to say it. We are sending ideas to each other via e-mail and via Zoom and trying to make music in these unusual situations.”
Asked how making a “quarantine” album would be different from a “normal” one, Ulrich replied, “So far, at least the sonic side of it and the practical elements are in surprisingly good shape, actually. So now we've just gotta figure out how much we can create without being in the same space.”
Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo has told us before that there's always new music coming out of frontman James Hetfield: “James usually comes up with a lot of stuff. He's the kind of guy where he plugs in his guitar, turns a volume knob or a, you know, a tone knob, and he comes up with, you know, the greatest riff that you can imagine. So in that case, there's no shortage of riffs and ideas.”
In early May, the four members of Metallica recorded a new version of their song “Blackened,” with each member separated in his own home. The band has postponed all live dates for 2020 and has instead been streaming a full concert from its archives every Monday.