Lars Ulrich considers his Metallica bandmates the brothers he never had. Ulrich appeared on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show and discussed his relationship with James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, and Robert Trujillo. Blabbermouth transcribed Ulrich as saying, “When I came to America (in the late-1970's), when I met James, when I met the other guys in the early years of the band and some of my friends when I landed here, there was that kind of rebellious thing. It was a big part of everybody who was 16 or 17; you were sort of rebelling against your parents. I never had that. I thought my parents were the coolest people in the world. Now, obviously, I've done therapy, and there were some issues, as you do a deeper dive into it. Denmark is a very liberal country, very safe country, so I'd say the flipside of my issues was I often was left alone and may still carry some issues of abandonment.”
Ulrich went on to explain, “I think part of the reason that I love being in a band and feel so safe with James, Kirk, and Rob and the rest of the Metallica organization is I love being in a collective. They are the brothers I never had. And that safety in numbers.”
Lars Ulrich told us a while back that the members of Metallica have gotten along consistently well ever since getting through the turbulent days of the early 2000's: “I mean, look, we don't wake up in the morning and call and see how the others slept. I mean, we don't spend 24-7 together. But the time that we share is definitely, to me, feels as solid and as mutually respectful as it's ever been.”