In a new interview with Vice, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich was asked about not finding new music inspiring today, and he had high praise for a few bands who were famous in the 90’s.
“Ten years ago or 30 years ago, it was different. Like, ‘Oh my god Guns N’ Roses, oh my God who are these Nirvana guys! Oasis!’ You were hearing about it, and you wanted to meet them. Nowadays, there aren’t any bands that have had that impact on me. The last time where I was like, ‘Holy fuck! This really inspires me,” was this band called Sword, from Austin, Texas. Stoner rock, kind of a modern Black Sabbath. Super cool. They showed up seven or eight years ago, and I just had to bring these guys on tour. There is a Norwegian band called Kvelertak. These bands are few and far between nowadays. This is not a black and white statement. I know more about film than I do about music because I follow it more. That doesn’t mean if something awesome came and slapped me in the face then I wouldn’t embrace it, it just shows up less and less.”
He also discussed Metallica’s early days.
“We started young. James and I met I was still seventeen. James and Ron, who was his best friend, lived alone. Dave Mustaine—who was our guitar player for the first year—he was a very magnetic personality, very good looking, he had great hair. James and I were very awkward, Ron was sort of OK, and Dave Mustaine was really cool. There were a lot of people around Dave Mustaine. He had a lot of friends, of both sexes. People would look around and go, who are these guys? Dave would introduce us as the members of his band. We started figuring it out slowly, very slowly. Then we met Cliff and he encouraged us to move up to San Francisco.”
