When asked if the Orion Festival is always going to be a traveling festival or if the band is just looking for the right venue, Robert responds, "We would like to find the right venue to host it [permanently], for sure. Usually, festivals like this, they take time. It's not like you go in one year and all of a sudden it's a huge massive incredible thing � It started to dawn on us that Detroit would be great because there is actually, sort of, a movement going on. A lot of young people are getting over there and bringing back the music and bringing back the art and food and all of this great stuff. It just seems like the spirit is there and it's ready and waiting and we're all about it.

"We all have a lot of history there. I've had some of my best shows there� and some of my scariest too. I have stories� I just remember playing places like Harpo's and maybe on the outskirts like Pine Knob and the bonfires and all the incredible energy that you experience is great. So it's like, why not? Let's try this.

"The other thing that's really cool about this event, too, is we actually hang with the fans. There a lot more a connection. It's not like we rolling into a festival and were rolling out, you know? Boom. Boom. We actually spend time for those couple of days, introducing bands and James [Hetfield] has a car show, because that's one of his passions. That's what he does. He's a custom car builder and he's got a lot of his friends out there. Local car clubs, too. [They] get involved. Kirk [Hammet] has "Kirk's Crypt" with the monster memorabilia� he's got an incredible collection of movie posters and even, like, wardrobe from certain films and movies � I have Van's skate ramp zone. I've been wearing Vans since I was a little kid, I wear them on stage and I grew up skateboarding and surfing. So we've got a vert ramp there with some of my heroes like Christian Hosoi, Steve Caballero and Tony Trujillo and a lot of of young talent there too. Last but not least, Lars [Ulrich] has his movie tent. He's a film buff [who's] really, really passionate about it. He has Q&As that revolve around specific films that he'll be showing and presenting through the weekend."

Robert was also asked to give an update on the band's new album plans and to clear up the conflicting reports about those plans. He had this to say, "The real scoop would be that, in the last few months, we've been jamming new ideas. Now, I guess, you could say it's a blessing and a curse. There is an arsenal, years of riffs that we have recorded. That ranges from, like, iPhone recording to Zoom Recorder recordings to our jam room Pro Tools setup recordings, because, on tour, we have a jam room and we jam stuff. James Hetfield, I mean, the minute he plugs in his guitar and adjusts the tone knob, he comes up with the world's greatest riff. It's a process of elimination to see what is gonna be good enough for what we're trying to do and it takes a long time.

"We've been going through all of that. Then, all of a sudden, you end up going to South Africa for a tour � which is great, don't get me wrong � and Australia and something else comes up and something else� Orion Festival. So these great opportunities enter the progress of what we're trying to do with the album. So I would say after Orion we'll get back to the writing process.