Metallica Had Connection On Very First Day

Michael Angulia | 06-12-2020

Metallica cofounder Lars Ulrich reflected on the day that he met James Hetfield and how well the two connected and paved the way to them teaming up to officially form the band.

Lars made the comments when answering a fan question for Kerrang. He was asked "what were your first impressions of James and can you remember anything of that first day you spent together?"

Ulrich responded, "I remember connecting with him. I could see that, even though he was painfully shy or whatever, that there were some distinctive similarities.

"I spent six months talking to people about heavy metal, and they'd mention Styx, Journey, KISS or whatever. I'd talk about Angel Witch, Diamond Head or Tygers Of Pan Tang.

He had a connection to the music and the things I was throwing out there that seemed a little more authentic or trustworthy. Not much happened during that first meeting because he was kind of the wing man, or the plus one, for a guy named Hugh [Tanner, who played in Leather Charm with Hetfield].

"If James was sitting here, he'd tell you that the drum kit I showed up with was in such bad shape that every time I hit the cymbal, it kept falling over - which is accurate.

"Hetfield and I ended up staying in touch, and when I came back from travelling in Europe a few months later, I called him up and said, 'Hey, do you want to play and see what happens?'. And he was up for it." Check out the feature here.