James Metal Edge Presents Metallica

«back to Interviews Metal Edge Presents Metallica, September 96

ME: Were the lryics on Load a challenge for you?
James: Yes, I think so. First, the number of songs. On some of the other records we'd have eight or ten and one was an instrumental, so I'd just have to come up with seven sets of lyrics. This time, we wrote f*cking 28 songs. I was freaking. I could not belive we were going to do 28. I said, "hey, this is going to take a while if we want some quality sh*t happening."
ME: Are lyrics always after music?
James: This is the new way. The old way was you have a list of titles and a list of subjects and you kind of join them. It's kinda like that test thing; you have A through H and 1 through whatever it is, and join 'em. Then I'd have to sit and write lyrics around that subject. Now, it's "all right, I'll just sit down and f*cking write some lyrics and then we'll name it." It was almost too simple of a concept. When you hang around with a group of guys, or at school, why is that guy called "Chubby" or why is that guy called "Skidmarks"? They get nicknames because of their character. We find the character in each song and name it.
ME: With regard to Lollapalooza, how much input and control did you have over the opening bands?
James: Boy. You know, there's a lot of political bullsh*t that goes on with festivals. Particularly with this festival. Obviously there are certain people who are freaking. I love this. Metallica are hated once again. I love that. We're not about to f*ck sh*t up, but when we're asked to do a festival, okay, we'll come play it. There are all these, whatever you want to call them, "alternative elitists," who can't see. Oh, the big Metalliwheel is coming to crush everything. Ohhhhh, the big machine, it's over. Everyone is just freaking out. We're there to play some music. If it's a true alternative festival, you need all types of music, so we're upholding the heavier end of it all.
ME: All the members of Metallica have diverse musical tastes personally; would Metallica fans be open to seeing someone like Leonard Cohen open for you guys?
James: I like music for my tastes. I don't want to force people to like anything. Metallica has always said think for yourselves. How our hair is, what we wear; we're not trying to create any trend. Obviously not! But...I'd like to see some acts I like. I don't wanna force my way into saying, "He's gotta be on or else!" I don't give a sh*t. There's some stuff I like, and I brought up a few names, people went "f*ck off," and I went "fine."
ME: The whole vibe of Load is different from Metallica. Is there any way you can characterize the difference between the "black album" and this one?
James: A couple of quicker ones, though I don't know if they're going to be on this particular record. There's one song that's probably the longest song we've ever written, in the midst of all these shorter ones. The song is nearing 10 minutes. It's into the "Kashmir" territory in length. You put it on when you want to get some chick all... Anyway!
ME: "Relaxed" was a word I've heard associated with the recording of Load.
James: Wherever we go, we control the vibe! (Laughs) Bob's [Rock, the producer] a pretty mellow guy. He's pretty laid back. We're sometimes hard to work with. When we know what we want, that's it, you'd better get out of the way! Last album we gave Bob a bunch of gray hairs. There's a twitch in his eye that won't go away! It remains (Laughs heartily). But Bob, what did Motley Crue give you? We gave you gray hair and a twitch! They'll stay with you forever!
ME: Metallica are often lighthearted and crazy in person, yet almost always serious on records. Why?
James: People do wonder about that. We don't like being clowns on record. This is serious sh*t. When it comes down to music, we're serious as a heart attack. Humor is no doubt a part of our lives and lifestyles. You have to be humorous or else you're gonna get sucked under. There might be a couple songs that are a little more tounge in cheek, or sarcasm directed at ourselves. That's about as far as it goes. Stuff like Garage Days, all the covers, that was kinda goofy. It was fun, Jason was just coming into the group, we just went in and bashed them out. It's fun, but it gets a little old. I'd rather be more serious about the tunes.
ME: Did anyone outside the band co-write or play on Load?
James: Yeah, me and Axl are doing a duet on this. (Laughs Heartily.) No, no guests. Just the spirit of Bob's twitching eye! No, that's just not us. We do talk about it sometimes; "What if we got this guy to do this? No, why don't we just do it?" Why don't I try it in that style. I want to do it. There's no lack of wanting to do sh*t here.
ME: What did you learn or try new?
James: Maybe some talking stuff; not narration, but just a little more moody stuff like that. I had a vocal coach for a while on the "black record." We sang like six of the tunes, and, my voice just went. I basically just wasn't taking care of it. I went to some opera guy in L.A. I needed a few tips on warming up. I was freaking. I'm like, "I'm not going to sing like this dude. Am I going to come out singing Pavarotti or what?" But he showed me a few techniques, for breathing. If you're going skiing, you take one hour of lessons, and you go "aha, I can take that now and do it my way." He helped me regain my voice. I worked it back to health. Now I take my warmup cassette on tour.

«back to Interviews