A YEAR AND A HALF IN THE LIFE... TRANSCRIPTION
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e-mail me. Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica - Part 1 Transcription (By Tim Anesbury) Begins with 'My Friend of Misery' and there's a guy making the old MetallicA logo out of steel. After the title comes up, it cuts to fans talking about the new album, "Metallica" Some guy - SAD BUT TRUE! THROUGH THE NEVER!! Curly haired girl [about The Unforgiven] - Listen to the words. It talks about people that, I don't know, either can't forgive or the people that are, that die, unforgiven by others. Some guy - Aaaaaah!!! Long haired guy - Be yourself, live free. Guy with hat - Parents don't think anything about Metallica. They just ignore it. Some guy - ENTER SANDMAN!!! Bald guy - Finally someone in the middle's saying something right...DRY!! Guy with long brown hair - Uh, just fuckin reality. You know what I'm sayin? Some shit just can't change, you just cant change some shit like that. Some guy - I wanna be listening to Metallica albums when I'm fuckin' 80 man. Guy with moustache [about The Unforgiven] - This is a man who's guilty in his mind. He always holds the key, but he doesn't know how to release himself. He's not imprisoned by anyone but himself. Funny Afro Guy - Uh, probably "Wherever I May Roam". Uh, just the fact that it's about, you know...even after you die, you can hopefully go on, you know? Now we are at One-on-One Recording Studios in North Hollywood, LA We come through a door that has the number '5253' on it. Lars - Valuable studio time. They play 'Enter Sandman' Lars - There was something about this project, from the day that we started writing 'Sandman'. That just, it felt, just like a mutherfucker. James - Well the songs we had, were quite a bit more simple, uh...a little more to the point. Uh, we realised that we needed a little more thickness in the sound, a little more muscle. Bob - That was real good Lars. Kirk - The recording studio this album at was in North Hollywood called 'One on One' and...we went in, god...October? October, and we didn't walk outta that place 'til some time in May or June. I don't know, It's kinda blurry know. Bob - James, You still thinking of maybe using some kids on the middle section? James - Just one. Bob - Just one, to do which, which...the part before you come in with the low voice? James - Yeah. Cuz that whole section was in E. Bob - And then it goes up. James - I have like a dad teaching his kid that. So I got the idea, he'd say one line and this kid would repeat it. It's gonna be cool. Bob - It's gonna be real cool. Lars - So it was just like you know, a little bit like building a house. You know, If you have a good foundation, then I remember yeah. I'll be there. Your pounding away. The other guys will be around the drum kit. You know banging away, and there'll be all this energy coming from it. Bob - Keep the dynamics kinda cool on the hi-hat though. Just like, in terms of the back beat. You know. The big back beat, that Lars Ulrich kinda snap on the old snare. Huh? Jason - Woooooooo!!! Bob - Lars. Will you...you make the next couple versions a little more peppery off the top, put a little more weight into it. Lars - If you want weight, I'm your fucking guy. James - A little weight won't hurt anyone. Because wait for it. Bob - Jesus. Lars - I don't mind being the butt of jokes, as long as they're as low as mine. Bob - There you go! There you go. Lars - I think we kinda all 'fessed up to the fact that we just needed to bring somebody else into our tightly knit organisation and work with us in the studio and, the only name that actually ever came up was this guy named Bob Rock. So me and James flew up to Vancouver hung out with him for a couple days and it was like, the vibe was there right away. Bob - One of the first bands I ever did, was a band called the 'The Subhumans' Dimwit was the drummer. I think it was Brad Cont played guitar...no, Brad Cont was in 'Rabid'. Jerry Useless who went to jail for 20 years for anarchy, blew up a BC-Hydro Substation here. Shithead was in D.O.A, who was the guitar player? Oh. The Subhunans...Subhumans! Then I did the 'Pointed Sticks' I did 'The Dills'. The Young Canadians, the Kaytels. They did Let's go to Fuckin Hawaii. Let's see, Loverboy.....Tah ha ha ha ha ha ha! Bob - Oh what's that Rand? Randy - Motely Crue. Bob - Motery Crue? Randy - Motery Crue. Bob - We're gonna have to, we're gonna have to leave now. James - Well, we can't really write songs together. Over tour, basically just getting riffs here and there. Bring out the four-track. I got this Fostex 4-track that I've had since '84 or somethin. There's you know, Ride the Lightning riffs on it, you know. Bob [to James] - You get a job at El Compadre' Kirk - For instance, the main riff in 'Sandman' was, was just something that I wrote one night, you know 3:00 in the morning. Kirk - That's how I come up with like, a lotta the stuff that ends up on albums. Just like, just like jammin' at 3:00 in the morning. Kirk - And when it cam time to start you know, getting songs together, Lars called me up and said "Hey, there's this great riff you know, on your tape" I go "What are you talkin about?" He played it to me over the phone. I go "Oh yeah I remember that." That was only like, the second or third time I'd ever listened to it. Lars - "Bow now now now now". And then, the tail on it. I suggested that he do like 3 of the "Wow na now now now" Three of those, and then the tail on it. Jason - On guitar, mandalin or bass or whatever. It's the idea and he'd just put it on tape. Then later on, somehwhere down the line, it could be 6 months, 6 days, 6 hours later. Kirk - James usually like you know, he contributes most of the music. And Lars, contributes, like, arrangement ideas and such. And then we'll all com in and uh, see how it feels four of us playing, playing the song. James - 'Sad But True' is at least a title that has ben around for a long old time. 'Struggle Within' has. 'Enter Sandman' I think, has been around the longest. You know, everyone's going "What the hell does that mean?" Bob [to Lars] - So 120? Lars - 121 Bob - 120 kicks in 121 Lars - Feel that rock, feel it? Feel it? Lars - And then back to 121 for when that tom's set to come in the middle. Bob - We want 120 guitar. Only 121 on those toms. Lars - 123 for the body of the song. Jason - There was this guy, um...that we'd known for maybe 2 days or something. Then he comes into the rear. So we're playing these songs you know, and he's got a timer and he's writing down these notes. He'd say "Maybe we should do," you know "take that little bit longer." You know, "there's too much E all the time and there's this and that and you should do F-sharp there" or something you know. And James he's, you know, his music is his heart. You know, you don't, you don't fuck with it. And so, it was kinda weird for him, I think, the most, because he, not that he'd really say a lotta words or anything. But the guy would say something and he'd kinda like, you know he could like burn a hole with his eyes. He's like "What are you talkin about? This is my music" You know. And eventually we tried it. We tried the idea and, and it's a lot of time and work becuase Bob has uh, amazing musical vision and you know, foresight is really cool. James - A day in the studio. Well, a day in the studio, well was actually it's pretty nocturnal. There's no fuckin windows there. You can't tell what the hell time of day it is. As far as the drum tracks, Lars likes to work at night. Sleep all day. And uh, I'm pretty much the opposite. Lars [in his car] - Come on!! Come on. That wasn't the hollywood way was it? Come on dickhead! Come on DICKHEAD!! There we go. There we go, clean road. James - We'd say you know, OK. We'll come in a 3 in the afternoon and you know, I'd be there. Lars [still in his car] - I don't understand it. They paint white lines on the road so they say "You can't drive there" but, they don't actually put anything there to prevent you from driving on like, fucking nails or...Ok. Good enough for fuckin us isn't it? Beautiful. James - He'd get there at 4, then he'd have to eat, then he'd take a nap, then the fuckin... You know it wouldn't be till 7, he'd get a stick in his hand. Lars - Hey Bob, you're a rock drummer. Bob, can't you play drums? Bob -Show me some Payola riffs man. ....I don't think "Payola" is correct but that's what it sounds like to me Lars [to Hotel Guy] - WHAT?!! Hotel Guy [to Lars] - You got a phone call. Lars - Get the FUCK outta here!!! See? Fully clean. James - You know, basically it's start whenever. Certain people were "Ready to go" and ha ha! Bob - Hurry up Lars, we gotta get these first 4 drum kits. Oh, the camera's on. Oh. Cameraman [to Lars] - Where's your cape? Bob - OK let's rock. It's fuckin 2:00 in the morning. There's nobody in L.A. right now who's having any fun. They're all in bed. We're here so let's fuckin, rock. Bob [to Lars] - So, it was quite good. It was a little ragged partwise though. You know um, you were missing cymbal crashes and... Lars - I have my first set patterns. I'm very, very, very moody. As I'm sure the other guys probably told you! Jason - Oh, jesus Kirk - Well... Lars - I'm very like, vibe already, and like this time I just want to get more of a kind of swingin, kinda just rythymic kinda some shit goin' on back on the drums. James - You wanna hear it with vocals? Go sing it. My throat is really fucked up right now. I wouldn't ask you to do a drum roll if your arm fell off. Bob - Ha ha ha haa ha!! I'm sorry., I'm sorry I laughed. James - The vocal line goes exactly with the guitar. Lars - Just one verse and one chorus. That's all I ask. Is that too much to ask? Bob - No, it isn't. But I think James made himself quite clear. I don't give a fuck. Sure, let's do it. James, fuckin blow your voice out man. James - No man. Bob - Then Lars won't have a vocalist at all tomorrow to fuckin cut his track. Lars - We don't have to do the whole song. Just the verse and the chorus. [to James] If you ever need a drum roll... James - If I ever need a drummer. Lars - If you ever need a drum roll to figure out a vocal line. James - That'll happen. Kirk - Cutting the drum tracks like that was, was inspirational in that, we all played together, just like we would at rehearsal. And uh, everyone was goin onto you know a seperate track, but uh, Lars drums were going onto the master. James - Everyone had to put up with uh, the "Drum tracks" which were always really fun. So I wouldn't be the only one uh, in LIVING HELL! Lars - We keep playing the lights here you won't have to drive it in tomorrow <--I know that part above can't possibly be right, so if you know what it really is, please e-mail me--> James - We gotta do it anyway Lars - What? James - We gotta sit and fiddle with tomorrow anyway. Right? Lars - I'd rather do it tonight than do it tomorrow. So if we keep playing, the other guys can do shit then we won't have to do anymore. James - Fuckin drum solo. Lars - I love the confidence I'm getting. Bob - Oh, I'm totally confident in you Lars. Lars - At least somebody is. Bob - So it goes "Dow dow dow......diow diow diow diow diow diow GA GA! Goo ga boom...." Just kind of imagine that when you're playing again. You know what I mean? James - Hot metal Bob - We're gonna take like 25 minutes here and change the snare head to a new set OK? Lars [to Bob] - Do you feel like I'm all over the place coz if, I know usually tell when I start it. Bob - I'm not sayin you're all over the place. I'm just saying the over-all feel isn't as good. Lars - Yeah. That's probably got a lot to do with the other 3 guys. Bob - Well, I think it's got a lot to do with it. So ah...there you go. We'll just tune up the snare head, we'll do it one more time. And then uh... Lars - Bob's your uncle Bob - Then Bob's your uncle. Jason - The wgole thing was positive as far as everybody playing together. Except sometimes wheh it would take, maybe a few too many takes. We'd get alittle uh, a little upset. Um, but that's gonna happen you know, going through a song 20 times in one day. ['The Unforgiven' video clip] Lars - That's the live version. Can you hear the live version goes in like, a big jam right there? Huh? Kirk - Fever Lars - I can really hear that, like 15 minute fucking guitar solo wailing right there at the end. Bob - Partly guitars. Kirk - Yeah, I can see that too. Lars - Get the support act to come out and play with us. Like 5 guitar players. Like the 'Outlaws'. Kirk - Why don't we just get some people outta the audience like you two did. "Can you play guitar?", "Can you play guitar?!" Lars - It just sounds so good. Coz you don't see that all. Bob - I really lke what you played in the solo there. Actually everything you've played until you played the solo. Lars - Thanks Bob. So it just kinda... Bob - You sure it's the fact that this is our last drum track that you're... Randy - You're sad Lars. Lars - I'm a little sad, yeah. I'm having a really good time. And I know everybody else is, you can tell...the vibe. Bob - Big song, big song on the record. Just for the vibe. Jason - John Smith he was. Lars [to kid's family] - This is where we work. Cancer kid - Hey James, you don't know how much this means to me man. Jason - He came down to the studio with his, with his family. Uh, he'd been diagnosed with cancer. And, he'd been going through, you know therapy, treatment. That sorta stuff. And he was a HUGE Metallica fan, and , I think it was through the 'Make a Wish Foundation' that uh, he...his wish was to come and hang out with Metallica. Cancer kid - I playy more of you guys' music than anything you know...I can't play it all, I can just play a piece. I try, I don't...It's kinda hard, some of the stuff you guys do. Lars - We can't even play it ourselves! [Kid plays 'The Four Horsemen' and the guys join in.] Kirk - I remember playing the song with him, and looking over at him. He had his little guitar and he's playing And god...that kid was in 7th heave. I mean, it was great. Jason - I like to think that we helped, in a small way, to give him little bit something more to fight for. You know, and so...good day. Good feeling that day. James - We wanted to concentrate, a little more on the vocals. James - HEY IS THIS ON?!! James - Never really took the time to, to do that with any of the vocal stuff. Bob - Let's double that. It's pretty good but...it just needs a little more ah, soul or character. A little more 'Hetfield' in there. James - Vocal wise, we tried a couple different things that I hadn;t done before. I would do, basically, what Lars was doing with the drums. It was a master track. If uh, you know a word was wrong ot outta key, we'd punch in that word or whatever. Uh, which was a lot easier. Bob - One more time. Just gota get 'the unforgiven' again. Lars - That's a fuckin great picture. You are the coolest blonde Phil. Phil - Thanks dude. This is Lars Ulrich's favourite magazine because it has large breasted women. Lars - He he he he!! Phil - He also likes 'The Best of Busty', which comes out anually. Lars - You didn't bring any magazines for James. Phil - Yeah, I did. Oh, no... 'Torso', 'Honcho', 'Inches'. Bob Rock used to read this while they were making 'Slippery When Wet'. Lars - Here are Jon Bon Jovi's magazines. He left them here whe he was here last time. Phil - This, no...these are Jason's magazines. 'Uncut' and 'Playguy'. Lars - See? Look. There's an ad for the studio in here. There's an ad for the studio in Uncut. Phil - You wanna watch this Madonna pornographic video. Randy - Yeah Lars - No. NO! Why do you bring all this stuff by? Phil - Go to the road man! Bob - Go from the top. Let's do this first verse man. 'Say you prayers little one!' just try it like that. We're having fun here OK? This is fun James. Ha ha haa! Regular voice. Same delivery. Cool, let's do it. Lars [watching porno] - Oh my god. I can't believe that. Oh my...She's actually doing that?! Phil - It hasn't started yet. Lars - Oh... Phil - That's just the FBI warning. Lars - OK. Phil - Look at that. That's the closest Madonna bush you'll ever see on television. Lars - This is Madonna's new image. It's great. I love it. Phil - Madonnerotica. Lars - Madona always takes chances. It's so good. Look at this James - Attentive doom. He he he!! Uh, the guitars...to kindda keep that close crunch. You know, the tightness, we had to build this kind of a tent thing. Which was basically uh, some some foam walls and some uh, U-Haul blankets and you know...all that. Bob - Now that I like. He does get the Hetfield 'GAA' sound. James - Bob Rock, he worked really good in thinking up all our sounds. You know, especially guitar wise. Uh, you know "It needs a little more UHH!! down here, or you know, a little mid crunch. You know he's you know, exactly kinda what I was looking for. Virgil Hetfield - I think his uh, step-brother uh, played drums and uh, they ah, would have a little band out in the garage. And I think he got inspired by that. Everybody starts out in the garage and either it fades away or it becomes something good. We originally started him on the piano when he was little and his sister and him both took....and he ended up with a guitar. A good friend of his played guitar, and showed him how and I think he did a nice job. But, just listening in there, what you were cutting and he's really improved in guitar playing. Instead of the power chords then he's getting into a little instrumental and...good guitarer...I like that. Lars - Bob and James are there doin James' shit. And then, they have this closet down the hallway heh he!! No, I'm sitting here, listening to all the takes off the floor and uh, trying to make some base notes and trying to you know, just get an idea of what are the best performmances and what are the best shitters from the takes. Lars - The other part of the process of getting the drums together is uh, the drum editing part of it um...you sit down, and you got you know, 20 or 30 takes of songs. Lars [to cameraman] - Go film him or something. Go...see? See that? What he's doing? Now he's putting the pieces together. Isn't that exciting? Lars [about Randy] - Basically Randy "Razorblade" uh, brilliant engineer. He would then basiclly sit and like, cut the tape together. That way you find the bits that have the most spunk and vibe and the most attitude to it. Lars - We have uh, 250 fills for this song. Ha ha ha!! Randy - If you know anybody that needs a couple fills... Lars - Yeah. If you know anybody...yeah we got drum fills for... Bob - We coulda used some of these fills about 4 months back. James - Yeah we gang up on Bob Rock. Huh he!! Lars [about Bob's old band] - Told we had a name check. You weren't just one of the Fiola's? Is that him? Bob - That was the final thing, yeah. They thought since we were so, you know we didn't get anywhere basically, so they thought "let's make this guy the front man and I'm sure all the chicks will go fuckin, gaa gaa after they see him". Consequently, it didn't work either. James - Bob used to be a woman. Lars - Look at tough guy! James - Nice hair colour. Lars - What Bob looked like 10 years ago. Notice only one chin? how come this guys's on the side by himself? Was he like, the leader or the... Bob - Yeah, he's the leader. James - He told you what to do? That girly lookin guy? Lars - No FUCKIN WAY! He looks like my Mom. Good thing there's no record player here, or else it'd get really ugly. Bob - I think you can put 'em down now. Kinda like uh... Jason [in his car] - Wooooaaaaaaaa. Check this out mann, we're mobile. He talks about us selling out. Thinkin that uh, thinking that we're done here and can't write music anymore and that. They're gonna find out - they can't predict what we do. Jason [after losing video game] - There ya go. James - Hey man. Jason - Ooohaahooooo!! Wanting to play bass. A lot of it was done with an amplifier. You know I had one bass and it was an electric bass. And wherever I happened to be I just you know, I'd have to hear it, so I'd hit it really hard. Beating the crap out of it. Now it's part of my style when we play. Bob and Randy couldn't hear the actual noise that was comin outta the speakers. uh, the pick sound was interfering with the with them hearing on the speakers. So, they had to put a wall of foam in front of me so that they didn't hear the pick sound, and they only heard the bass sound outta the speakers out in front. Bob - Look out for the wall of foam there guys. Jason - It takes 10 inches of foam to keep me back. Bob - He's the toughest guy. Jason - On this album, we really went after uh, a rythym section, an actual rythym section. Like it's supposed to be, like everybody else has known about for a long time and we're just not realising it or something. Bob - Lay back that back-beat. Wait for it. Bob - Well, let's straighten up this part now that all the fuckin big brains are here. Lars - Um, which part might that be? Bob - What he's gonna play over the riff. James - I don't like it. Lars - Why like that? Bob - Because it mimics that part that's coming right after it. Jason - That's why I like it. Lars - I kinda dug it too. Jason - That's why I do like it. Bob - Really? really? I mean, we can do it that way. Lars - It's too, it's too... Bob - You're ignoring the dynamics of the song. That's what I'm saying. You're ignoring it. Even your toms don't come thundering like: DO DO DUH DUH!! You know, they're gonna come in like: goo goo gah gah... Yeah that's what I'm saying. The bass should be with you know, maybe doin the same part but, just not fuckin 'GOO GOO GOO GOO!!!' That's what I'm saying. James - Again Randy. Lars - Just got into the groove before... Bob - OK, let's try this Jason. Jason - Uh-KAAAAY!! Jason - We went through a bunch of different basses and all different configurations and amplifiers, and Bob just helped me along the way. You know "What is the bass sound we're trying to achieve here? What's gonna work with the guitars? What's gonna work with the bass drums and not kill 'em?" Cameraman [to Bob] - Why not this huge fuckin lick? Bob - Because the guys in Anthrax and Megadeth would just like tease them so much if it was melodic and nice right? Cameraman - Where's mmy goddamn food? Lars [sees that Stone Cold Crazy won an award] - What? LOOK?! We won. Bob - Booo!! Bob [to James] - You excited about going to do some singing in Vancouver? James - I'm real excited. I've got a chill. Lars - I think everbody kinda got a little burnt in L.A. Bob - <sooking and crying> Lars - Bob really needed like, just a change of like... Bob - Save me... Lars - ...just surroundings for like, a few weeks. Bob - I want everything to stop... James - So we went up to Vanncouver for a couple days, and we'd sing some songs and do ittle guitar things here and there. It was right across from the strip joint too! He he he he!!! James [outside the studio in Vancouver] - It's nice to be in Vancouver outta shithole L.A. but not uh, many things to do at night... Bob - It's a real good Vancouver Tuesday. Catch the evening shift at 'The Five'. That's the number five, the surf club down the street I was telling you about. James - Right. Bob - Yeah. James - We're working all the time. We slave away in there. THen we go out to, then we go out... Bob - Hey! Fucking Hetfield! Come in here. We're recording a goddamn album. What the fuck are you doing? How are you coming out here and fucking looking at trees? I'm tired of this nnature trip you've been on ever since we started taping... James - Peace brother. Can I try on this dress? Bob - We can't fuck around anymore. James - It got fun actually, for a little while, in the studio. Experimmenting with things. Uh, we tried a bunch of different shit, you know. Certain amps like old, uh old Supro that Jimmy Page was using and shit. Uh, some 12-string stuff. You know, a Sitar thing on 'Wherever I May Roam' and that's just the cool thing about guitar. You can kinda get a little wild with it. Bob - Oh, those were fine. It was going back to the D was a little frots. Randy - Frots? Bob - Frots. Bob - Wow huh! Fuckin whoah!! Bob - Let's listen to both of 'em and decide which one sounds best. Think, that's what we should do. We should do the 'Phrowwww' and then we should try and get something that is a little more...has a little more... James - Difference. Bob - Different sound. So it really sticks out. Maybe even like, a Lesley 12-string. Just like we talked about yesterday <Bob notices that James has a really serious expression on his face> what? <James farts then runs away> Randy - Oh you DICK! Bob - HO-LY MOTHER OF GOD!! Randy - Look what he did to my shirt. This was a white shirt when I came in here this morning. Bob - OH GOD HELP!!! Lars - And James and Bob flew up there, did some vocals, guitar and stuff. I came in towards the end of it and helped along with a bunch of production things. Randy - It's James' call Lard. It's James' call man. Lars - Let the recordings begin. Everything that's been put down in the last 4 days, you can erase it. I'm here. Let the real shit begin. James [to Lars] - Did they make you bend over man? Lars - Yeah, we didn't get him, so we're gonna get you instead. Bob [in car] - Oh yeah? I got an idea. Lars - Cool, so where we goin? Hotel guy [to Lars] - Room service Lars - Don't you have anything better to do? Lars [on couch] - The uh, excesses of Vancouver just uh, kinda got to me last night. Bob [to Lars] - Kinda sounds like Amerson link informer doesn't it? Huh Lars? HUH? You happy we're in the digital age huh? Lars - I can't wait till I don't have to play drums anymore. Bob - That's the next album. Lars - We'll show him the song, we'll go out drinking, come back 3 months later and the album's done. Bob - That's it. That's it. Lars - I came into the studio one morning. There's a fucking table like, from here to Gibraltar...that has like, you know like just, tamborines and wood things and shit and things that you know, you shake and I mean just, things you just hit with sticks and with iron. And things that clack. I mean just...any kind of sound you could ever imagine. Bob -You've got an incredible album. You've got fuckin 5, 6 songs that fuck, as far as I'm concerned are gonna be classics. For both you guys, your fans but, also on the radio. The first song that should come off this album is Holier Than Thou. Lars - You know how it sits after he's done the solo. Bob - Yeah, but also...think of the impact that solo has just over the beginning bit. That was a total fuckin track. Then he came back and there was another better vocal...and the guitar thing that goes <sings intro of 'Holier than Thou'> I mean build this, build this "YOU ARE! Holier than..." then you finish up. That's cool dynamics. Kirk - Hetfield's house...we're workin on my solo. Kirk - Ideas for guitar solo's can come from anywhere. I mean, from any instrument. From any sort of rythym. From hearing a piece of music, like it can be classical music, you'll hear a little melody and you'll think "That would go really good in that guitar solo" Bob [to Kirk] - I think probably what it, what It'll probably end up being is maybe that with the Marshall or something. A combo. Kirk - Hey, let's try it. Randy - We're gonna try everything all at once. Kirk - And turn everything up, and play that way. Just let it...rip. Bob [to Kirk] - OK. Let's try another guitar. James - More crappy fuckin photos. Na na na na na na... Kirk [to Japanese people] - Thanks a lot. Bob [to James] - Excellent. James - I get to breath. Randy [to James] - It's better when you don't breath. Bob [agrees with Randy] - It's better when you don't breath. It's got a little more...anxiety to it. James - Heh hoo hoo hoo! Bob - Let's don't do a 'yeah', a 'YEAH!' at the end, do somethin else. 'WOMAN!' James - Child! Bob - FIRE WOMAN! Here we go. Kirk - I'll work out a few things that go with the studio. And um, and check my guitar sound. Make sure it's the same sound it was the previous day, because things have a way of changing over-night. You know, mic's get bumped, you know someone might tweak a knob or something you know, like inadvertantly. Kirk [to Bob] - What's happening? Bob - What the sound isn't right? Kirk - Speaker's rattling, so they're in there fixing it right now. I mean, it sounds good. But, I can hear the rattle when we play the solo. Blond guy [to Kirk] - Speaker...is not happening. Kirk - Well why don't you try hooking up the smaller one? Bob - James fucked it up. Kirk - The small one? How'd he do that? Blond guy - Playing through it... Kirk - I can't believe it. Ow! I GOT SHOCKED!! Man, when I touch that I get, I get shocked. Bob - Well don't touch it. Kirk - Ok, what good advice!! Bob - Don't touch it,, duhh. Lars - Now touch it, and put your foot in the water. Bob - ...the water Kirk - Man, you have to, you have to sop that up... Bob - Is that piss? Kirk [to Blond guy] - Ok, hold this guitar. Blond guy - Did you piss? Kirk - You think I staged that electricution? Fuck!! Kirk - The solo for 'the Unforgiven' came about, pretty much through trial and error and, you know, creative tension. Kirk [to Bob] - Look is there anyway, we can just thick it up, just like a touch? Bob - OK. Let's go back to your regular sound 'cause I wanna do the solo. I don't wanna fuck around with sounds. I'll put it through an an amp later, pick it up. Wimp, he's a fucking wimp. Lars [to Bob about Kirk] - What do you suggest? Suggest that he leaves and comes back? Bob - It's like he's gotta fuckin' eat, sleep and breathe this fuckin solo until it's done. Like fuckin, James put time into 'Nothing'. Songs like these deserve that. It doesn't need fuckin flash. Lars - It's not his style. You know, if he was gonna play something like that, it might take him 6 months. Bob - You can't have, fuckin, the things that he's got goin' on in his fuckin life and try and do this. But, it's just hard to fuckin sit here and fuckin...because it aint gonna happen 'cause he's got guys sittin' down his neck. He's got to put some time into this one. Lars - He's not going to work on it. Bob - Oh, so just let's slap on anything. That's what you're saying. Lars - No! Bob - So what do you suggest? Lars - I didn't suggest anything... Bob [to cameraman] - I've got, fuckin, many years of experience working with some of the finest guitarists ever to bless, fuckin music. One of the first things that happens when a guitar player hasn't done his homework is, he goes "This sound ain't working for me man. I just can't connect". Just thought I'd let you know. "The Bob Rock School of Production". Bob - Remeber what I said about guitar players hat don't do their homework? Yeah remember, just remember that. Kirk - Hey man! I do my homework. I do man! It just doesn't work, when I'm in the studio... Bob [to Kirk] - You know it's like: "Gra coo BOOM! Cdadda doom bo doo! dadda doom oom DOO!!" You know what I mean. It's like should play off. Going up high is just like: "Dehh dehh do duh dehhh...." Where do you go? Lars - Yeah, but if you...I guess what I'm trying to say is, he starts up there and then goes down. And all this shit you said right there is great shit but, I don't see it being any less great if it comes in Bar 2 instead of Bar 1. Bob - Wel, what I'm saying is build, rather than blow your load, bring everybody down and then build it up again. I'm just saying let's fuckin get gutterall and build it to a peak. Because that's why there's the strings and all those changes at the end. Lars - Why can't it start here and go like that? Kirk - Yeah, that's my school of thought. Grab 'em, and like take 'em to this other place and the really tak them to a higher plateau. Fuck man, sound ragin' Bob - Go ahead, impress me. Lars - You got his permission. Bob - Do whatever you want Kirk. Kirk - I have to. Bob - You agree with him? Go for it man. Kirk - Let's cut the shit and start... Bob - Cut to the chase and fuckin play OK? Kirk - Alright man! Bob - Now that you're uh, you know warmed up. Let's hear the fuckin "guitar player of the year" solo. Kirk - It's pretty much, pretty much the type of guitar solo I've been trying to do for us...5 or 6 years. And uh, I'm really proud of that. James - With these songs, there were, there was a lot more breathing space and there was a lot...the vocals really had to take over on um, a lot of the songs. And uh, a lot of the songs were based on vocal lines and things. James [to some guy] - Can you say 'FUCK' on the radio? Some Guy - Sure. [Nothing Else Matters video clip] James - It's the one I was most fearing. Bob - Fearing? You're the almighty Hetfield. The almighty... James [to Bob] - Hmm mm heh heh heh!! Bob - You're a very, fuckin gutsy, brave man. I gotta tell you that. James - Yehhhhhhhh!! And there's that solo "BOOOWAA!!". James [about Bob] - He helped out. As far as uh, giving me some confidence uh, in the things 'cause you know, Nothing Else Matters was "...and nothing" WHAT THE HELL YOU DOIN?!! You know, the rest of the guys... James - Here it is guys. Lars - You saw it here first huh. Pretty exciting huh? Spinal Tap... James - We took all this time with the drums and guitar and everything...you know. Hey, here's the deadline, you got this much space to do vocals. It's like GO! you know...So we're gonna do vocals first on the next album you know. Heh! 'Work around 'em man!!" Heh heh he heh heh he!!! Lars - In late May of '91, we packed up and basically moved the operation over to A & M studios. Finishing off some vocal tracks and doing odds and ends that just weren't really done yet. We would uh, be mixing propbably 75% of the time there. The mixing process is where you take every seperate, individual track that you've recorded and basically mix the whole thing together. At that point in time, you can make the record sound completely fuckin different. You can fuck with everything. Cue-wise, echo-wise, you can balance it, you can pan it, you can put it to the left, you can put all these chambers on it. You can do all this kinda stuff that just radically fucks with whole thing, and I think that we all had a really fine idea of, of just what was the best for this fuckin thing we were doing. ou know, get some big, fat fuckin drums in there and put some layers of massive fuckin rythym guitars and have this bass, just kind of pounding. Lars [to Bob] - And that middle 8 guitar section. Bob - Mmm hmm? Lars - I think it's those accents of the 2nd half of it "Wow now now nowww CAW!" Bob - Mmm hmm? Lars - That could be a little more accented. Bob - What? The, the drum accents? Lars - Yeah. Bob - OK. James - It's nice to have a breather there. Lars - Yeah, good point. Bob - Why don't we do this one without it? James - This snare thing just kinda bugs me. Lars - Yeah, yeah. Peace you know. Peace. James - Just with and accent, it's not as loud. Lars - Shoot it down. Gaaaw!! Idea: Dudududu!!! James [shoots at some debris on the ground with a shotgun] - FUCK! Bob - Shoot it down in flames... James - TOLD YOU I DO NOT FUCK AROUND! Randy - You wanna take that one out too. Bob - Which, which one? Randy - That little fucker. Bob - Only...I want a little more kick. To make sure that first 'GA-GA-GA-GA-GA!' is up OK? Randy - On the drums? On the snare? Bob - No, on the guitar. 'GA-GA-GA-GA-GA!' OK? And a little more kick. Bob [to Lars] - Probably the biggest song of your career right there. Lars - You witnessed it. Bob - The first song I heard. Lars - Yeah, that's true. [whispers] CASHMIR OF THE 90'S! James - I remember a couple of arguments between Lars and me and Bob...you know. Bob gave up too easy though. He he he he!! Bob - What is your problem? Lars - I don't have a problem... Bob - The heavy guitars are not loud enough. Lars - Well when he, walked into dynamics when they come in, you don't see that the heavy guitar's coming. Bob - They're not loud enough. They're not loud enough. What is the problem? Lars - You could start by taking the... Bob - I don't wanna take the other things down. Because, when those things were down, when I heard them...there was nothing there. It needs to be up during the shots. It goes "BOMM! da do di di do di di do di di do BOMM!", it's not "BOMM............BOMM!!" It sounded stupid, so I turned them up because it's the only thing there. It's the only piece of music in those shots besides the drums and the bass so they turned 'em up. So the next section has to come in strong, it DOES come in strong. The only thing that does not come in strong is the guitars. James was in the car. Didn't that...isn't that what it sounded like? Did it sound like Metallica? No. It didn't. It didn't even sound close. The guitars aren't loud enough. I'll let you guys duke it out on this one 'cause frankly, I don't give a fuck. I'm tired of arguing. James - No you're not. Bob - Yes I am. James - No you're not! Lars - He he he he he!!! We're not tired of arguing!! Bob - He he he he he!!!! I'm sick and FUCKIN' tired of arguing! Lars - Well... Jason - That's, that's it. Everybody said to everyone, "I think the drums should be a lot louder, a little bit louder.", "I think the guitars should be a little louder", "Oh, that lead's not loud enough" Time for me to solo now? Ha ha ha ha huh!! You just, you listen to it over and over and over again till you've you know, you've found the places where you wanna boost certain things and where you wanna bring voices in at different spots and you know, strings in bigger and sometimes that. It's a very, very time consuming process. You know, everybody wants to make sure it sounds good as a unit. James [to cameraman] - One more song done, one more 'puss' added to the wall. Lars - The mastering of a record is the process where, after you've mixed down on like a digital master, you then get production masters like and they cut the laquers that they print the cd's and make records from and stuff like that. It's a pretty cool process. Lars [to Bob] - So how does all the cue shootings sound? Bob - Sounds really good. It's pretty minimal. It's just ah, a little bit, in the bottom as in about 100 cycles but it, that varies from tone to tone. Um, and it's all in the mid-rrange and it's all about 1 or 2 Db. Lars - Nothing in the high top. Bob - No. It's pretty in line. It sounds really good. James - Yeah! Poetry! Jason - That's fuckin music Kirk - When the album came out, we were, we were kind of uh, a little bit nervous you know. I, I know I was. I didn't know how our fans would react to it you know, I didn't know how our fans would react to it because it was a bit different. Tabitha Soren [news reporter] - Then on Saturday, the band let thousands of fans at Madison Square Garden listen to their as yet unreleased album, simply called Metallica. Here's a taste of the band's weekend. Tabitha [at Madison Sq. Garden] - Metallica came to Madison Square Garden, but not to perform. Instead, they gave away 19,000 free tickets for fans to come here and listen to their new album which won't be in stores till August 12th. Tabitha [to a fan] - Do you feel ripped off that they're not gonna play? Fan 1 - Yeah. Fan 2 - I don't. Fan 1 - Yep, definitely. Fan 2 - The tickets were free. Tabitha - Usually, listening parties are held so a room full of music business insiders can listen to their new product. But, tonight, everyone was invited. And, it probably sets a record for being the largest listening perty ever. Lars - So, this was a very weird experience you know? Just being in an arena, like there's 15,000 people in there and it's lijke "We can't go up and play!" We'rekinda like walking around backstage going "Whatta we do now?" you know. Plus we hadn't played for like 14 months and we're really like, outta shape. The only annoying thing is, that our album played at the Garden before we did. Tabitha [finishing up] - Metallica is now on their way to drummer Lars Ulrich's hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark. That's were they'll kick off their European tour. Metallica will be back on these shores for a tour in October. Weiner from WEA Manufacturing - What we have here is a duplicating splade...and it's doing an electrical-magnetic process here, putting the music on the cassette tape. Weiner 2 - Here's the CD Monolyer running the new Metallica release. We're actually moulding the uh, CD into Poly-Carbonate and spin coting it, then covering it with a protective coating uh, of uh, poly...uh, clear vinyl. Weiner 3 - This is the final stage of CD operation, the packaging. Uh, what this machine is doing is taking an empty Jewel case and opening it and putting the bottom inlay in it. The inly card in the bottom. Then, the retainer tray is being put in at this end. Record store guy - It is an INCREDIBLE record, and you're gonna hear that when you come pick it up man. We're running all weekend here at NAC and it's gonna continue 'IN YOUR FACE' Southern California. Uh, here in the store, it's kinda almost pandemonium! Fan 1 - Come to LA soon guys, we'll miss you. Fan 2 - Peace. Jason - So far uh, represented ourselves very well I think um, with the videos that we released...and there's been different feelings and different vibes from each one. They're very unique to themselves, and very individual, each one of them. You start to become more accustomed to what takes place and all the people that are involved then start understanding a little better what is supposed to happen. Lars - 15 minute break. When I'm outta condition, it doesn't just fuck me up, it fucks everybody else up. Earlier when we went for the first one, it just...I got a little excited and I just think I was 'pounding metal' too hard you know... James - All the videos have come out pretty cool. Show different sides of us. And uh, at least on the Sandman everyone was you know, putting in heir idea. You know "I get this nightmare where I'm falling..." you know, heh heh!! There were some pretty wild nightmares that came out there that should not ever be seen by anyone heh heh heh heh!!! [Kirk does an impression of the 'scary' monster head] [Enter Sandman video clip] James - Like this, you know, the skinner tune. Yeh, talk finsing that's OK, talk business fuck off...you know. I like to go home you know? I got some really good friends at home and they make you feel good you know. It's like, "shit I'm home" and you know no talkin about the fucking business or nuttin' you know. Try and relax but uh, they like me for who I am am, not the fuckin band shit. Jason - The final product uh, the album was far and above my expectations from, well the first time I heard James and Lars' demo's. It was a feeling of accomplishment, a very big feeling of accomplishment and uh...a good boost for my pride personally as well. Kirk - We all confided with each other. We're all honest with each other and uh, we all realised, you know, how much this really means to all of us. 'Cause the whole thing, the whole 'Metallica' thing will be with us, you know, till our dying day. Lars - If you told me 10 years ago, when we put out Kill 'Em All, that in 1992, we woul have a record that sold almost 9 million copies worldwide that I mean, I'd ask you what kind of drugs you are on and ask you if you could share some of it with me because I mean, let's just face it. there wsn't a lot of people that thought this kind of shit was gonna was gonna happen with this band 'Metallica'. Jason - A Capella. James - 1,2,3,4 [They play Last Caress but don't really try too hard to make it sound that good!] [The credits start to roll] Bob [to cameraman] - Get outta here with that fuckin thing. Lars [to Bob] - The whole documentary is just going to be Bob pointing at the camera saying "Turn it off". You're supposed to pretend it's not here. Kirk [to cameraman] - Furthermore...furthermore, you bad guys better fucking use this place. James [to cameraman] - You're on the damn phone or fucking around. Kirk - The sound crew chasing you around. Well, let's just say well I've gotten very used to it. Randy [to cameraman] - You guys are fuckin boring man. Kirk [to camera crew] - You fuckin use the goddamn phone lines for your fucknig long distance phone calls to your fuckin butt-buddies over in fuckin Brooklyn. Cameraman - I WAS CALLING JAPAN! Whatta you mean Brooklyn?! Lars - Is that what you guys are, a film crew? Oh... Lars - Right when we started making this record in October of 1990, we get a phone call from our manager it's like: Well maybe we should document all this shit. It's like "Sure, OK". If he'd let us in on what kind of hell that we would actually be going through for the next year and a fuckin half, it was like maybe we'd have second thoughts about it. Jason [to cameraman] - Bass? Huh HA!! We're done with that. We don't gotta worry 'bout that anymore. Jason - Huh he he!! Oh you know, having you guys track us down then try to dig into us a little bit. It's been a cool thing I mean really, to look back on the stuff and see what happened and see how stupid we were in some parts and how cool we were in others. Photographer [to Jason] - Alright, thrash. Come on! Jason - Metal!! Uh! uh! Kirk - Dicks. Fuckers. You gys are fuckers. Jason - Assholes. Interviewer [to James] - How'd you feel about having a film crew follow you around? James - Fuckers! Well, you know... James [to cameraman] - Hey man, we're busy...trying to make a fuckin movie. James - You're laying down an important kickass riff that you'll probably forget or never play as good again, and he trips ovr your guitar cord. JESUS!! Bob - I hate that fuckin cameraman! James - what the HELL! Kirk [to film crew] - I can't believe you mutherfuckers. You fuckin lay around, talk on the phone, watch TV, and then when you...and then when you get, you guys get fuckin bored HEY!! And then when you guys get fuckin bored, YOU START FILMING!!! YOU'RE FIRED! The end |
