Lars Defends His Drum Sound & Production On St. Anger

Deadly Embrace

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Feb 27, 2002
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METALLICA's ULRICH Defends Snare-Drum Sound On 'St. Anger'
METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich called into "The Cane Show" on 92.3 K-Rock on Wednesday (August 20) to announce the band's upcoming club gig at New York's 500-capacity Bowery Ballroom on Aug. 29. During the conversation, Ulrich was asked to comment on the incessant criticism leveled at the group over the sound of their latest CD, "St. Anger".

"If that's what it's about to you… Like, people sit there and go, 'I can't listen to the record because of the way it sounds.' It's like, 'Peace'. [laughing] It's fine," he said. "It sounds fine to me, and when I hear it, I love, and I know Kirk [Hammett] and James [Hetfield] feel pretty much the same way. And it's sort of like, there's four million people around the world that have bought this thing, and if nobody can listen to it, then there's four million copies of it sitting around… I don't know. It's just kind of so weird to me… Especially, we were in Germany over the weekend… [imitating the German accent] 'Vat's this the snare sound?' and 'It's very difficult to listen to the record with the snare sound.' I go, 'You know what? Let me paint a picture for you, OK?! Let's flip this one around. Let's say every hard rock record that came out had a snare sound like 'St. Anger', right? Then all of a sudden, METALLICA would put a record out that had a snare sound like, say, I don't know, 'The Black Album', everybody would sit there and go, 'What the fuck are they doing?' 'What's with this fuckin' 'Black Album' snare sound?' 'Why doesn't it sound like the 'St. Anger'…?'' You know what I mean?! As soon as you do something that people are not quite used to… that's the one thing about, like, hard rock audiences, especially over in Europe and stuff, they're very, very conservative — everything has to be a specific way, and the minute you change on iota of it, it's like, 'Oh, my God. I can't deal with it. My hard rock world is crumbling.' OK, you can't listen to the record because of the snare sound?' You know what? Then don't listen to the fuckin' record. That's the nature of being in METALLICA — we just sort of seem to get a reaction out of everything we do, but we're pretty used to it. I'm fuckin' psyched about the record, and so are a bunch of other people, so it's all good." Listen to the five-minute interview here.


From BlabberMouth.Net
 
to be honest, lars dude - you are full of shit...

I have to say, i find it slightly offensive the way that he said that we europeans are very conservative...
for fucksake, europeans? it's more like the entire population of metallica fans really.... jeeez man! get it right!
i'd say those four million people who bought the album are probably mostly just really gullable and didn't know what they were buying, i mean, we were told in nearly all the major music magazines etc. that it was 'super heavy and brutal, and that 'metal' was back'...
well they certainly were paid to say that, as they were either stupid or they were lying!

well anyway, i bought it... and i feel ripped off just a a tad!
 
Yeah, the drum sound and general crapass production really screwed the pooch on that album. Frantic sounded WAY better live with a real drumset as opposed to Lars's extra kitchen accessories...St. Anger, though, was still an utterly worthless song no matter what the production.

That aside, Lars is obviously doing his speciality here...rambling about technical points and basically talking circles around the interview until everyone forgets what the hell he was talking about. Nobody's gotten a straight answer out of that guy on ANYTHING since he was asked about the war.
 
I will just say to Lars that this snare sound is not new, just shitty, reminds me the bathory or all this True-recorded-in-the-forest-black metal album

Listen Under The Sign Of The Black Mark of Bathory and you'll see

European just fuck St Anger up, because they just know what Black Metal is, and that this snare has just been caught to the first work of Hellhammer, or from the rythm box of Quorthon :loco:
 
Well, when I was thirteen, me, my brother and my cousin played songs and recorded them on a boom box, my brother played a kit that consisted of practice snare(this was the bass drum sound), a cardboard box(this was the snare sound), and a silver ware orginezer filled with forks and shit(cymbals) I just listened to a tape we recorded back then, and I have to say, the "drums" sound 100% better than Stank Manger. Lars's sound really has to be one of the all time pathetic things in the world, right up there with skinners and new style hip-hop.
 
Deadly Embrace said:
And it's sort of like, there's four million people around the world that have bought this thing, and if nobody can listen to it, then there's four million copies of it sitting.....
.....IN MY TRASH CAN.....


As soon as you do something that people are not quite used to… that's the one thing about, like, hard rock audiences, especially over in Europe and stuff, they're very, very conservative — everything has to be a specific way, and the minute you change on iota of it, it's like, 'Oh, my God. I can't deal with it. My hard rock world is crumbling.'

ESPECIALLY IN EUROPE????? DO YOU THINK HE MIGHT POSSIBLY BE SAYING EUROPEANS BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY MIGHT BE SELLING MORE IN AMERICA? I THINK HE KNOWS THEY FUCKED UP.....OVERHYPED THE WHOLE ALBUM.


OK, you can't listen to the record because of the snare sound?' You know what? Then don't listen to the fuckin' record.................FIRST INTELLIGENT THING HE'S SAID SO FAR.

I'm fuckin' psyched about the record, and so are a bunch of other people, so it's all good."..........A BUNCH OF OTHER PEOPLE? AND HOW MANY IS THAT? TEN??????
 
Lars is so out of touch. That in combination with being in denial about the pathetic state of his own current music. They need to finally realize the band is way past its prime and the hands of time only run forward. In just a few years they'll be playing Konocti Harbor Resort with Eddie Money and Boz Skaggs.