METALLICA: CLIFF BURTON's Last-Ever Interview To Be Published - July 8, 2004
Sweden Rock magazine (web site) will publish the last-ever interview with METALLICA bassist Cliff Burton in their July 20 issue.
It is commonly believed that the last interview with Cliff was conducted by Garry Sharpe-Young when METALLICA visited the Birmingham Odeon on September 20, 1986, one week before his death (Garry sheds some light on that interview in a new book by Joel McIver called "And Justice for All: The Truth About Metallica" but has never published it despite getting several offers from both publishers and record companies).
However, Garry's interview was only second to last. The last interview ever was conducted by Swedish journalist Jörgen Holmstedt in Stockholm on September 26, just 14 hours before Cliff's death. The interview, and the photo session that followed, were originally conducted for Swedish pop/teen magazine Okej and will now be published in their entirety (in Swedish) in the July 20 edition of Sweden Rock magazine as part of an extensive in-depth piece on Cliff's last 24 hours on earth.
In the interview, Cliff talks about the bands tour, predicts the demise of the then-new thrash metal scene, suggests that the band might experiment with softer music in the future and that they may use a big name producer in the future, to be able to work faster in the studio (!). He also talks about the success of the band's then-new album "Master of Puppets", the band's financial status and, amazingly, mentions the bus that would claim his life only 14 hours later. A few quotes (translated from the Swedish text):
Sweden Rock: Now that you have made it to the top, or at least are close to it, is it everything you hoped it would be?
Cliff Burton: We have more things to do, that's for sure. But you don't think like that, what you expect. Just keep going like crazy and look back when it's over. Otherwise you just get confused.
Sweden Rock: You should at least be earning more money nowadays?
Cliff Burton: "Well we should, ha ha! We have a bit more pocket money now and we are expecting more from the sales of the latest album. We have survived. Touring is nicer now that we have a better bus and stuff."
Along with the interview, the 12-page Cliff Burton story features interviews with remaining members of METALLICA, their crew and the tour's special guests ANTHRAX, the police officer in charge of the investigation of the bus crash, the photographer who documented the bus crash, Swedish record label executive Tomas Sunmo and several others who were in contact with Cliff during his last 24 hours on earth. It also contains previously unpublished photographs taken during the interview, the last photo session and the site of the bus crash.
