It’s never too late to begin. After a 30-year-long wait for Indian fans, the Metal heavyweights Metallica finally landed in the country.
Pleased as punch at having a chance to play for a huge young fanbase in the country, vocalist James Hetfield said, “We’re hopeful of seeing a lot of love and explosive passion (in India) — which is exactly what we’re bringing to them. We can only thank them (fans) for playing our music because we wouldn’t be here without them. It has hopefully inspired them.”
Formed in 1981 in a “sweaty garage in California”, James believes it’s just their love for music that brought the band together and recalling their sentiments back then, says, “We felt lucky to bag a gig, get a show, and we never planned whatever happened.”
And this being the 30th year since their formation, the band has planned a special treat for fans back in the US. Drummer Lars Ulrich, informs, “We’ll be playing at Philmore, San Francisco, to the members of the fan club for a week. It will be a great week of celebration — we’ll have lots of shows, special guests — all in the second week of December.”
To the dismay of a few fans who were hoping to see the Gods of thrash metal — the Big Four — Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth — the band said that the Big Four had no plans in the pipeline of visiting India in the near future.
Lars said he is a big fan of the F1 extravaganza, primarily because of the legendary Brazilian racer, Ayrton Senna. He adds that he has seen Senna’s biopic and feels it’s the “movie of the summer”. “I’ve seen the Senna documentary 6 times already. It totally blew me away. I’ve heard Senna’s nephew, Bruno (Senna) is racing here and we’re looking forward to going to the F1 tracks as well,” Lars said. “Saints of Anger”, as they’re often referred as, know a fair bit about Indian musicians and how it is the spiritual centre of the globe.
Robert Trujillo, the bassist, says, “I’ve seen Zakir Hussain perform on the tabla and he is like Slayer on steroids. Phenomenal.” Guitarist Kirk Hammett chips in, “Ours is the music of Kali (goddess of destruction).”