Ulrich: Metallica 3D movie project influenced by Zeppelin

Easily Led: Lars Ulrich

Drummer Lars Ulrich says Metallica’s forthcoming 3D movie project could be regarded as their answer to Led Zeppelin’s The Song Remains The Same.

Zep’s 1976 film The Song Remains The Same, a companion to the live album of the same name, is based on performance footage from New York’s Madison Square Garden. But it also features several out-of-concert “fantasy sequences” for each of the band members, as well as for manager Peter Grant and tour manager Richard Cole.

“There are similarities [to The Song Remains The Same],” Ulrich reveals in the latest issue of Classic Rock.

“There are four members in Led Zeppelin, four members in Metallica, it’s a full-length movie, and there’s a lot in this film that does not take place onstage.

“The major difference is that the stuff that takes place offstage in the Metallica movie does not feature any members of Metallica. It’s two separate worlds – a Metallica show and a story that unfolds in a parallel universe – and at some point they intertwine.”

Metallica are working with director Nimrod Antal on the 3D movie and filmed their August 24, 2012 concert in Vancouver, Canada, as part of the project. The film is likely to be released this summer.

Metallica are working on new material while they put the finishing touches to the 3D movie. The songs are said to pick up where 2008′s Death Magnetic album left off.

“Death Magnetic is one motherfucker of a record,” said Ulrich. “There aren’t many Metallica records that sound as good as Death Magnetic four years after they were made. With a lot of the other records, there were questions: ‘Why did we do that?’ or ‘What was going on there?’ or ‘Why didn’t somebody say to turn the snare on?’ I don’t feel like that with Death Magnetic. What we’re doing now certainly sounds like
a continuation.”

Rick Rubin produced Death Magnetic but it’s uncertain whether he’ll be involved with the new record’s sonics.

Ulrich commented: “I love Rick. We all love Rick. We’re in touch with Rick constantly. We’ll see where it goes. It would stun me if the record came out in 2013. We’ve got to finish this 3D movie, which is what we’re doing right now.”

Read the full interview with Lars Ulrich in the new issue of Classic Rock, on sale now.

Got an iPad or iPhone? Download our free app to get the digital edition of Classic Rock – plus grab your free awards issue! Simply go here http://goo.gl/z4Yhu (in the UK) or here http://goo.gl/YUnR9 (for the US) to get well and truly digitized.

Buy the print edition from all good newsagents or direct from www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk.

Subscribe to Classic Rock now and save up to 40% – just £10.79 by quarterly direct debit or £46.49 a year.