Metallica frontman James Hetfield entered rehab in September 2019, and made his first public appearance since that was revealed last week at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, CA. During the car show, Hetfield was interviewed and when asked what the future holds for the band, Hetfield doesn't seem to be clued in on too many plans.
Right now, the band have five major US festival gigs lined up and a South American tour, but after that, Papa Het is not sure what the band has planned. When asked if there are any plans to release a new Metallica album, Hetfield responded:
“That’s a great question. We don’t know,” Hetfield said. “Right now, I’m sitting in Petersen Museum, and I don’t know what’s gonna happen next. That’s the beauty of this. We’ll sit down and figure out what works best for us. Whatever is coming up, we don’t know. And we kind of thrive off of the fear of the unknown — a bit — and being scared just enough to feel alive.”
Previously, guitarist Kirk Hammett has said he had "a ton of riffs ready" for a new Metallica album. Bassist Robert Trujillo said in a separate interview that fans wouldn't have to wait another eight years for a new album (the time between their previous album releases).
During the same Q&A session, Hetfield opened up about when the band started and why he decided to be the frontman. “In the ’80s, in L.A., guitar players, everyone was trying to be Eddie Van Halen, and there was millions of guitar players. Every band was looking for a singer … so I sold my guitar, sold my amp and bought a P.A. and a mic, and I wanted to be a singer.”
He added, “And then when I met Lars [Ulrich] again, I told him, ‘Oh, I’m not playing guitar anymore. I’m just singing.’ He was, like, ‘Well, we’ll look for a guitar player.’ And then no one could play the guitar like we needed, so I [went back to playing] the guitar. ‘We’ll just look for a singer now.’ And then no one could sing like [we wanted them to], so I [said], ‘Okay, I’ll sing until we find a singer.'”
Overall, we're just happy that Hetfield is in a good place. We're rooting for him. Watch the full interview below. Here are Metallica's scheduled US gigs.
- Epicenter (May 1-3) at its new location at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC [Tickets]
- Welcome To Rockville (May 8-10) at its new location at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, FL [Tickets]
- Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival (May 15-17) at MAPFRE Stadium in Columbus, OH [Tickets]
- Louder Than Life (September 18-20) at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center in Louisville, KY [Tickets]
- Aftershock (October 9-11) at Discovery Park in Sacramento, CA [Tickets]
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