Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich recently went on a ‘first date’ with a writer at Noisey and explained during their conversation that the current state of music doesn’t really inspire him. Instead he tends to prefer film these days, offering:
“When I enter the film world, that’s when I turn my brain off. Music is not terribly inspiring anymore unfortunately. In the world of film, there are still more creative things happening—it’s more intriguing. Film is definitely my favorite escape. These things [gestures to his smartphone] have a tendency to disrupt your life if you let them, so I guess seeing films is the most immediate disassociation from this damn thing.”
He later added:
“Ten years ago or 30 years ago, it was different. Like, “Oh my god Guns N’ Roses, oh my God who are these Nirvana guys! Oasis!” You were hearing about it, and you wanted to meet them. Nowadays, there aren’t any bands that have had that impact on me. The last time where I was like, “Holy fuck! This really inspires me,” was this band called Sword, from Austin, Texas. Stoner rock, kind of a modern Black Sabbath. Super cool. They showed up seven or eight years ago, and I just had to bring these guys on tour.
There is a Norwegian band called Kvelertak. These bands are few and far between nowadays. This is not a black and white statement. I know more about film than I do about music because I follow it more. That doesn’t mean if something awesome came and slapped me in the face then I wouldn’t embrace it, it just shows up less and less.”
