Lars Ulrich
He's one of the most famous drummers, he has something to say about everything and he made history in the world of music with the only band he is playing with, ladies and gentlemen please welcome:
Lars Ulrich !!!
(Photo: Unknown)
= He was born on December 26, 1963, in Gentofte, Denmark to a mother with Jewish roots and a father with German roots. His family was professional tennis players. His father and grandfather were tennis players who played in official competitions.
= His parents wanted him to go on their path so Lars started learning the game of tennis like his father and he too became a professional player and was among the promising players.
= At the age of 9, his father took him to a "Deep Purple" show in Copenhagen, thus forming Lars' essential initial connection with music.
= At the age of 13, his father bought him his first drum set which was a Ludwig brand.
= At the age of 17, he moved with his family to California USA, among other things to develop his professional tennis career. He failed to qualify for the school's tennis team and from there, his path changed.
= A special event that navigated his musical future was the show of the band "Diamond Head". Lars who was a fan of the band went to see its performance in London. When he returned to the US he decided to form a band and published a "job" ad in a local newspaper called The Recycler.
= The ad said:
"Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head, and Iron Maiden."
Two guitarists responded to the ad, James Hetfield and, Hugh Tanner, guess who took the "job"...?
It is also interesting that Dave Mustaine later responded to the same ad...
= In 1981 the band "Metallica" was formed by Lars and James. Lars took the name from his friend Ron Quintana who was looking for a name for his band and was debating between Metallica and Metal Mania.
(Photo: Paul Natkin)
= The band's musical style has made it one of the "Big Four" bands that founded the Thrash Metal genre along with "Slayer", "Megadeth", "Anthrax" and we like to add a fifth that also arrived a bit later "Testament".
= Lars and James are the main writers and also the leaders of the band. When Lars is the business mind behind everything that happens in the band and he is the one who brought it to where it is today from the business/marketing perspective. The first song the two wrote and the first song they performed with for the first time was "Hit The Lights".
= Metallica has released 10 studio albums to date: Kill 'Em All (1983), Ride the Lightning (1984), Master of Puppets (1986), ... And Justice for All (1988), Metallica (1991), Load (1996 ), Reload (1997), St. Anger (2003), Death Magnetic (2008) and Hardwired...to Self-Destruct (2016).
= Metallica's 11th album should be released in April 2023 and will be called "72 Seasons", the album will span over 77 minutes and include 12 songs. It was produced by Greg Fidelman, James Hetfield, and Lars Ulrich. The band also announced a tour called "M72 TOUR" which will be held in Europe and North America in 2023 and 2024. The band will perform twice in each city on the tour with the promise that a completely different setlist will play each night.
= In addition to the studio albums, the band also released the mini-album The $ 5.98 E.P .: Garage Days Re-Revisited whose recordings began in the garage of Lars' home, and the double album Garage Inc which included cover versions for bands that Lars and the band adored.
= In addition, the band has released a large number of live albums. Two albums we must mention and in our opinion constitute huge moments in the band's history are the S&M duo. The first took place in 1999 and the second in 2020, a performance in which the band combines its music with the San Francisco Orchestra. This is how you combine rock music with a symphony !!
= Following Metallica's first albums, Lars became one of the greatest drummers of the metal world. The fast rhythms, the use of double bass, and the complex songs played on his monstrous drum set, earned him a variety of titles.
= From the "black album", Lars changed his drumming style and so did the band's musical style. The rhythms have become slower, and simple transitions and a very simple structure of songs, really 180 degrees from the initial style, although in the band's recent albums we feel a bit back to the old style.
(Photo: Elektra)
= If we've already talked about the "black album", then it's interesting to note that one of the names originally offered to the album was Married To Metal. This was due to the fact that Kirk, Lars and Jason got divorced during its recording.
= Apart from the band's first four albums which are today considered milestones in the world of music, there are three other albums that were significant milestones, not only for the band but also for Lars personally / musically.
= The much talked about "black album", the sound of the drums on this album was groundbreaking.
A revolutionary sound that went from the flat and short sounds to exploding and long sounds. Every hit on the tom-tom, the snare, the bass drum, or the cymbals, was accompanied by insane depth, volume, and continuity. Every part of the drum set was given a scandalous power factor and this gave the sound of the drums something that had not been heard until then.
(Photo: Unknown)
= The second album is "St. Anger". The band was in a severe crisis and tried to get out of it by changing processes, changing work form, and musical style. Lars also tried something new... Just for the sake of technical understanding (which we think is important here), under the snare drum, there are iron coils that cling to the bottom of the drum. The normal sound of the snare is when these coils are stretched and attached to the lower skin of the snare by the lever. When the lever is not closed, these coils are loose and the sound that is obtained is a combination of a tom-tom drum with a metallic echo. During one of the rehearsals, Lars "forgot" to close the lever and attach the coils and when he started playing he really liked the sound and decided to keep it throughout the recording of the album.
We are sure he will never forget this.
= The third album is "LuLu", Metallica's famous and infamous project with singer and musician Lou Reed. Both sides were moved to tears by the work and the result of the album, Metallica members said they were excited every day to work with Lou Reid in the studio, and Lou Reid said Metallica got the best out of him. We are left speechless...
= Lars, who has the ability to speak non-stop, took on the role of the band's spokesman. This is particularly noticeable in the case of Metallica v. Napster, Inc. Metallica decided to sue Napster for copyright infringement as it allowed the band's songs to be shared. Metallica and especially Lars got a lot of criticism from the fans and the audience about their conduct. Today Lars is quite sorry for his and the band's conduct in the case.
(Photo: Metallica PR)
= In 1998 Lars set up a record company called Music Company together with the band's accountant Tim Duffy. The company was not a success and closed in 2002.
= Lars is the first Dane to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Metallica was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2009. If we have already mentioned the Hall of Fame, Lars gave the induct speech of his teenage love band Deep Purple to the Hall of Fame in 2016.
= Throughout his musical career he played exclusively in Metallica except for one single case. He played the song "Return of the Vampire" which was released in 1993 on the album In The Shadows by the band Mercyful Fate which he admired.
= When recording the album Master Of Puppets, Lars was looking for the sound and the special snare "Black Beauty" of the Ludwig drum company, even though he had always played Tama. Since QPrime, Metallica's management company, is also Def Leppard's management company and their drummer Rick Allen has the exact same snare, Lars asked that they send him the snare to Copenhagen because he was not present. Rick went through a difficult and famous accident that left him with one hand at the time, so the management company agreed to Lars' demand and sent him the snare (but Lars eventually managed to find the snare in Copenhagen until it arrived).
= Other interesting facts about Lars and the Master Of Puppets album are: 1. He approached Geddy Lee from Rush to produce the album for them, but he was unavailable. 2. He took drum lessons during the recordings.
= Megadeth's album named Risk and his musical direction were influenced by Lars who told Dave Mustaine that he needed to take more risks when it came to the band's musical style.
= In 2017, Lars received from the Queen of Denmark Margrethe II the title of knight belonging to the Order of the Dannebrog.
= In 1995, the AHEAD brand created drumsticks made of metal (without wood) with Lars' signature. Before using these sticks, Lars used to develop blisters on his hands from playing, so he used plasters with which he would wrap his fingers.
(Photo: Unknown)
= Lars is a famous private art curator and holds a collection of sculptures, paintings, and other works of art, by famous artists worth tens of millions of dollars.
Listen to Metallica's latest album on: Spotify, Apple Music