Lars Ulrich on how Metallica stays 'fiercely autonomous' after 35 years

In the early years of Metallica's success, drummer Lars Ulrich rarely took the time to sit down and think ahead to the future. Thirty-five years later, Ulrich has been able to gain some perspective but the future is still just as unclear to him now as it was then.

When asked about performing their clamourous metal sets in future decades, Ulrich says, "We may be able to still play them, but whether we can bring the weight and energy and the attitude that those songs deserve, I have no idea. Hopefully we'll have enough clarity to be able to tell if it's not working and walk away from it graciously and respectfully."

Even though Ulrich describes Metallica as more of a sports team than an actual band now, citing the amount of "brown rice, nasty protein shakes and trainers stretching us" backstage, the band isn't stopping anytime soon.

In fact, they are currently on tour promoting their 10th studio album, Hardwired...to Self-Destruct. Their first album in eight years, some were quick to correlate lyrics from songs like lead single "Hardwired" to the current political landscape but Ulrich assures that that was not the initial intention of singer and songwriter James Hetfield. 

"When it came out, all of a sudden, people started associating it with the crazy ways the planet is spinning off its axle right now," Ulrich says, of the single. But, that's actually just one of many ways fans can read into Hetfield's words. "There's no right or wrong way to listen to Metallica's music, the great thing about James' lyrics is how ambiguous they are most of the time [...] the best art has that ambiguity to it."