I would say that I'm very proud that Metallica plays heavy music - but equally proud that we don't think like a heavy-metal band.
I would say [Lamar] Kendrick, it`s always fun to see what happens when Kendrick takes the stage. And my two oldest kids are huge fans of him.
Back then, I was really into composing the entire solo, beginning to end. I wanted to have it at least 80 to 90 percent complete before going into the studio. I didn't improvise in the studio. I was young, and I didn't really have the development in my playing or the ability to show up with nothing and then put down 500 ideas. I can do that now because I'm so much more of a musician now.
I wouldn't say that we're proactively out there hunting down brands to try to fulfill some piece of a larger battle plan or something. If they have things they want to get to us, we're somewhat easily accessible through our managers and record companies.
Hugh [Evans] called us. And obviously this has been on our radar for all the years it`s been going on. And each year obviously reaches more and more people, and it`s high profile. Hugh reached out to our manager just down the street. And we said we`re here [ on GLOBAL CITIZEN in the Central Park] to help and do whatever we can.
I think you have to sort of accept that nobody really knows where it`s going so there has to be a lot of impulsive kind of attitudes. So it`s like a train that`s moving and you don`t quite know where it`s going but you try to steer it in the best way you can realizing that it may go in different places that you had no idea.
Metallica's the only band i've ever been in. I'm not sure that when it ends in five, ten years, I'm going to put an ad in the paper saying, 'stupid drummer looking for stupid people to play music with,' Metallica is it and I think when that ceases, that's it.