Former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo recalled the “pleasure” of being requested to face in for Metallica’s Lars Ulrich on the U.Okay.’s Obtain Competition in 2004.
Slayer had already delivered their efficiency on the occasion when Lombardo was instructed that Ulrich couldn’t seem after falling unwell on the flight to Britain. He agreed to assist out, with Slipknot’s Joey Jordison and Ulrich’s tech Flemming Larsen collaborating, too.
“It was a little bit of a shock,” Lombardo instructed Classic Rock in a latest interview. “My first thought was, ‘Is Lars OK?’ However they mentioned, ‘He’s OK, he’s on the physician’s, he’s simply having a little bit of a second.’ So I mentioned I’d do no matter I might to assist.”
He discovered himself in a rehearsal room with James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo. “I knew a couple of of their songs nicely sufficient to play them, however I simply didn’t know all of the element of a few of the different songs,” he defined. “So we agreed that I’d do the primary two, ‘Battery’ and ‘The 4 Horsemen,’ then Joey would leap in, ’cos he’d been in a Metallica covers band and he knew all these songs inside out.”
Watch Metallica’s 2004 Present With out Lars Ulrich
Requested what was going via his thoughts 5 minutes earlier than going onstage, he replied: “Pleasure. I really like challenges: ‘All proper, let’s do it, we’ll work it out and make it occur.’ I used to be thrilled to be up there with these guys, however it was surreal seeing James and Kirk and Rob in entrance of me. Like, ‘Is that this actually taking place?’ However I couldn’t query the second, ’cos there was one thing extra essential at stake, which was to assist Lars and the band ship these songs, and ship a present for the followers.”
Lombardo agreed that the expertise modified his perspective of Metallica’s work. “Particularly with the reside present,” he mentioned. “They have been headlining, so the vitality there was simply intense. I undoubtedly needed to retain my composure and suppose, ‘That is going to be nice, keep constructive, let’s rock.’ After it was all executed, all of us took a bow on the very finish. They have been actually grateful – they appreciated the assistance.
“For them to even ask me was an honor, and I’m very proud to have helped them out once they wanted it, and simply been a small a part of their historical past. Come on, I received to play with Metallica!”
Metallica Albums Ranked
There are moments of indecision when compiling this gallery of Metallica Albums, Ranked Worst to Finest. In spite of everything, we actually might have had – for the primary time ever – a three-way tie for first.
