When Lou Reed cut Kirk Hammett (Metallica) cheaply after strange solo

The history of Metallica is full of, let’s say, peculiar moments. And a highlight in this sense is Lulualbum recorded in partnership with Lou Reed.

Released on October 31, 2011, the collaborative work divided opinions. It sounded too experimental for metal fans — and too heavy for those who like alternative sounds. In response, it has sold only 280,000 copies to date — for comparison purposes, the band’s next album Metallica, Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (2016)sold 291 thousand units in its first week alone, and only in the United States.

Public strangeness aside, the group members — James Hetfield (voice and guitar), Lars Ulrich (battery),Kirk Hammett (guitar) and Robert Trujillo (low) — they were satisfied with the result. Even though they didn’t know what to expect, the quartet got along well with reedlegendary former member of Velvet Underground passed away in October 2013.

In a podcast interview Metallica Report (via Ultimate Guitar), the producer Greg Fidelman, who has worked with the group for over a decade and participated in Lulu, revealed some behind-the-scenes footage of the recordings. First, he reinforced that the entire process was a surprise for those involved.

“We didn’t really know what to expect. And you know Lars well enough to know that this was driving him crazy—you can’t be unaware of what’s going to happen. We didn’t even know what the songs were.”

A situation right at the beginning of the process made everyone’s hair stand on end. Lou he simply liked a recording that was being produced just as an improvisation, while the musicians got used to it.

“We had to rehearse. So we’re kind of ready for a rehearsal. AND Lou has its own configuration, we try to figure out how to fit it. […] So, everyone started playing some things, improvising… I guess you could call it that. Then they said: ‘let’s go to the control room and hear how it turned out’. That was on the first day! And then Lou just said, ‘this is incredible, this is incredible, this is it, let’s move on to the next song’. Lars reacts like: ‘what?’. [Risos]”

Lou Reed cuts Kirk Hammett’s high

Another episode remembered by Greg Fidelman involves Kirk Hammett. Once, the guitarist was recording a solo when Lou Reed I told him openly to stop.

“It was a complicated process. Lou He was a super intense guy. [Risos] I remember, at one point, that Kirk he was doing something — we still joke about it today — that sounded like Middle Eastern music, kind of different. I don’t know if he was using a wah wah pedal or something, but it sounded very Middle Eastern. Lou he simply interrupted and said: ‘no belly dancing sh*t!’ [Risos] We thought, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing’.”

Despite this, the process yielded a lot of learning for the Metallica. The band, according to its producer, got used to the final result and gained experience in more instinctive situations like this.

“I don’t even know what I did on this album. And that’s how all these things came about. It was all about experimenting, improvising and really not thinking so much. No pre-thinking, everything very instinctive.”