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Major thanks to Am_I_Evil of MetClub for translating Cliff's Final Interview.
I had been promised a chat with Lars later and in the meantime I interviewed Cliff Burton who sat there, poking on a beercan. METALLICA’s bassist look his regular self with his thin moustache his lightred hippy kinda hair which laid like glue on his head on down below his shoulders it was untidy. Up close he seemed older than his 24 years with his miscolored teeth, the “härjad” and a little wrinkled face, the tired look in his eyes and the kinda slowish speech that’s typical for someone who likes to smoke a little now and then (nero’s comments: that’s what he meant). Just as wild that he is on stage, as calm is he outside it.
His clothing consisted of a t-shirt with buttoned up shirt, worn jeansjacket and those legendary “outswayed” jeans that Cliff was guaranteed alone about wearing in the pudelrock year1986 when nastytight stretchjeans was top fashion. He had in front of him stcked up a small mountain of Tuborg, Löwenbrau and Pripps. It’s a real character we’re talking about.
This time he was more than happy to speak out his mind.
I began asking Cliff is he had expected that they would really make it like they had done at this particular moment.
- Hell no! he shouted and opened another roomstemperatured Löwenbrau class II with a “pschh”.
- You don’t really expect anything in this business. We have certainly not become stars over a night. The whole time we have done what we felt like doing. We have never strived to become rockstars or something like that.
Not even when you signed a deal with majorcompany Elektra in USA?
- For us it was more like getting a possibility to buy new equipment and get more time in the studio. You know, just a way to build up what we have even more.
Do you feel that many massmedias look down upon thrash metalbands like METALLICA, compared to how much attention the big arenarock bands gets, despite the fact that you are at the same level now with your big selling album “Master of Puppets”?
- We don’t bother to care what those massmedias says or writes. We have to have this attitude or else we could be affected by them but that will never happen to us. The recordsales speaks for itself. We just do what we do.
Can you describe the feeling when you see your album climbing higher and higher on the albumcharts, even higher than many more known and established names?
- Suprising is the only word I can think of. It’s nothing you expect, escpecially since we never get played on the radio. It gives you the feeling that there’s hope for our kind of music. It proves that you really don’t need the radio.
You said that you would probably release a 12” single from “Master of Puppets” with two recently unreleased songs on the backside, what happend to it?
- We were planning to do it, men then James hurt his ankle and could not play the songs for the backside.
So you have no songs left from the “Master of Puppets”-recording that you could use instead?
- No, we tried to do a couple of extra songs but they didn’t turn out like we wanted, so we skipped it. (nero’s comments: he said more like “, so we said fuck it”.
Now that you’re on top (nc: really famous), or in any case near it, is everything just as you hoped it would be?
- We have lots more to do, you can write that down. But you really don’t think like that, as what to expect. Just fucking go for it and look bat at it when it’s over. Or else you will just be confused.
You must at least make more money these days?
- We should have yes, ha ha! We have gotten a little more money to go around and then we’ll wait for more after the sales of the new album. We have survived. It has gotten nice to tour now that we have a better bus and things like that.
Here I spontainously stopped the oldinterviewtape that I managed to find in an old drawer in my dusty basement. I had forgotten that Cliff paradoxily gave praise to the bus that eventually would be his death. But then 14 hours earlier, everything was fine. I’m pressing on “play” again.
One of your friends said that 1986 is actually the first year that you are making some money.
- True. All previous money we have earned has went straight back to the band to buy equipment.
How do you feel about your first album “Kill ‘Em All” today?
- I haven’t listened to it for about a year and a half, ha ha! We still play songs from it, but a little differently than we did on the album. They have gotten faster and heavier, I think.
How come you use the Sweet Silence-studio in Copenhagen for your album recordings?
- First of all because it’s a good studio and they have a good technician there, Flemming Rasmussen. Also because we get a good price there. We know that we can get a good sound there. All this make Sweet Silence a nice place be. There’s only one studioroom there, so you don’t get other bands lurking around all the time. You can concentrate on your work.
The sound on “Master of Puppets” is rather 70’s-isch with a rather dry sound and lots of echo on the drums, about the same as OZZY and DIO has on their albums. Do you agree?
- Yes, we wanted it pretty dry because then it sounds real tight. Michael Wagener mixed the album and everytime we dropped by to listen he had added lots of reverb on almost everything. We immediately said that that’s not right, take off the reverb on the guitars. The “virveln” sounded like “ssschplaaaaahhhh!”. A really shabby sound. It didn’t work on the faster songs, it just became gooey (nc: that’s what he said). We didn’t want an overproduced album so we told him to keep it dry and tight, as close to our livesound as possible.
Right now several so called thrash metalbands gets contracts with big companies, like ANTHRAX and METAL CHURCH. It seems like it began with METALLICA. Do you feel like trendsetters?
- No, it doesn’t feel that way. It would just be weird if you wet around thinking that about yourself in those terms. The recordcompany maye sees us as trendsetters, but we certainly don’t. It will be interesting to see how long all those bands will stay at the big companies.
You don’t think this kind of music will grow even more?
- Things will change. You know, suddenly something new happens before you even knew about it. But there will always be some survivers.
Have you had time to write some new songs since you recorded “Master of Puppets”?
- No. We’re out on a one year tour. We have some riffs here and there, concept, maybe a couple of titles but nothing completed yet.
You you guys jam with each other before you enter the stage?
- Yes, we like butchering our songs that way, ha ha! Sometimes we get some new songs ideas when jamming, but just as often we just goof of and suddenly plays four different songs at the same time. We record ideas on our own, and then we play it to the rest of the band. When we don’t tour we can arrange them to complete songs.
When does this tour end?
- The european tour? Eh, I can’t remember...
According to the tourplan the last european gig would happen 26th October on Aardschok Festival in The Netherlands, one of that times biggest metalfestivals, together with SLAYER and ANTHRAX. A lot of buzz had been spoken about it as what a unique even it would be with the three biggest thrashbands on the same stage. But destiny wanted something else.
- We should anyway be ready sometime in Januray 1987, guessed Cliff. Or in February, if any concerts are added. Maybe March, what the hell do I know, ha ha! That’s the thing right, they always “you are going to tour to then and there, and then you are done”. But still, later it’s like “oh btw, we have increased the tour with five weeks, because now you have begun selling albums in these countries as well”.
But you don’t might that, right?
- No, not at all. It’s like that you make a band like ours to become bigger. Since we don’t get any radiotime we have to tour as much as we can. This europe your lasts around one more month. Then we your for two weeks in America and then we go to Japan for about ten days. It has started to work really well in Japan after we got got this big contract with CBS/Sony over there. “Master of Puppets” has sold much better than our last two albums in Japan, so I can’t wait to get there. After that we don’t really know what happens. Maybe we’ll go to Australia, maybe we go to South America but those plans are just at the planning stages. Then we’ll take a vacation at home, before we play on the westcost in January since we missed much of that part of the country when we opened for Ozzy, who got throat problems and had to cancel.
What do you know about Sweden?
- Not much, I’m afraid.
Yngwie Malmsteen and Absolut Vodka?
- That’s about it.
Do you still live in San Fransisco?
- Yes, I do. I live in my parents’ apartment. I’m never at home anyway, you know. Always going somewhere. There’s no paying rent for some place which still only would be empty all the time.
So you aren’t planning to buy a place which you could call your home?
- As fast as I can I will do that. But I don’t have the funds to do that. It’s a dream for me to buy an own home. One day, hopefully, will I ahve enough money.
Do you think you will stay in San Francisco?
- Yes, in the Bay-area. It’s my favorite place. Everyone in the band, except Lars, seems willing to stay in the Bay-area.
You are called a thrashband, but if I have understood it right you don’t listen to much thrash, right?
- Well some, but not much. It’s a big difference in what we listen to compared to what we play ourselves. I personally listen to much that’s not so hard, like R.E.M., have you heard them? As a 24 year old metalhead I had to confess that I didn’t know a thing about Michael Stipes own popband which would conquer the world a little later.
- A kind of soft southerninfluenced band, Cliff explains.
- Then I also like PETER GABRIEL, ROXY MUSIC and older music like THIN LIZZY, BLUE OYSTER CULT, RUSH and BLACK SABBATH. That old “shit”. And punk like THE MISFITS.
When you listen to softer music, does it feel like you could ever write a song like that?
- Eh, yes, sometimes. But there’s no time for that, you know. What we are doing now demands all our time and energy. Maybe one day, when we get more time, then I think it could happen. It’s an interesting idea, that’s for sure.
How do you think your next album will turn out?
- You can’t predict that. That’s in the future, and we don’t care about that right now. We are concentrating on what we have to do now. When it’s time then we’ll see what happens. We haven’t discussed producers or anything like that yet. We thought about if we should use some big name producer on “Master of Puppets”, but when it was time it just didn’t feel right. We know that Flemming Rasmussen gets us the sound we want. But I’m sure the day will come when we will hire someone else. Especially as “Master of Puppets” took such a long time to make. If we pick a producer I think it will be someone which gets ud to work somewhat fast.
The record shows that Cliff was correct: METALLICA would as you know experiment with softer stuff on primarily The Black Album from 1991. It was produced by a really big name, Bob Rock. Although that didn’t make the work go faster, on the contrary.
I guess that the next album will not be recorded in Copenhagen, since I know you’re sick and tired of that town?
- Ha ha! About that matter, if we get our wish through, we will probably record in California. Probably in Los Angeles. The tempo will automaticly be faster there. In Copenhagen you get no energy. That’s not something that reflects in the music, but we lived there for five months, in the middle of the worst winter. Next time it would be cool to do it somewhere where it’s light and plenty of sun.
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the pictures:
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/1.jpg
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/2.jpg
it's a dream for me, to be able to by my own house. one day, hopefully, i'll have enough cash
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/3.jpg
Metallicas w/cliff last meeting with media. the site was the record labels headquarters in Solna.
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/4.jpg
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/5.jpg
unmerry x-mas, cliff and metallica greets the swedish readers after they've cut up the photographers santahats
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/6.jpg
the journalist Jörgen Holmstedt with Cliff, in what would be his last interview
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/7.jpg
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/8.jpg
the driver has just been released (first pic EVER of the driver btw) by the police in Ljungby, they could not prove he had done anything wrong.
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/9.jpg
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/10.jpg
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/11.jpg
Lars, James, Kirk and their tour manager ín shock outside the hotel right after the accident.
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/12.jpg
http://medlem.spray.se/nerogfx3/cliff/13.jpg
rest in peace, cliff
picture text translated by DOWN of MetClub
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