Metallica Producer Speaks on Working With Lars Ulrich, Explains Why the Drummer Has Been Practicing More Lately

“He’s playing great… [He’s been] practicing… and no one’s asking him to do it.”

Producer Greg Fidelman reflected on some of the challenges of working with Lars Ulrich on Metallica’s massive world tour, noting that aging inspired the drummer to hone his skills even further and be even better at what he does.

Although he my not be the “greatest metal drummer of all time”, as he was described by Hugh Laurie’s Dr. House in the eponymous TV series, Lars Ulrich does have many outstanding qualities that, one might argue, served as the anchor for Metallica throughout all these years. And while Lars is very much a “hands-on” with his approach to everything related to Metallica (something Mike Portnoy said he admired and aspired to), sharing that responsibility with his bandmates and making sure everything runs smoothly is no doubt of great importance for a band their size.

In recent years, producer Greg Fidelman has also played a key role in the greater Metallica machine, and has been taking to the road alongside the band on their ongoing M72 World Tour to help out in any way he can. Asked in a new interview on “The Metallica Report” to describe the dynamic of his relationship with Lars, which sometimes has to involve a bit of “pushback” from the producer, Fidelman said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“I don’t think he’s looking forward to pushback. But yeah, this tour is challenging in its own crazy little way; especially for him with the four drum sets. We knew that was going to be a bit hairy, but we had no idea how hairy. And he didn’t either. Once we did a few shows, [he’d say], ‘This is really, really tricky; I wish this was better; how can we get this better?’”

That’s when he and engineer Sara Lyn Killion jump in, Fidelman explains:

“And then, he just wants me and Sara [to be] out there as well. Just the people that he’s… You know, the live guys are amazing in what they do, but they’re when it gets into this sort of… crazy, nitty-gritty stuff that me and Sarah do every day when we’re working on a record — that’s what it all [about]; really finessing everything. And the live thing is much more, ‘Go, go go!’”

“We sort of went in there to help crack the code on sort of some of those things, [and find out] what can we do differently. And we work with the with the live guys. Like, ‘How do you do this? Is there a different way you could do it? Is there a reason why we can’t change this?’ That sort of stuff.”

Reflecting on Lars’ playing on the M72 World Tour, Fidelman said:

“He’s playing great… [He’s been] practicing… and no one’s asking him to do it. He’s doing it himself. He’s mentioned this to me, I’m not making that up, [but] the fact that he is the age that he is — obviously, this doesn’t get easier, right? I think it’s inspired him to work on it harder because it’s not so automatic.”