Metallica have spoken about the importance of music amid the global COVID pandemic, saying that growing political and racial tensions are spurring “violence and division”.
Speaking to The Independent, the band’s bassist Robert Trujillo commented on the conflict taking place in the world right now, saying:
“There are so many people choosing violence and division right now. I feel everyone is so tightly wound like they’re gunning for a fight. For me, it’s better to be careful than to pursue aggression.”
Lars Ulrich agreed with Trujillo’s sentiment, adding: “Metallica played Abu Dhabi a few times and there were maybe 50,000 people there from Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon… incredible fans from all over the world whose countries don’t get on particularly well.”
He added, however, that inside that venue, music brought everyone together, with fans embracing each other and holding hands.
“They’re sharing a collective musical experience.”
“If you choose to travel around the world and connect people through music, that has to be the thing that pushes you,” he said, before echoing the band’s most famous track. “All the shit outside… none of that matters.”
Asked by the publication about his 2016 comments in which he claimed he would return to his native Denmark if Donald Trump won the US presidency, Ulrich explained: “I feel a deeper connection to where I came from as I get older. I think in whatever time I have left, I’d like to spend more of my time there.”
He went on to clarify that he still loves the US, adding, “You and I could spend hours talking about what I love about America as a place and as an ideal. So when I say I think about moving back to Denmark… that’s not a middle finger to America.”
