| Lars Ulrich | |
|---|---|
Ulrich performing in London in 2008 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Lars Ulrich |
| Born | December 26, 1963 Gentofte, Denmark[1] |
| Genres | Heavy metal, thrash metal, hard rock, speed metal |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Drums, percussion |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Associated acts | Metallica |
| Website | www.metallica.com |
Lars Ulrich ( /ˈʌlrɪk/ ul-rik; born December 26, 1963) is an American drummer of Danish birth, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family.[1] A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather than playing tennis, he became a drummer. After publishing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper called The Recycler, Ulrich met James Hetfield and formed Metallica.
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He was born on December 26, 1963 in Gentofte, Denmark to Torben Ulrich, a tennis player. Saxophonist Dexter Gordon was Ulrich's godfather. In February 1973, Torben obtained five passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert that was being held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tournaments. When it was discovered that one of the friends could not go, their ticket was handed over to the nine year-old Ulrich. The young Ulrich found himself mesmerized by the performance, buying the band's Fireball album the next day. The concert and the album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring his entrance into the world of rock and roll and later on, heavy metal. As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first drum kit from his grandmother at the age of twelve, a Ludwig. Ulrich originally intended to play tennis, and he moved to America in 1980.[2]
In 1981, Ulrich discovered British heavy metal band Diamond Head. He was excited about the band's style of music after purchasing its debut album Lightning to the Nations (1980). He traveled from San Francisco to London to see the band perform live at the Woolwich Odeon. However, Ulrich had not planned the trip out properly and was left without anywhere to go after the performance. He managed to meet the band backstage and explain the lengths he had taken to see them. The band warmed to him and lead guitarist Brian Tatler let him stay with him in Birmingham, where Ulrich spent the next few weeks touring with the band. Ulrich remains a fan of Diamond Head and mixed its album The Best of Diamond Head.[3]
The same year Ulrich met James Hetfield in Downey, California they formed the thrash metal band Metallica. He got the name "Metallica" from a friend, Ron Quintana, who was brainstorming names for a heavy metal fanzine he was creating, and Metallica was one of the options, the other being "Metal Mania". Lars encouraged him to choose Metal Mania, and used the name Metallica for himself. He became known as a pioneer of fast thrash drum beats, featured on many of Metallica's early songs, such as "Metal Militia" from Kill 'Em All, "Fight Fire with Fire" from Ride the Lightning, "Battery" and "Damage Inc." from Master of Puppets and "Dyers Eve" from ...And Justice for All. He has since been considerably influential due to both the popularity of his band, as well as his drum techniques, such as the double bass drum in the song "One" (...And Justice for All) and the opening of "Enter Sandman" (Metallica). Since the release of Metallica, Ulrich adopted a more focused and precise style of drumming, and reduced his kit from a 9-piece to a 7-piece.
Ulrich's voice can be heard in a few Metallica songs, including "Hero of the Day", "Battery", "The Memory Remains", "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven II", "Frantic", and "Purify". Ulrich's voice can also be heard in the opening seconds of "Leper Messiah" and he also counts to four in Danish on the St. Anger music video.
He will make his acting debut in the HBO original film Hemingway & Gellhorn, which began filming in March 2011.[4]
Ulrich was also ranked #5 on the top 5 metal drummers from That Metal Show.
In April 2000, Ulrich became a vocal opponent of Napster and file sharing as Metallica filed a lawsuit against the company for copyright infringement and racketeering. In July 2000, he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee after Metallica's entire catalogue, including the then-unfinished track "I Disappear" was found to be freely available for download on the service. The case was settled out-of-court, resulting in more than 300,000 Napster users being banned from the service.[5] Since the Napster ordeal, Ulrich was quoted by LAUNCHcast as having some regrets:[6]
| “ | I wish that I was more...you know, I felt kind of ambushed by the whole thing because I didn't really know enough about what we were getting ourselves into when we jumped. [...] We didn't know enough about the kind of grassroots thing, and what had been going on the last couple of months in the country as this whole new phenomenon was going on. We were just so stuck in our controlling ways of wanting to control everything that had to do with Metallica. So we were caught off guard and we had a little bit of a rougher landing on that one than on other times than when we just blindly leaped. But you know, I'm still proud of the fact that we did leap... and I took a lot of hits and it was difficult. | ” |
Ulrich's drumming style has changed throughout his career. During the 1980s he was known for his fast, aggressive and, more or less, basic thrash beats. He would often utilize the double bass technique, which has become highly popular among heavy metal drummers. The best examples of this are "Fight Fire with Fire" (Ride the Lightning), "Battery" (Master of Puppets), "Damage, Inc." (Master of Puppets), "Blackened" (...And Justice for All), "One" (...And Justice for All), "That Was Just Your Life" (Death Magnetic), "All Nightmare Long" (Death Magnetic) and, arguably his most extreme, "Dyers Eve" (...And Justice for All), among others. Ulrich uses groove in his drum style, including clean and fast double bass beats in many songs and heavy drum fills. He has been known to drum in sync with the rhythm guitar played by James Hetfield. However, during the 1990s and early 2000s he simplified his drum rhythms in order to fit the simplification in Metallica's overall musical style. This started with Metallica, and very roughly ended with St. Anger. With Metallica's ninth album, Death Magnetic, Ulrich returned to his style from the 1980s, in which he played more complex and fast rhythms. Ulrich has also named other heavy metal drummers such as Ian Paice and Bill Ward as influences on his playing [1].
Ulrich has been married twice. His first marriage was in 1988 to Debbie Jones, a British woman he met on tour, but divorced in 1990 due to Ulrich's constant absence during the recording of The Black Album. His second marriage was to Skylar Satenstein, an emergency medicine physician, from 1997 to 2004. They have two sons, Myles (b. August 5, 1998), and Layne (b. May 6, 2001). Myles is following his father's footsteps by playing drums for the band My Missing Half.
Ulrich has dated Danish actress Connie Nielsen since mid 2004 after his divorce from Skylar and the couple had their first child, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, (b. May 21, 2007) in San Francisco.[7] Nielsen also has another son named Sebastian (b. June 2, 1991).
He and Connie currently reside in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco.
Ulrich is a noted collector of art. His father, Torben, was also a fan of art and paintings. Ulrich grew up surrounded by art and music, and both have always been a part of his life. After forming Metallica, he began visiting museums and art galleries during the band's long periods on tour. In an interview from 2002 Ulrich said: "I felt I could lose myself in art and get away from the music world. It became this great hiding place."
In 2008, in an interview with Stereo Warning, he said: "We had art all over the house when I was growing up. It's been a passion of mine for 20–25 years. It's one area where I can go and be myself. It's not about being in Metallica or being the drummer in a rock band. I'm accepted for who I am in the art circles. I love going into artist spaces and galleries and auction houses. It's great because it has absolutely nothing to do with Metallica. It's my place of sanctuary."
When he and the rest of Metallica were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, Ulrich was the first Dane to receive the honor.
He was in the audience during Andre Ward vs Mikkel Kessler in Oakland for the first bout of the Super Six World Boxing Classic on the 21st of November 2009 to support fellow Dane Mikkel Kessler.
Ulrich endorses Tama Drums (where he is one of the few endorsees to have had a full signature drum kit as well as a signature lacquer finish), Zildjian Cymbals and Remo Drumheads. He is rarely, if ever, seen without these brands onstage. He was an endorser of Calato Regal Tip drumsticks, before switching to Easton Ahead in 1994 because he said in an interview that wood stick break during his playing. He would use one wood stick in his hand and the Ahead stick in another because he liked the sound of wood hitting cymbals during studo sessions. After that, Tama Drums has produced two Lars Ulrich Signature Snare drums, one with a steel shell (with diamond plate-like finish) and another made out of bell brass which was once Tama's most expensive snare drum on the regular catalogue. Both snare drums measure 14x6.5".
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