Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice spoke to guitarist of N.WO.B.H.M. Diamond Head Brian Tatler about meeting Metallica’s Lars Ulrich in 1981 and the bands Re-release of ‘Lighting to the Nations’ (The White Album) [Remastered 2021]” on 30th September via Silver Lining Music.
When asked about meeting Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich for the first time in the early 80’s
“I think he (Lars) wrote to the fan club um probably1980-81 and then he appeared at a gig in London, when we all first met him. I think he’d already sent for the album ‘Lightning to the nations’ and he got it by mail order because that came out in about March or May 1980. So I think he (Lars) sent for a copy, then I think he came over the following summer 81 and we met him. So we sort of knew he was sort of coming. I’m sure we’d had a message saying I’m coming over to see you guys and we just thought it was brilliant that we got this fan in America. He (Lars) was just a big fan of the band when he was 17 and he must have gotten some money from his dad to come over from L.A. to London. Then he came straight from the airport to the gig and we spoke to him after the gig. We liked him because he was enthusiastic and he loved Diamond Head. Of course he never once mentioned playing drums or being in a band or anything like that, he just seemed like a fan. He stopped with me and then he stayed with Sean (Harris) the singer and we got to know him over the years and so that friendship’s been going on over well 40 years since 81 really. “
When asked what was his first impression of Lars
“Full of enthusiasm, definitely but as I said he never mentioned being in a band or anything we just thought he was a sort of driven fan you know who had to collect. He wanted to collect all the New Wave of British Heavy Metal songs you know. He was buying singles and albums. He seemed to have plenty of cash on him and he would just buy anything. I’m sure he bought about 40 records while he stayed with me and Sean because we’d be looking at him. You know we’d be reading the details and listening to them on my record player. And he’d be going yeah that’s good or I don’t like that but uh yeah he was super enthusiastic. He had more energy than any of us, he’d want to stay up all night listening to records and stuff. So we took him to gigs with us. He came to three Diamond Head gigs and he just sat in the car next to us. Like there used to be three of us on the back seat and now there’s four of us on the backseat all squashed in. We just liked him, we thought he was good fun.”
Lightning To The Nations (The White Album) [Remastered 2021] is the ultimate version of this ultimate album, which is set for release via Silver Lining Music on 30th September 2022. The release will feature not only the original album from ¼ inch master tapes which Lars Ulrich helped Brian Tatler retrieve back in 1990, but also alternative mixes of classic cuts “Lightning To The Nations”, “The Prince”, “Sucking My Love”, “Am I Evil?” and “Sweet And Innocent” never publicly released (or heard) before. There is also brand-new cover artwork based on an idea Brian Tatler had, to show a character referred to as ‘The Lightning God’.
Later this year, Diamond Head will embark on a string of shows when they will be joining Saxon as special guests for the European and UK dates on their Seize The Day world tour.
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