The man, the myth, the spine that kept the Metalli-train running throughout the past three decades. Powerhouse, double bass, and pounding rhythms, to the often-referred-to-as "tin can drumming" on St. Anger, Lars' drumming has been the back bone of Metallica's music thoughout the years. Fighting congress, Axl, and Napster while writing set lists in between, Lars’ history paves the course that kept the band going and growing to become the mega band they are today.
The Vitals:
The Story:
Lars was exposed to music at a young age, as his father, Turbin Ulrich
was the owner of a small jazz club. One of the first concerts he
attended (aged 10) was Deep Purple in Copenhagen, which he claims blew him away and ignited
his love for music. His grandmother bought him his first drum kit at
age 13, which conflicted with his tennis career. His father had intended Lars to follow in his footsteps as a profession tennis player, but as
time went on, he turned away from tennis, and paid more attention to music, (namely the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement: Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamond Head, Motorhead, Def Leppard, etc.), and took up the drums. When his family moved to the US in the late 1970s, his
strayed away even more from tennis, making music his main focus.
Lars put an ad in the local music paper looking for other similarly minded musicians looking to start up a band. One of the first replies he received was from guitarist James Hetfield. The pair agreed that they should form a band that was a reaction against the glam metal that had infiltrated Los Angeles at the time. Soon after, Metallica was officially born.
Through the some twenty years of his life in Metallica, he has grown
a name for himself. Not only is he known for his drumming, but people
know Lars as a guy who is not afraid to do and say what he wants.
This can be specifically seen in the Napster law suit, where Lars was
sticking up for what was he believed to be right, without regards to the negative
publicity he would be at the receiving end of. People also can recognize him by his comic
attitude with the fans, and his often dirty mouth.
Aside from Metallica, he has a large interest in art and film. He formed his own record label, Music Company (via Elektra/Asylum)in 1998 with former
Metallica tour accountant Tim Duffy. The Music Company was distributed
through Elektra. However, the The Music Company was done away with in
early 2002, due to the personal opinions Lars had. Some of the bands
signed included DDT, Goudie, Systematic and Brand New Immortals. He also has been involved in several side projects, including:
The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Revisited – In 1990, Lars put out a sampler NWOBHM bands that influenced him and
his music. The double album was called: 'NWOBHM - Revisited'
Diamond Head - Reformation - 'Death and Progress' – In 1993 Lars advised Diamond Head on their LP - 'Death and Progress'. Mercyful Fate - 'Return of the Vampires' – In 1993, Lars played the drums on a remake of Mercyful Fate's song 'Return of the Vampire' on the 'In the Shadows' album. In 2005 a band called Metallica/Beatles tribute band "Beatallica" were the recepients of a cease-and-desist order from Sony's Record label Division who are the holders of a lot of the rights to the Beatles back catalogue. In support of Beatallica, Lars did the band a favour and asked Metallica's attorney, Peter Paterno, to help Beatallica. Since then beatallica.com has been online and the band have commercially released a record.
Lars has been married twice. His first marriage, to Debbie, an English
woman, ended around 1990 during the making of "Metallica". In March 2004,
Lars separated from Skylar Satenstein (an emergency medicine
physician), to whom he was previously married to for seven years and whom Lars had
two sons with, Myles (b. August 5, 1998) and Layne (b. May 6, 2001).
Lars has been dating actress Connie Nielsen since 2004. She and Lars Ulrich became the proud parents of a boy, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen on Monday May 21, 2007 in 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."
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 will make his acting debut in the HBO original film Hemingway & Gellhorn, which began filming in March 2011. Ulrich made a brief cameo appearance as himself in the film Get Him to the Greek, as the partner of the character Jackie Q.
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