05/31/2007 Entry: "CATCHING UP - BACKING TRACKS DONE"

Metallica.com reports that Lars and girlfriend actress Connie Neilsen have had a son. Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen joined the Ulrich clan on May 21st.

Says Kirk of the still untitled new album:
"Yeah, it's super raw! There are some songs on that album that are so fast, that James and I kinda look at each other and go, "Ouch! Our wrist are gonna fall off." There are a lot of really, really fast songs, a whole lot of really heavy stuff. We changed our approach to writing the songs, all of us were working on the material this time. We also changed our tuning. With "St. Anger" we had the guitars really low. This time, we tuned the guitars back up to what they originally were for the first five albums. Because we've done that, James' voice sounds more like it did in the '80s than it did in the '90s. There's a lot of changes that we've made, but I believe that they are all for the better." (Blabbermouth)

...and Lars:
"We were down in L.A. for the last four-five weeks just doing all the backing tracks to the new album with [producer] Rick Rubin. We just finished about a week ago doing all the backing tracks and then I came back up here to San Francisco and I had a baby on Monday [May 21] — I didn't have a baby, but my better half had a baby — so this is my first night back in the house here, so I've got a three-day-old baby in the bedroom in there with the lady. So we took a little bit of a break for that and then we're gonna start rehearsing in a couple of weeks and we're gonna go over to Europe and do three weeks' worth of shows and do some of the festivals and all that outdoor fun and games and then back to L.A. in August and finish up the record." (Blabbermouth)

Music Video director Wayne Isham, responsible for Metallica's Enter Sandman, Wherever I May Roam, The Unforgiven, Fuel, I Disappear and Frantic, as well concert video's Live Shit: Binge & Purge, S&M and the St. Anger rehearsals, received a The Lifetime Achievement Award during the 16th Annual Music Video Production Association Awards. A taped message from Lars was played. (Music Video Wire).

James and Lars attended the reunited Black Sabbath Dio line-up going by the name of Heaven & Hell. Lars said James started his own mosh pit.

HQ has been upgraded with new Meyer Sound Equipment. Evidently, James likes it loud. (Meyer Sound)

James went to see the Dalai Lama speak (Blabbermouth), and helped honor Sammy Hagar, who received a Recording Academy Honor.