My first gig with Metallica was at San Quentin State Penitentiary.

The great thing about Santa Monica civic auditorium was it was a place you could ride your bike to. In this case, my dad dropped me and my friends off, and we'd go see Ronnie James Dio or Jean-Luc Ponty or Weather Report or the Pretenders.

I think Slayer is a funky band.

I don't generally like things that are too pedestrian. But at the same time, and if I'm in the right mood, hey - I ain't gonna lie - I listen to Joni Mitchell. I listen to 'Blue,' I listen to Miles Davis.

In a lot of ways, Metallica is like a fusion band. It's not necessarily jazz or any of that, but the music is grooving.

I like that Metallica has found a way to have these non-pedestrian arrangements but then the vocal melody is strong and intense. I've always appreciated that as a fan.

Writing a Metallica song is a journey and a process, and it takes time, but that's what's special about it.

One of the things that I've noticed since I've been in the band is that, as players, Lars, James, and Kirk truly enjoy making music and performing.

The great thing about Metallica's music and the lyrics, it's always going to be hopefully a motivating experience.

It's very important to us, family, and the balance of family within the band is probably the most important. Metallica is important, but when you have your wife and your kids, and you need to maintain that and keep the peace, it's important to work around the schedule of the kids' schools.

I always say my role in Metallica is to support the song and to support my team, and whatever that means, I'm there for it.

I had a band called Infectious Grooves back in the Nineties. That music was really a mixture of styles, and we had some stuff that was punk rock, ska, but then we had a lot of funk in there.

I always say, 'Hey, I'm in Metallica, but I wasn't on the Black Album.'

We see kids out there on their parent's shoulders rocking out. And that's really special.

We absolutely cherish our kids. But the fact that we all have them - it's definitely created an additional bond. It's not just Metallica - it's our families. And we also have Metallica.

You can be an incredible player, but when you get onstage, you've gotta be yourself, and you've gotta bring it, as we say, and that just means give 120 percent.

I just wanted to experiment with the bass, and my main influence from Jaco Pastorius inspired me to write music in a certain way.

When I was younger, I was trying to create from attitude more than anything else.

Jaco Pastorius gave the bass a new voice. I mean, he was very inspired by singers like Frank Sinatra. And in a lot of ways, maybe he wanted to be a singer himself.

'Justice' is the biggest challenge 'cause it's also complex in the arrangements.

'Frayed Ends Of Sanity' off the 'Justice' album is a song that I really wanted to play with the band, and for years and years, I was always like, 'Let's play this song!' But I'll tell you something: I started working on that song almost from the very first time I joined the band.

Flamenco was probably the first music that I may have heard as a baby, because my father played flamenco.

We just like to make great songs and have fun, and if people want to nominate us for a Grammy and celebrate it, then we'll take it.

You just go out and do the best that you can. I think people feel that, and they embrace it, and it's a part of what makes Metallica special.

James Hetfield, I mean, the minute he plugs in his guitar and adjusts the tone knob, he comes up with the world's greatest riff.

We all grew up with Black Sabbath. I mean, there's no secret there. Any of us, any of the members of any band I've ever been in, or anyone I've ever worked with.

I was in a party band in the early '80s, and we played Sabbath and Ozzy songs as well as Rush and Van Halen... all that kinds of stuff.

With our fans, a lot of times, people get upset because maybe they didn't get what they wanted, whatever. But we always write the songs for us, number one.

It's always nice, no matter what style of music, as long as it's grooving and you feel that, I feel that's what makes... part of what makes a great song, for sure.

A lot of the hardcore fans wanna hear the deep cuts - songs like 'Orion' or maybe like a 'Disposable Heroes' - you know, songs that we don't play all the time - and then, of course, they wanna hear 'Sandman' and 'Nothing Else Matters' and some of the hits.

You've gotta be careful because art is really important to most people, and you wanna respect that as much as possible. So I live by that rule.

With our producer, Greg Fidelman, it was really a joy to work with him and to try different things and experiment.

Between 'St. Anger' and 'Death Magnetic,' we had, if I'm not mistaken, five kids born. And, of course, that would allow things to take time.

I think every Metallica album is unique in its own way.

If you choose to take care of yourself, you're going to get more mileage for your career.

There were a lot of different styles in the house - Motown, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, jazz - and my dad played flamenco guitar. Soon I realized that bass was what was really grooving me.

I've always been a fan of animation. As a kid, I used to watch a lot of the Saturday-morning cartoons, and I was always a fan of even claymation and that whole medium.

To have the opportunity to bring 'Tallica Parking Lot' to life through images was really special. And also to have a lot of my heroes and my friends in the film was really, really special. People like Lemmy from Motorhead.

As long as there is communication, everything can be solved.

Traditionally, the role of the bass player was just to keep things simple and solid, so it's really a special thing when you can get a player that can actually bring in a lot of presence and also a visual presence, too.

It's all about the experience and having a good time and connecting with the fans.

Don't make music to make money, because that's not why you should be doing it. Have fun, be creative, and embrace the past.

Sabbath is always some of the best music ever. And the reason is because it grooves. It's funky. It's heavy. It's got lots of great changes, twists, and turns.

I knew Rocky George, the guitar player, 'cause I went to junior high school with him, so I've known him for many years.

I'm always pulling and really feeding off of my inspirations. I think most musicians do.

One thing about being in Metallica is I've always felt challenged.

I play in Metallica, and I have fun in Metallica. I tell you, I am the luckiest man on the planet because we have a good time and we're happy. When we put on our guitars, we're teenagers again, and that's where the fun comes in.

It's really, really great; it's special when people embrace your music.

With my experience with Metallica, I've already surfed Portugal, Morocco, and all over Australia with Kirk.

My father had a friend who actually had a hollow-body bass guitar and didn't work through an amp, but because it was hollow body, I could play it. So I kind of played on that for about a year, learning scales and all that. And here I am.