About five years ago, Dave Lombardo famously gave an interview where he offered to give Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich drum lessons. We all giggled and hoped Lars would take him up on the offer.
But a lot can change in five years. Our own Kevin Stewart-Panko even defended Lars recently with 10 shining examples of his excellent drumming. And, it seems Lombardo's opinion has changed as well.
During a November 22 clinic at Cueva Rock in Quartucciu, Sardinia, Italy, Lombardo was asked what he thought about Metallica, personally:
"I love the band," he responded. "They're great guys. James [Hetfield], Lars and Kirk [Hammett] and Robert [Trujillo]… very nice people. I had a really good experience. I've had many great times… very crazy stories… but I can't talk about those."
A follow-up was then asked about Lars' drumming specifically:
"I think Lars is a good drummer. He's a good arranger. He arranges… Without Lars, there wouldn't be a Metallica. So you have to give him credit for what he does for the band."
"It's very important… When you have a chemistry within a band. There's four members of the band. When there's chemistry, like a special interaction between musicians, if you take one musician out, it's not the same. If you take Lars out of the equation, it won't be the same."
That's quite different from when he stated "[Lars is] a very nice guy, but he needs to spend a week at my house and we need to sit down and play."
Here's the video from the clinic:
