DAVE GROHL – “I Hear That METALLICA Is Releasing Their First Demo Tape… On Cassette… And That Is Fucking Rad!”

This year Metallica is celebrating Record Store Day by taking a huge leap back in time to their humble beginnings, releasing their 1982 demo, No Life ‘Til Leather, on  limited edition cassette. Record Store Day ambassador, Dave Grohl, couldn’t be more excited. He talks to Creative Loafing about Record Store Day releases that he’s stoked about this year.

“I hear that Metallica is releasing their first demo tape – on cassette – and that is fucking rad! I bought the first Metallica album on cassette from a mail-order catalog in 1983. I had never heard of them. I didn’t know anything about them other than they had a cool name, and the description said “thrash metal”. I didn’t even know what that meant. I had listened to tons of punk rock music, and I loved Motörhead, but thrash metal? That sounded scary and cool. So I sent them my $6 or $7 and a couple weeks later I get this tape in the mail. It was Kill ‘Em All and it blew my fucking mind. I will be a diehard Metallica fan until the day I die because of that experience. It was like someone had sent me the Holy Grail. I was like, “Ahhh! This is so killer!” So when I heard they were releasing their first demo I thought, “Kick ass! And it’s on a cassette, too!” That’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Reminded that it’s Metallica when Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) was in the band, Grohl continues: “Yeah, that’s amazing. And what’s really great is that you have one of the biggest bands in the world sharing those early experiences with a whole new generation of fans, which is important and cool.”

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Metallica previously talked about the upcoming release:

“Our 1982 demo, No Life ‘Til Leather, will be released on April 18th as a limited edition cassette (!!!) at your favorite independent record store and Metallica.com.”

“Twelve people will be able to play it, but everybody else will be able to hold it in their hands and, uh, have a great time with it,” drummer Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone with a laugh. The band will release the cassette on Record Store Day before issuing expanded CD and vinyl editions this summer, marking the first time any of their demos have been officially released.

The band has remastered the original tapes for the reissue, keeping the mix intact, to show “the same innocence and, I guess, borderline ignorance, of four kids barely out of puberty, rockin’ along, doing their thing,” according to Ulrich. The artwork has been made from Ulrich’s own copy and will feature the Danish drummer’s handwriting.

Ulrich estimates he sent out between 50 to 100 copies of the original tape and that the recipients would then copy it and send it to their friends. “I don’t remember being particularly goal-oriented then, but I assume the intention was to get signed,” the drummer says with a laugh. Read more by clicking here.