James Hetfield of Metallica has revealed in a new profile that the metal band are potentially always on the verge of breaking up.

The band, who have been a mainstay in the metal genre since the early eighties, were recently profiled by Rolling Stone and revealed that tension still exists between certain members – namely James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich.

Looking at the band’s current Worldwired tour, one moment in the magazine profile paints the picture of Hetfield becoming frustrated with Lars Ulrich over the drummer’s lack of rhythm on the track ‘Wherever I May Roam’. Hetfield asks: “Do you always do that?”, which the singer later clarified, laughing, “What I said was a nice way of saying, ‘What the hell are you doing?”.


Hetfield notes: “The band can still pretty much fall apart at any moment, but we don’t want that. We know too much now. It’s come with time and growing up together, going through tons of shit together and possibly maturing”.

“We know where all the nuclear buttons are with each other, but we don’t push ’em. We love what we do, and we want to keep it going”.

The band are known to travel in separate vehicles to-and-from venues and keep to themselves in the times between shows or meet and greets.

Read more: Watch Metallica’s James Hetfield reflect on Chris Cornell’s death

Recently it was revealed that Metallica restored the equipment of tribute band Blistered Earth after it was stolen.


Meanwhile, Metallica frontman James Hetfield recently said that he will keep his thoughts about Donald Trump to himself, arguing in a new interview that politics “separates” people.