METALLICA Drummer Explains Decision To Release 'Live At Grimey's' Album

METALLICA will release a live album called "Live At Grimey's" on Friday, November 26. The set was recorded on June 12, 2008 at the tiny 150-capacity venue The Basement, located below the Grimey's New & Preloved Music record store in Nashville. The intimate gig was a warm-up for the band's debut at the Bonnaroo Festival that same weekend.

Drummer Lars Ulrich told The Pulse of Radio why the band decided to put "Live At Grimey's" out through independent stores only. "Pretty much all of my musical inspirations and roots can be traced back to independent record stores, where I sort of put my whole collection together, so when they asked us if we would release the Grimey's performance, it was what we call a no-brainer," he said. "So people that are interested in getting this and supporting the independent record stores, the mom-and-pop record stores, I mean it definitely has that kind of good vibe to it."

"Live At Grimey's" will be sold as a standard CD and as a limited edition two-disc vinyl set in a gatefold sleeve.

The album will be sold only at the approximately 700 independent record stores that support the annual Record Store Day, held each year in April.

In announcing the album, METALLICA posted at its web site, "We were honored to be part of the first-ever annual event celebrating independently owned records stores, a.k.a. Record Store Day, with an in-store at Rasputin Music in Mountain View, California on April 19, 2008 and we're very proud to be a part of another special event with our friends at independent retail."

Official Metallica.com video footage of METALLICA's "secret" June 12, 2008 performance at The Basement (Grimey's) in Nashville, Tennessee in front of an estimated 175 people can be viewed below. METALLICA has just completed its touring cycle behind 2008's "Death Magnetic" album with shows in Australia and New Zealand.