Metallica have revealed that they can't afford not to tour because they don't make enough money from royalties. Guitarist Kirk Hammett revealed that, although the band would like to be able to spend more time with their families, they can't afford to. The band, who are currently touring Europe p...
Metallica have revealed that they can’t afford not to tour because they don’t make enough money from royalties.
Guitarist Kirk Hammett revealed that, although the band would like to be able to spend more time with their families, they can’t afford to.
The band, who are currently touring Europe playing their 1991 self-titled album (commonly known as ‘The Black Album’) in full, have visited Europe every summer for four of the last five years and Hammett has now revealed why.
He told Rolling Stone: “The cycles of taking two years off don’t exist any more. We were able to do that because we had record royalties coming in consistently. Now you put out an album, and you have a windfall maybe once or twice, but not the way it used to be – a cheque every three months.”
Hammett then said that the band would actively like to tour less, but can’t. He added: “We’ve been a live band, we’ve had to get out there and play, play, play. But nowadays that was the area we wanted to kind of lay back on a little bit, and kind of enjoy our families and things. But, you know, it is what it is, and we can’t change that”.
Metallica will play a headline slot at this summer’s Download Festival as well as a series of other large European shows.