Playing with Ozzy was a dream come true.

I feel like I've always been a great mediator.

The cool thing about the smaller gigs - it's the intimacy. You really feel connected to the crowd.

With Metallica, it's hard. I tend to like it all, but the older stuff, when we get into the deeper cuts, it really excites me personally.

You listen to a Metallica song, and you listen to the drums, and they're not necessarily swinging, but the arrangements are different. Why is that? Because it's more in tune with jazz arrangements. It's very different. It's not a traditional rock and roll production, in terms of the drums.

That's all I ever do, just try and do the best I can and cater to the song, cater to the music.

The Big 4 tour was really great.

We enjoy playing small shows, big shows, whatever. There's the energy of the visual production, and all that stuff starts to happen, so when you see it come to life, it's pretty exciting.

I believe in rock and roll and heavy music in general.

When Lars said, 'We want you to be in Metallica,' I was blown away.

What I have learned about Metallica is that it's all about taking chances and challenges.

'Some Kind of Monster' is a challenge, and 'Through the Never' is an extension of that. Even the album we made with Lou Reed, it was a challenge.

I think that young people should embrace artists like Lemmy from Motorhead but also be open to different styles.

Any band that you have, any relationship in your life, is gonna come with moments of tension.

Joe Walsh is somebody who... he's a writer, obviously, and he's a singer-songwriter, whatever, but at the end of the day, when it comes to the Eagles, he's there to play guitar, and he's there to supply whatever is needed for that band, and that is what I feel with Metallica.

There is a lot of energy between Lars and James, and sometimes that energy can erupt. I know that before I was in the band, Kirk was the guy who was often in the middle, and it was important at that time. And now I feel like sometimes I'm the guy that's in the middle between not just James and Lars, but even Kirk.

I feel, in my life, in any situation I've been in, I've always been sort of in the middle.

Each album you make, each body of music, you just never know how the world's going to relate to it.

I was fortunate to not get wrapped up too hard in anything that was too dangerous.

I didn't write 'Enter Sandman.'

Bill Ward, when you hear his beats, he's not just playing a straight 4/4 beat; he's doing almost a hip-hop beat. There's a song called 'Sweet Leaf.' The drum beat that he's playing, he's trying to kind of swing and funkify it. Now, is he doing a great job of it? Maybe not. Maybe.

Lars Ulrich is not a jazz drummer, but he grew up listening to jazz. Why? Because his father, Torben - an incredible tennis player - loved jazz. Jazz musicians used to stay at their house.

I've been friends with Jaco Pastorius's son since 1996 - Johnny Pastorius, the eldest son. And I remember when I first met him, I said, 'Some day, you've gotta make a film about your father,' because his influence is so broad.

Back in the day, being a young, inspired bass player, I started to gravitate toward jazz fusion. I almost would have called myself an elitist. I got to the point where, for a little bit there, I was more interested in instrumental music.

The first album I ever bought was Santana's 'Abraxas.' Obviously, I was a huge fan of Carlos because he had the unique guitar sound, and he had incorporated a lot of the percussion and really, really fun rhythmic bass lines in there, too.

'Mama I'm Coming Home' is one song that I think is incredible. One of his best songs ever written. Lemmy wrote the lyrics to that.

My first gig with Metallica was at San Quentin State Penitentiary.

The great thing about Santa Monica civic auditorium was it was a place you could ride your bike to. In this case, my dad dropped me and my friends off, and we'd go see Ronnie James Dio or Jean-Luc Ponty or Weather Report or the Pretenders.

I think Slayer is a funky band.

I don't generally like things that are too pedestrian. But at the same time, and if I'm in the right mood, hey - I ain't gonna lie - I listen to Joni Mitchell. I listen to 'Blue,' I listen to Miles Davis.

In a lot of ways, Metallica is like a fusion band. It's not necessarily jazz or any of that, but the music is grooving.

I like that Metallica has found a way to have these non-pedestrian arrangements but then the vocal melody is strong and intense. I've always appreciated that as a fan.

Writing a Metallica song is a journey and a process, and it takes time, but that's what's special about it.

One of the things that I've noticed since I've been in the band is that, as players, Lars, James, and Kirk truly enjoy making music and performing.

The great thing about Metallica's music and the lyrics, it's always going to be hopefully a motivating experience.

It's very important to us, family, and the balance of family within the band is probably the most important. Metallica is important, but when you have your wife and your kids, and you need to maintain that and keep the peace, it's important to work around the schedule of the kids' schools.

I always say my role in Metallica is to support the song and to support my team, and whatever that means, I'm there for it.

I had a band called Infectious Grooves back in the Nineties. That music was really a mixture of styles, and we had some stuff that was punk rock, ska, but then we had a lot of funk in there.

I always say, 'Hey, I'm in Metallica, but I wasn't on the Black Album.'

We see kids out there on their parent's shoulders rocking out. And that's really special.

We absolutely cherish our kids. But the fact that we all have them - it's definitely created an additional bond. It's not just Metallica - it's our families. And we also have Metallica.

You can be an incredible player, but when you get onstage, you've gotta be yourself, and you've gotta bring it, as we say, and that just means give 120 percent.

I just wanted to experiment with the bass, and my main influence from Jaco Pastorius inspired me to write music in a certain way.

When I was younger, I was trying to create from attitude more than anything else.

Jaco Pastorius gave the bass a new voice. I mean, he was very inspired by singers like Frank Sinatra. And in a lot of ways, maybe he wanted to be a singer himself.

'Justice' is the biggest challenge 'cause it's also complex in the arrangements.

'Frayed Ends Of Sanity' off the 'Justice' album is a song that I really wanted to play with the band, and for years and years, I was always like, 'Let's play this song!' But I'll tell you something: I started working on that song almost from the very first time I joined the band.

Flamenco was probably the first music that I may have heard as a baby, because my father played flamenco.

We just like to make great songs and have fun, and if people want to nominate us for a Grammy and celebrate it, then we'll take it.

You just go out and do the best that you can. I think people feel that, and they embrace it, and it's a part of what makes Metallica special.