(Gibson) After two years of touring that involved teaming up with The Big Four and rocking airports, Metallica are planning to take a break from the road. After playing their final World Magnetic tour dates in New Zealand, the band is looking to begin work on a new album."There's a bunch of balls in the air for 2011, but I think the main one is we really want to get back to writing again," drummer Lars Ulrich said. "We haven't really written since, what, '06, '07, and we want to get back to kind of just being creative again. Right now we are going to just chill out and then probably start up again in, I'd say, March or April, and start probably putting the creative cap back on and start writing some songs."
Although the band recently confirmed that they will perform at Rock in Rio in Brazil on September 25, 2011, Ulrich didn't say if more touring was on the table for next year. But, the drummer did say that the chances are good for another Big Four tour (featuring Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth) in the next couple of years. "The vibe on this thing is so big, we'd be stupid to ignore it," he said. "You know on your iPhone, you can move the weather maps up and down? Well, the Big Four is quickly moving up to the top in terms of potential occurrences for the next couple of years." - more on this story
