---
title: Metallica
description: Metallica, the band whose 2011 album Lulu with Lou Reed grew from the score Sarth Calhoun wrote with Reed; Calhoun plays electronics on every track and played it with them on stage in November 2011.
url: https://www.sarth.net/conspirators/metallica/
credit: Sarth Calhoun plays electronics on every track of Lulu by Lou Reed and Metallica (2011), which grew from the score he wrote with Reed for Robert Wilson’s Lulu, and performed it with the band on Later… with Jools Holland (November 8, 2011), Taratata (November 9) and at the WDR Funkhaus, Cologne (November 11).
author: Sarth Calhoun
---
[Conspirators](/conspirators/) / Metallica

Conspirator

# Metallica

The band. *Lulu*, 2011: our score, reinterpreted, and I played on every track.

[Metallica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica) is the American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich; in 2011 the lineup was Hetfield, Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo. [*Lulu*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lulu_(Lou_Reed_and_Metallica_album)), its album with Lou Reed, was recorded from April to June 2011 at the band’s headquarters in San Rafael, California, and released on October 31, 2011. Its ten songs are based on the songs Reed wrote for Robert Wilson’s Berliner Ensemble production of *Lulu*. It was Reed’s last studio album.

![On a television stage: Kirk Hammett on guitar, Sarth Calhoun at his keyboard and laptop, Lars Ulrich at the drums, James Hetfield on guitar.](/images/lou-reed-metallica-2011.jpg)

Lou Reed and Metallica on television, November 2011: Kirk Hammett, Sarth Calhoun at his keyboard and laptop, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield.

> A double-cd rendering of the entire collaboration between Lou Reed and Metallica, I was excited to have the opportunity to not only see our score reinterpreted by one of the greatest bands of all time, but also to play on every track.
> 
> Sarth Calhoun, [sarth.net, November 6, 2011](https://web.archive.org/web/20140905192608/http://www.sarth.net/lulucd/)

## Lulu

After I got back from Berlin, we took the project to San Francisco and recorded it with them. They completely reinterpreted all the stuff. I play electronics on every track of [*Lulu*](/conspiracies/lulu/); “[Junior Dad](/conspiracies/junior-dad/)” began as a recording at Lou’s apartment. Then I played the first live performances of the material with them: *Later… with Jools Holland* in London on November 8, 2011, *Taratata* in Paris on November 9, and five songs at the WDR Funkhaus in Cologne on November 11.

The credit: Sarth Calhoun plays electronics on every track of Lulu by Lou Reed and Metallica (2011), which grew from the score he wrote with Reed for Robert Wilson’s Lulu, and performed it with the band on Later… with Jools Holland (November 8, 2011), Taratata (November 9) and at the WDR Funkhaus, Cologne (November 11).

The profile is from public sources, linked where they appear. What we made is the record on this site and the sources cited above.