Metallica will release a limited edition cassette of their 1982 demo package, “No Life ‘Til Leather” as part of Record Store Day 2015 on April 18.
“This year we decided to celebrate Record Store Day with our friends at independent retail by taking a huge leap back in time to our humble beginnings with that little rectangle of plastic known as the ‘demo tape,’" says the band. “In 1982 we recorded seven songs that became our initial calling card known as “No Life 'Til Leather” and it led us to our first record deal . . . the rest, as you some of you may know, is history!”
“We've been digging through the archives, gone to the original source material and re-mastered it to maximize the sound potential for 2015 without altering the original mixes in any way,” they add. “Recorded with the first line-up of the band that appeared live as Metallica, “No Life ‘Til Leather” has never been commercially available until now.
“Look for expanded versions coming on CD, vinyl and a collector's set sometime this summer.”
"It's time for us to put out some next-level reissues and do the song and dance of the catalog that everyone else has done; the U2s and the Led Zeppelins and the Oasises," drummer Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone. "Instead of starting with “Kill 'Em All” in 1983, we figured we'd go back another two years to when the band was formed in 1981."
The expanded CD and LP versions of the cassette will cover what the drummer calls the "No Life 'Til Leather era, but it's not necessarily limited to the cassette." Asked whether the band will include other demos from the time, such as its four-song “Power Metal” cassette, Ulrich says he's sifting through "lot of goodies that are laying around in cardboard boxes and tape vaults."
Within a couple of months, "depending on how quick we can turn it around," the group will announce "a big package" of reissues.
"Yesterday, I found another tape and handed it to [engineer] Greg Fidelman, and there was some crazy stuff on the B-side that I didn't even know existed," he says. "It's all coming. We're doing our best."
Head Foo Fighter Dave Grohl was recently named 2015 Record Story Day Ambassador.
The annual event is held the third Saturday of every April and is a celebration of the unique culture surrounding over 700 independently owned record stores in the USA, and hundreds of similar stores internationally.
This is the one day that all of the independently owned record stores come together with artists to celebrate the art of music. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances.
Festivities include performances, cook-outs, body painting, meet & greets with artists, parades, djs spinning records and more.
Metallica
“No Life ‘Til Leather”
1 - Hit The Lights
2 - The Mechanix
3 - Motorbreath
4 - Seek & Destroy
5 - Metal Militia
6 - Jump In The Fire
7 - Phantom Lord
Recorded on July 6, 1982 at Chateau East Studio, Tustin, CA
James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Lars Ulrich – drums
Dave Mustaine – lead guitar
Ron McGovney – bass
Hit the lights demo 82
See also:
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VIDEO: Metallica perform Master Of Puppets classic in San Francisco
VIDEO: Metallica play corporate gig in San Francisco
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Search Metallica at hennemusic
