Cliff: WCSB live on tape from Courtland, New York...the sewer.
Ken: That's near Rochester somewhere far about, a long way.
Cliff: Fresh out of a gig at the Riverboat.
Ken: Pretty heavy. But anyway we're talking to Cliff Burton the bassist
extraordinaire for the heavy metal - extremely heavy metal band - Metallica.
Cliff: Lead drunkard...
Ken: Lead drunkard? Hmmm. Well anyway, so hey Cliff how you doing?
Cliff: Alright...Good to see ya again Ken. (laughter)
Ken: Hey that's good to be welcome, thanks Cliff!
Cliff: yeah...
Ken: So Cliff what's the future look like, man?
Cliff: Future. Looks like we're gonna go to Europe...and drink good beer.
Ken: Good beer in Europe.
Cliff: And play with Venom and play with the Rods and play with...
Ken: More beer.
Cliff: Whatever else comes up, you know?
Ken: That's cool, definitely.
Cliff: Just go around here and there and generally cause trouble for all
those European types. (laughter)...And record the album.
Ken: Yeah, when are you gonna be recording that album?
Cliff: Let's see...We're gonna record that son of a bitch...
Ken: March.
Cliff: March. (laughter) After the Venom tour we're going to record the album.
Ken: That's looking good.
Cliff: March you say? I'll trust you, March is good enough for me.
Copenhagen in Sweet Silence Studios. It's where Rainbow did their last three
albums. Early Mercyful Fate...
Ken: So Cliff, what do you have to say about our Cleveland jam-out public?
Cliff: Cleveland was wonderful. We had a real good time in Cleveland, lot's
of good people.
Ken: Cliff, so how long have you been playing bass?
Cliff: I've been playing bass...It'll be about 8 years right about now.
Ken: 8 years?
Cliff: Well, give or take a year.
Ken: So who's your main influences there, Cliff?
Cliff: Main influences...Geezer Butler, Geddy Lee, Stanley Clarke, Roth, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi...
Other guy in studio: Yngwie!
Cliff: No, not Yngwie...(laughter). Richie Blackmore! Ed King! Old guitar
player for Lynard Skynard. He is fuckin' bad as shit!
Other guy: What!?
Cliff: That motherfucker...I swore a few times, I guess I wasn't supposed to
do that...
Ken: How'd you get in Metallica?
Cliff: They called me for about 6 months and finally I decided that was the
thing to do.
Ken: That was the hip scene, huh?
Cliff: Well, Trauma got a bit boring.
Ken: Yeah? That was a pretty good tune on Metal Massacre, though.
Cliff: Yeah, but they started to change you know. Like "let's be commercial
so everybody will like us."
Ken: Did those guys put out anything after that?
Cliff: I doubt it...very seriously! (laughter) They're not too happening
man, I'd seen 'em about a month before I left Cal...
Ken: So what do you think of Megaforce Records, Cliff?
Cliff: It's the most wonderful label in the universe, and we couldn't ask
for anything more. But seriously, there's rather a lack of money. But
there's a lot done on what is there. They get a lot accomplished for what
they have.
Ken: So how's the album sales on Kill Em All? Gettin' there or what?
Cliff: 60,000 world-wide, something like that.
Ken: That's cool. That's pretty many. Is it steadily selling or what?
Cliff: Yes it's still moving.
Ken: That's cool. So how's the tour been so far on this short little tour
going on here?
Cliff: The tour's been good. Been staying pretty inebriated...Puffin' the
spleafage.
Ken: Puffin' the spleafage?
Cliff: Sure.
Ken: I hear these dudes keep coming up from this town with these buds...
Cliff: Yeah, in some dump called Cleveland. (laughter)
Ken: Oh well..
Cliff: No, Cleveland's nice. We liked Cleveland a lot. It was one of the
better stops actually. It was a good club, it was a good crowd.
Ken: That's decent.
Cliff: It's a pity we didn't make it there on the Raven tour, though.
Ken: You'll be back.
Cliff: Oh we'll be back, definitely.
Ken: That's cool. So everything's set for Europe, huh?
Cliff: Yeah we got tickets and everything, man.
Ken: So how many gigs do you think you'll be doing out there?
Cliff: I don't know about 8 or 10 dates with Venom, we got various
headlining dates I don't know how many. And we got the Kerrang Music For
Nations Tour. The Rods, Excitor, and us...