UPDATE: In more local Metallica news, a posting on the band's website today indicates the band will perform at the annual Salesforce.com convention at Moscone Center on Wednesday, Aug. 31. Turns out Kirk Hammett's next-door neighbor is Mark Benioff, founder of the sales software giant. Fan club members will be able to win tickets to the S.F. show. We're not sure yet whether any tickets will be made available to the public, but we'll let you know when we can. More details and backstory here.
The as-yet-unnamed album will be Metallica's 10th studio effort, and its second with Rubin after 2008's much-hailed return to form, Death Magnetic.
Rubin told Billboard that the band is
about to start writing, and I had a meeting with Lars (Ulrich) in San Francisco ... to explore what the focus was going to be this time around. I'm still sort of thinking about what that is going to be. I'll ask a lot of questions and we'll probably listen to some of the riffs that they've been writing. Usually I'll hear something that will sort of indicate the direction and then we'll talk about it from there.
No word yet on release dates for the new Metallica effort or the band's project with Lou Reed, which is reportedly finished. But this news, coupled with rumors that the band is planning to kick off a larger-than-life stadium tour, means that we could be hearing a lot more from the Bay Area's biggest metal band soon.
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