EDWIN OUTWATER
The conductor was a fan of Metallica’s S&M project and even got to get in on the act for the sequel
Why do you think the announcement of the original S&M provoked such a divided reaction from Metallica fans? “Like any deep genre, people want things to stay the same. I learned getting into this genre that there’s the metal police, but there’s also the jazz police and the classical police, so it’s a certain kind of fan who has a moment they treasure that they think is the pinnacle of something, and then when a band moves in a different direction, it’s hard on them. But if you’re an artist, rather than staying in one place and doing the same thing over and over, the impulse to move forward is a noble one, to try things, to take risks. And that seems to have always been part of Metallica’s MO.”
What did you think of S&M?
“I think it really worked. I was honestly a bit surprised it worked, because sometimes Metallica is a wall of sound, so where does the orchestra fit in? It’s easier in other genres where there’s more sonic space for the orchestra to go in and riffs to get out, so it was surprising that S&M1 worked, and I think that is greatly due to [composer] Michael Kamen.”
Why do you think Michael approached Metallica in the first place?
“I know he was involved in a lot of band work, and probably heard something in Metallica’s music that called out to him. There is a melodic element to Metallica’s work that lends itself to orchestral writing. I’m not just talking about The Black Album and beyond - Fade To Black, even some of the thrashy songs had a melodic hook.”
What do you think S&M’S legacy will be?
“It was just another amazing, audacious thing that Metallica did that worked really well. I think it set the stage for countless other rock/orchestra collaborations. There were things like that in the 60s and 70s, but for this generation, it was this idea that was a super-exciting thing.”
What do you think it says about the impact of the original S&M that the announcement of the sequel shows in 2019 got such a universally positive response?
“When you’re a visionary, people have to catch up with you! It’s a story as old as time; truly creative ideas are often not met with universal acclaim. What was fun about S&M2 was how much harder they wanted to push the idea.”