Metallica is planning to rebel slightly on Record Store Day with the reissue of its 1982 demo cassette tape No Life 'Til Leather. Three of the thrash metal tracks — "Jump in the Fire," "Seek & Destroy" and "Metal Militia" — made it to the group's 1983 full-length release, Kill 'Em All, while "The Mechanix" did not. The original cassette featured the original lineup of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Ron McGovney and Dave Mustaine, Rolling Stone reports.
"Twelve people will be able to play it, but everybody else will be able to hold it in their hands and, uh, have a great time with it," Ulrich told RS about cassette, which is the first in a line of other planned CD and vinyl reissues coming this summer.
The drummer explained that the band wants to pay tribute to its early days like other classic acts have been doing recently.
"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," he said. "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."
Ulrich doesn't know if any other demos will get the reissue treatment, like the band's Power Metal tape. The drummer did promise that he's looking through boxes of old recordings to find some material fans will enjoy. Within the next few months, the band will announce more 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 added. "It's all coming. We're doing our best."
No Life 'Til Leather is out this Record Store Day, April 18.
