Metal Club Founder’s Best Record Store Day Moment: Meeting Lars Ulrich

Since 2008, the third Saturday of April is known as Record Store Day, which celebrates the culture and history of independently-owned record stores. Each year is marked by exclusive vinyl releases only to be sold at the participating 700 shops. But this year, Black Friday is going to be about metal with limited vinyl releases from Metallica, Pantera, Slayer and Anthrax thanks to Metal Club.

This spin-off comes by way of Michael Kurtz, who is one of the founders of Record Store Day. "The original idea was to take elements of Record Store Day and apply them specifically to metal," Kurtz told Noisecreep. "This meant creating special products and events just for metal fans."

Metal and indie shops have always had a strong relationship, from the smallest local band selling a seven-inch at a store to even the biggest metal act in the world, Metallica. "The band has always been tremendously supportive of the little guys like us," said Kurtz, who actually launched the first Record Store Day with an appearance at Rasputin Music in San Francisco.

So it just seemed right to secure Metallica for the first Metal Club release day. Kurtz told the band's management of the vision of Metal Club as an ongoing service to metal fans in the form of limited-edition releases at small shops.

"They listened and took the idea to the band, as they'd been holding on to the tapes Metallica made of their recording in the basement of a little record store in Nashville called Grimey's. I was told that the band loved the idea and that Lars put a lot of love into the mixing and mastering of the raw tapes," Kurtz recollected. "Anyway, once Metallica said yes, we tried to get each of the Big Four bands to do something with us, as the Big Four concert DVD was being planned at that time. In the end we got three of the four: Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer. We're still hoping to do something Megadeth in the future."

There's been no struggle in finding bands that wanted to be involved with Metal Club events or in getting a release out for the die-hard fans. "Contrary to popular belief -- and this is especially true in the metal community -- most label folks are genuinely warm, smart and passionate people," Kurtz explained. "When we took our dream to them, we immediately started to discuss what pieces could be made and what artists might be able to come to the stores to meet fans.

"So far, we've have had events by Five Finger Death Punch, Gwar and Disturbed. We're hoping to do something with Steve Seabury (author of the metal cookbook 'Mosh Potatoes') and Job For a Cowboy at Vintage Vinyl in Fords, N.J. next."

But when Kurtz looks back on all the work he's done with indie shops, one day is undoubtedly the holder of his favorite memory: meeting Lars Ulrich at the 2008 launch. "Honestly, this guy has to be one of the coolest guys you've ever met in your life. I was inspired watching him and the rest of the band meet with over 400 fans. They each personally took the time to talk and connect with each and every one."