Metallica isn't finished trying out new ways to reach fans during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns.
Bassist Robert Trujillo suggested in a recent interview with The Oakland Press that the band's latest live concert film, Encore Drive-In Nights, which was broadcast to drive-in movie theaters across North America in late-August, wouldn't be its last quarantine performance.
"Obviously these are crazy times, and it takes a lot to take that first step, and I feel like we've done that," Trujillo said. "We have some ideas about how we want to pursue making music together. We're going to put something together and it's going to be exciting musically, and maybe there'll be another performance or two — not exactly sure when or how or what, but there are things in the works."
When touring was cancelled this spring and summer, Metallica pivoted quicker than most other acts, launching their #MetallicaMondays virtual concert series. For more than 20 weeks, the band treated fans to an archival concert every week, while encouraging donations to COVID-19 relief efforts.
In May, the band released a new acoustic version of "Blackened."
In mid-August, the four band members reconvened near their Bay Area home base to film the Encore Drive-In Nights concert, which arrived one day after the release of S&M 2.
Trujillo's band mates James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett have all suggested they are working on new Metallica music. The bassist added that they are leaving themselves open to whatever opportunities are on the horizon.
"We'll get through this stuff now and start figuring out what's our next step towards creativity," he said. "[The possibilities] go on and on and on. That's kind of where we're at."
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