Jean Dolabella , drummer and guitarist for Ego Kill Talent , spoke about opening for Metallica in Brazil on the ibagenscast , hosted by Manoel Santos . He said it was "a bizarre mix of feelings."
The musician, who performed at four of the band's shows, said the main impact was returning to the stage after the pandemic. "The whole world pulled the handbrake, and in the entertainment industry what happened to us was very bizarre; entertainment depends on crowds, but nothing was allowed, no events could be held."
"And add to that the fact that we were doing four stadium shows with the biggest rock band on the planet, so it was a very intense experience. It was all far, far beyond our expectations, it was all very positive, very good, and on top of all that, we had an amazing connection with Metallica."
Jean then talks about Metallica's treatment of other bands. He says that, because they are such a successful band, he and his colleagues expected a certain distance between them and Metallica – which didn't happen. “We were always treated very well from the beginning, we felt at home, they made sure we felt that way, not only us but Greta [ Van Fleet ] too. Whether you like it or not, Greta is also a great band, they're in a really cool place, and it's a band where, like, the oldest member must be 23 years old (laughs), but they're in a very good moment, they're huge.”
He also recounted the moment when drummer Lars Ulrich entered their dressing room: “If I'm not mistaken, it was at the second show, the Curitiba show. I was putting on the pants I was going to play in, it was like four in the afternoon, I was concentrating before the shows, ours were at six-thirty. And then Lars came into the dressing room (laughs). Then everyone was like, 'how do we deal with this?', while at the same time extremely excited about the magnitude of it, someone like Lars, representing the band, coming into the dressing room and asking if everything was okay, if we were being treated well, it was a shock right away. And it was really awesome because there was a real connection, a real band connection.”
There was a second very special moment for the group when Raphael Miranda , EKT's drummer, gave Lars a gift, and he got emotional. “Rafa is a huge Metallica fan, it's probably the band of his life. And he made a drum kit, he built a kit, he went looking for the metal sheet, the welding, the drilling, he built a 14 by 6.5 inch aluminum snare drum, a killer sound system. He built it as a gift for Lars . And it was very emotional, I think the guy wasn't expecting a gift like that, it's not common. And Rafa told Lars that he's one of the main reasons he plays drums, it was very moving. And then James Hetfield , I hadn't even had time to process Lars's presence (laughs), it was really awesome.”
Check out the full interview below.
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