DM: Yeah, but I re-sang it and played guitar where the harmonica was because Lee's vocal parts and harmonica parts had somehow disappeared, it was really weird.
BN: Let's go way back to the old days, even prior to when I first met you with Metallica...You and I both lived in Huntington Beach at the time, and you were in a band called Panic. Let's talk about the old Orange County days...when you played clubs like the Woodstock, Radio City, Concert Factory, and how you eventually hooked up with Lars and James...
DM: I met Lars through an ad in Recycler, a local classified ads newspaper, the ad read "looking for a guitar player influenced by Motorhead and Iron Maiden". I called the ad and told him some of the bands I liked, and I mentioned Budgie, and Lars said, "f**k man, you like Budgie!" [mimicking Lars' Danish accent]. So I went to his house and sat in his bedroom and we smoked a little pot next to a huge stack of Danish pornography and licorice, and I thought 'this is interesting for a teenager to have this much Danish porno', but I didn't ask any questions. I told him that the version of "Hit The Lights" with Lloyd [Grant] on it needed more guitar solos, so I put a solo on the track with Lloyd. It was like a 45 single and he just thought it was the shit, and I listened to it and didn't think it was that great, the drums were pretty bad too. Then I met with James and Ron [McGovney] and it was time for me to audition so I turned on the amp and started warming up but nobody had come in to listen. So, I went into the other room and said "what's going on?", and they said, "you got the gig," so I was like, "wow, that's cool". I was actually pretty pleased with that, to go from Panic to joining Metallica, even though I didn't know what was going on. And then I remembered Lars introducing James to me as their singer, and I looked at James and thought "aren't front-men supposed to be sexy?"
BN: [Laughing] I remember those days. I was fortunate to have witnessed the very first Metallica show at Radio City (Anaheim) and then the following show you did opening for Saxon at the Whisky. Everyone that saw the first few Metallica shows had thought you were the front-man of the group, even though you were just the guitarist...you were the one that brought forth the energy and the character of Metallica in the early days. James was so shy, he didn't say a word in-between songs. You were the only one who really had any stage presence as well. Did you feel you put a lot more into Metallica than what you are credited for?
DM: I don't think they've ever given me the credit for what I did. I'm not gonna say, 'for what I deserve'...since I don't really know what I deserve, but they never gave me proper credit for what I did. And the sad thing is that James had denied the fact that I even existed and Lars said that I was just a temporary guitar player and that I really wasn't that good and wasn't that important. And then you see this stupid movie [referring to Some Kind Of Monster] and he's just carrying on and on. I didn't want to be in the movie and he was telling me that I had to be in it since it was a vital part of the film. Why was it such a vital part of the movie when I didn't want to be in the movie?
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