James Hetfield says he battles bouts of stage fright and nightmares before going on tour with Metallica.
In a new interview, Hetfield says he regularly starts to “doubt” himself before going out on the road, describing the experience as a normal part of his professional life.
He said, “Over the last month, I will say that the normal thing happens, where I start to doubt myself. So, having the nightmares [about how] I show up at the gig, everyone’s goofing off, or there’s 200 people backstage and [thinking], ‘Where’s my stuff? Where’s the setlist? What songs are we doing?’ And then, typical things like the guitar neck is made of rubber, and there’s only two strings on it. And, ‘Where’s my roadie?’, and the guitar cord won’t let me get to the microphone. Silly stuff like that. That has to happen, and I don’t freak out over it. All you do is you practice, and then you build that comes back pretty quickly.”
Hetfield notes he’s learned to trust the process explaining, “It’s part of the cycle; it just is. You have anxiety build up, and don’t let it get the best of ya because you have that balance of anxiety and faith. And as soon as you get up there, it’s all gonna be good.”
