Perfect Distraction | James Hetfield

Chapter 1

1991: One-on-One Studio, North Hollywood.

I could hear muffled voices behind the heavy door leading to the control room. Bob was using his best disciplinary voice.

"A new tech is starting today, and I swear if you guys scare her off, I'm going to flip."

"She?!" I couldn't tell who that voice belonged to, despite listening to all their previous albums, I had no idea what their actual voices sounded like.

"Yes, she. I've worked with Fi on a few other recordings and she's meticulous. I can't have you lot messing this up."

I imagined he was pointing his finger at them, hoping he came across serious.

"Man, as long as she's got a fine body to look at I ain't got a problem." The other guys laughed along, then abruptly stopped. I presumed Bob had given them a death stare.

I took this as my cue to knock on the door whilst peeking around the doorframe. Bob was immediately out of his chair, quickly wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me into the room.

"Our saviour has arrived, guys." I looked up at him and could swear there were sparkles in his eyes. He'd called me a couple days ago when another of his tech assistants had fallen ill. I couldn't pass up a chance to work with him again, he's one of the only producers that hasn't tried to sleep with me whilst on the job.

I looked at the 3 men standing in front of me. James had a cocky smile on his face, whilst Kirk and Jason waved and nodded almost in unison.

"Isn't there supposed to be four of them?" I turned to Bob, thinking he'd forgotten to tell me Lars has finally been fired.

"Supposed to be," Jason offered, "But Lars works on 'Lars-time', so he'll be here whenever he feels like it." He smiled widely and I couldn't help but giggle along.

"Well, I hope I get to meet him before the record is finished." James rolled his eyes, Kirk and Jason turned to each other and laughed. I presumed this was a running theme for Lars. I'd worked with my fair share of night-owls so I was fully prepared for the late night sessions.

"You most definitely will, he'll come hurtling in here soon enough," Bob said, "But let's get you set up in the listening room, there's a few things to run through."

I was hoping to get all of them to say something, so I could pinpoint who was so concerned with how I looked but it seemed Kirk and James had gone shy. At least I knew Jason hadn't protested, or objectified, my presence.

Bob gave me a run down of the tapes I was needing to review as we walked through the maze of corridors. I was sure I'd get lost in here at least once before the day was over.

"Lars has cut all his drum tracks already, and he wants to go over them himself. I know this is something you would usually do, but he's a perfectionist." Bob sighed, "Just let him make his notes, and cut the best tracks. I trust you."

I laughed, "Thanks Bob, I'll try and push him in the right direction."

I got one more hug before I was left in the tiny room. Most of it was taken up with the control board, with a wall of shelving filled with boxes of what I presume was the recordings so far. It was a nice space for me to work in, cosy and far away from any distractions.

I had to admit to myself that this was almost a dream job. If I'd told 16-year-old-me that I would be in the same room as the heartthrobs of Metallica, I think she'd faint. Now 26-year-old-me felt very nauseous. I was going to be partly responsible for the sound of this new album, and that was scary but oh-so exciting.