A Cool Thank You Letter from Cliff's Folks Regarding my Articles on them & Cliff in Creem's Thrash Metal Mag & Germany's Rock Hard !! I started taking pictures of METALLICA back in 1982 way before they were a household name & became the monstrously popular band they are today.I was introduced to them by fellow metalhead/photographer Brian Lew who I got to know from going to local Y&T shows & other misc. metal gigs..Just by chance Brian happened to live in Sunnyvale,the same town I lived in !! I also got to know Rich "BANG THAT HEAD THAT DOESN'T BANG" Birch or "SKITCHY" as he was nicknamed by everybody !! Rich was a total 100% total METAL FREAK that was way into all the greatest "NWOBHM"bands way before anyone was into them !!! He turned me on to IRON MAIDEN,MOTORHEAD,SAXON,ANGELWITCH & tons of other cool obscure HEAVY bands from all over the world !! Rich also hooked me up with "METAL MANIA" Fanzine Editor & LEGENDARY KUSF DJ Ron Quintana who started using a bunch of my photos in his zine...Ron of course is infamous in METALLI-FOLKLORE for coming up with the name METALLICA for his fanzine before Lars suggested "METAL MANIA" so he could "steal" the name "METALLICA" for his new band he was putting together!! I used to go to Jaymz & Larz's Metallimansion in El Cerritto to drink a bunch of beer & vodka with em' before the local gigs & used to drive them around totally shitfaced to & from the shows !!! It's amazing we didn't get killed drunk driving ,because we drank an amazing amount of booze!!! OH MY GOD !! IT WAS SO EXCESSIVE !!! In fact one time , I got so shitfaced over at their house, that I passed out on their couch & woke up the next morning covered in a puddle of my own puke !! Yeah!! I know it's hella gross,but I coulda wound up like Bon Scott , John Bonham or Jimi Hendrix who all died from puking in their sleep & choking on their own vomit !! Anyway...Long story short...I used to constantly follow the Metallidudes around at all the local metal shows & took countless classic humorous offstage shots of them goofing around with other bands + they were cool enuff to give me full access to shoot all their live shows too!! Cliff Burton liked some of my live shots that I took & ended up using my shot on the back cover of the soon to be epic "RIDE THE LIGHTNING " album !! I was so stoked !! Even though they weren't very popular yet I was honored & totally thrilled that he used my shot on such a soon to be legendary album !! I didn't get paid a cent..but having my name in the photo credits & on the special thanks was priceless!! The Metallica guys were always way cool & totally had it together when it came time to give credit where credit was due !! Not too mention always hooking me up with photo & backstage passes countless times in the last 20+ years !! Unlike bands like EXODUS & SLAYER who dicked me on photo credits ..plus never paid me !!
CHECK OUT MY SHOTS IN THIS MONTHS REVOLVER !!!
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PUBLISHED PHOTOS of HARALD O.
