A chat with performance enhancement coach Phil Towle, the doc who
saved Metallica.
By
PT Staff, published on July 01, 2004 - last reviewed on October 28, 2004
What's the music really about? Phil Towle, the performance
enhancement coach who "saved" Metallica, probes the struggling youth in
every hard-core rocker.
PT: James lost his only parent at 16 and felt abandoned. Lars came
from a comfortable background, but he needed to control the future. Kirk
was a mediator in a family of strife. They seem to have carried their
childhood roles into their adult lives. Is this the essential story in
all of our lives: that the roles we develop at age 12 or 16 don't work
forever?
Phil Towle: Yes. That's why we can relate to "Some Kind of Monster"
and to that human struggle.
The band is a family system, dysfunctional as others can be, but
with great attachments. When the calibration was off, they were aware
that something was wrong. They just didn't know what to do. Their last
couple of albums were not as good as they wanted them to be.
They would each attack the other. The more intense the conflict
gets in any relationship, the closer you are to wanting to resolve
something. The degree of conflict simply signals that you desperately
want to do something about it, but are still committed to the old
unhealthy ways of dealing with it. You either fragment or find some way
to come together. They were ready for somebody to come in.
PT: These are poster boys of rage, yet even they found they have to
look inside the rage.
Phil: Rage is the highest degree of fear of not being able to
connect with another human being. Lars and James formed this group out of
nothing. They couldn't have done it without the love that they felt.
Their songs all express pain about unrequited love. Adults get scared by
this kind of music because they don't understand. The music is in your
face forcing you to listen--"I understand you, goddamn it." Parents
should be helping their kids listen to this kind of music.
PT: In the course of your work with Metallica, did you hear the
music change in any way?
Phil: The music never lost its edge or passion; it just shifted
from more of a fear base to a love base. And it is still shifting. The
second and third albums will be better. These are individuals whose
histories do not reflect ease of togetherness or trust and love. That's
why they're so authentic in their ability to tap into the world of the
disenfranchised.
PT: But who has had a childhood that makes it easy to trust and to
love?
Phil: Nobody. That's why we can all relate.
Tags:
adult lives,
attachments,
calibration,
dysfunctional,
fragment,
hard core,
mediator,
Metallica,
monster,
music,
performance enhancement,
phil towle,
probes,
strife,
therapy,
unrequited love
