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Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has accepted the drum battle challenge recently put forward by comedian Will Ferrell and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, who went head-to-head in their own hilarious doppelgänger drum-off on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in late May.
In an interview with Spin only days ago, Ferrell discussed the possibility of future drum battles, and called Ulrich into battle. “I mean, we did talk about another drum-off,” Ferrell said. “With a third person that looks eerily similar to Chad and I. A third drummer out there… Lars gets pissed because he gets mistaken for both me and Chad Smith. He can settle that score now, too.”
“There it is. The gauntlet is down,” Smith added.
Ulrich has now responded to the challenge by releasing a statement to Spin which talks up Ferrell’s remarkable talents and reassures drum-off audiences that the Enter Sandman drummer is well and truly up for the challenge of drumming against him. “I’m sure that with a bit of practice, I could give Chad a run for his money. But Will? That’s a whole different story. He rules the ‘bad-ass drummer universe’,” Ulrich says.
“I mean, you’re talking about a guy who’s so next level, actually, so beyond next level, that he may just be completely unreachable! That said, I’m definitely up for the challenge… Bring it on!!!”
Ulrich also adds some more trash-talking into the mix, suggesting that the lookalike dynamic between Ferrell and Smith is “forced”. “It was a little lonely on the sidelines during the first drum-off, given the somewhat forced nature of the lookalike element between Chad Smith and Will Ferrell,” Ulrich says. “I’m TRULY the one carrying that dead-ringer gene around!”
Smith has also responded to Ulrich’s taunts with an advice-laden Facebook post. “Two pieces of advice for Lars,” Smith writes. “Leave the double bass drums at home and load up on cowbells!!”
Ferrell won the first doppelgänger drum-off (below) after reviving the cowbell skills he famously used in the “More Cowbell” sketch from Saturday Night Live, which aired in 2000. He and Smith were joined on stage by the rest of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for a performance of Blue Oyster Cult‘s famous song Don’t Fear The Reaper.
Watch: The Will Ferrell-Chad Smith Drum-Off
