METALLICA: THE BEST OF THE REST

KIRK HAMMETT

REVOLVER So, the big thing with you on the new album is that the solos are fucking back, man.
KIRK HAMMETT Yep, I’m playing my ass off and it feels good. You know, in retrospect, when I think about it, the last time I did solos for an album was on Garage Inc., which was 1998, 1999. As I was, like, recording the solos and listening to them back, I was like, Whoa, my playing style has totally changed. I went into a couple of different directions since the last time I was playing solos. So, when people hear it, it’s gonna be a different sort of approach for me. It sounds similar to what I used to do. I’m really psyched about that and just curious as to what people are gonna say about how my style changed. It’ll probably run the gamut from “Ah, it’s really fucking great,” to “Ah, he fucking sucks.” So, I’m ready for it all. That’s just the way it is. Especially with the Internet now. I mean, everyone’s a critic nowadays whether they’re qualified or not.

Do you read that shit online?
I don’t read that shit because I was reading something about eight years ago; this guy was just tearing up the band, and somehow, some way I found out that this guy who is tearing up the band and he’s saying all this crap, he’s 12 years old! [Both laugh] So I don’t read it. I don’t read the Internet shit because, like I said, everyone’s a critic whether they’re qualified or not. You just have to follow your instincts and make sure you’re doing the best you can possibly do.

Did you feel sort of vindicated that fans and critics all pretty much called bullshit on the lack of solos on St. Anger?
It was definitely a big surprise to me. I had no idea that people would miss guitar solos that much. There’s no way I could have known that. It was a major uproar. I mean, I can understand from the audience point of view, but even the critics! Even the critics, who spent a large amount of time fucking saying, “Yeah, you know, those guitar solos are such a wank thing.” All of a sudden, they’re saying, “Where are the guitar solos?” So, it is frustrating. But, at this point in time, I don’t give a fuck. You really can’t, especially these days.

There’s that little scene in Some Kind of Monster, and your comment turned out to be really prescient, because now it seems like we’re in, like, a new hey-day of solos.
I don’t know if that videogame has anything to do with it or not, but if it does, thank God. God bless it. Because we need more fucking musicians.

So, this new breed of shredders and soloists, did they, like, sort of light a fire under your ass, in terms of your playing for this record?
Just the fact that people are soloing again and doing it really well has totally lit a fire underneath my ass to the point where I went back to all the bands and all the guitar players that influenced me greatly and just started listening to the things that really moved me when I was younger and discovered that that stuff still moves me now. I got a lot of inspiration from just listening to that stuff. It was just a cool thing because I thought that listening to all that stuff was part of my past and it wasn’t capable of influencing me anymore. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. When it came time to record solos, I was just very, very inspired by the past, my own past, and what’s going on now in the present: The fact that kids are playing great guitar solos and people are listening—and listening enthusiastically.

When I talked to James, he said he was kind of egging you on in terms of your playing.
Oh, yeah, totally. He was like, “Come on, man, play some stuff that you’d hear on an old Thin Lizzy album” or something. Or, “Play some [UFO/Scorpions guitarist Michael] Schenker stuff.” And I’m like, Yeah, fuck yeah. Because he and I, we came from the same batch of influences and the same era of music, so we could totally relate. When he throws out something like Michael Schenker, I know exactly what he’s talking about. But it’s great when other band members egg you on because it makes you, sort of, rise to the occasion and it makes you step up. It’s great. When I’m really, really in the moment in the studio, it’s like being onstage. I’m fucking running around and fucking playing my ass off like there’s a fucking audience in the control room. Usually, there’s just the engineer and maybe Lars or James or Rob or whoever. It’s a good thing, man. It’s a good thing that we’re back to guitar solos again. But it’s a good thing that St Anger was made the way that it was because if we had made it any other way we might not have finished it and might not be together as a band today. So, I will go on the record to say that there was a reason why there were no guitar solos on the album, and not because of some trend or something; it was more so that we wanted to come across as a band. No one was outshining anyone else and no egocentric sort of, like, spotlights put on anyone, which is what we had to do back then because of the situation. It was such a tender situation that if we would have let it go in an egocentric direction, there might have been a big flare up and we potentially could have broken up.

I know that kind of the mission statement producer Rick Rubin gave to you guys was to try and tap into the spirit of when you guys were writing albums like Master of Puppets, and to not be afraid of referencing your classic albums. Previous to Rick’s suggestion that you work that way, had you guys been conscious of doing it the other way and trying not to repeat yourselves?
Oh, yeah. I mean, that’s what the whole ’90s were. From “The Black Album,” to Load, to Reload, to the S&M thing, we were consciously, subconsciously, I think a little of both, trying to distance ourselves from the music we made in the ’80s, and that’s what we came up with in the ’90s. Also, there came a point where we just didn’t feel comfortable playing the way we played in the ’80s in the ’90s. But now that we’re opening our minds up to that ’80s way of thinking again, it’s…what we created in 2008 sounds completely new and fresh. It sounds somewhat familiar, but it’s that kind of familiarity that you can’t quite put your finger on. You know? I mean, it’s like when you write a great riff. You’re like, Fucking hell, have I heard that before? And you just search and search and you’ve never heard that before. The first time I played the riff for “Of Wolf and Man,” I showed it to those guys and I said, “Well, there’s a familiarity about it but I can’t figure it out.” And they said, “Really?” Because it didn’t sound like anything that they could think of. So, that’s a good thing.

You had your first child during the making of this record, right?
Yeah. I managed to build a house, have my first child, and my second child is due next week. [Since the interview, Hammett’s second son, Vincenzo Kainalu, was born on June 28.] So these last three years have been very, very fruitful for me in that I built a house, had two children, and managed to make an album. For a fucking hack who likes to sit around and play guitar, I think I’ve been pretty productive.

How has becoming a dad changed your perspective on things?
Well, I found another source of inspiration for me, as far as doing guitar solos. I just really, really wanted to do a good job, so later on when my son is older and can understand, I can say, “Listen to that son. I’m playing that way because you were inspiring me very much to do the best that I could.” So I could later on say, “Listen to that, son. That’s the result of being inspired by you so you can listen to how much effect you had on my life in the studio when you were, like, six months old.”

That’s really cool.
I get real emotional when I talk about that. But that was one of my main inspirations.

Something I was really impressed by, just at our photo shoot today, was that there were an iPod playing the whole time, and you guys were, like, identifying shit, had strong opinions on shit. It seems like you guys are pretty tapped into what’s going on in metal.
’Cause we read Revolver, bro. [Both laugh] You know, we’re musicians. We’re in it. People give us CDs all of the time. You hear stuff. I have friends that go, “Hey, you gotta hear this, man. It’s really great.” You know, it hasn’t stopped. It never stopped, really. We never really stopped listening to modern stuff. We’ve seen a lot of bands come and go that we love, and that’s a shame. And it’s weird when you just think, Wow, remember when we used to tour with them. They’re so fucking great. Why can’t they get their shit together now? You know, there’s some of that. But there’s a lot of great bands out there nowadays who we like and are more than happy to give the opportunity to tour with us because that usually helps any band no matter who they are. But yeah, we’re pretty tapped in. I mean, we pretty much know what’s going on. I mean, you have to. If you don’t you’re gonna be out of touch and you’re just gonna get stuck with one world view, and that world view will be immensely irrelevant.

Considering that you guys are so tapped in, are you guys shocked that you’re still the biggest metal band in the world?
I’m pretty shocked, yeah. I think about it a lot. I think, Will there ever be a band like us to follow in our footsteps? But then I think about it and I thought, Was there a band to follow in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones? Was there a band to follow in the footsteps of Led Zeppelin? So, maybe I’m just thinking the impossible. But there still needs to be a new modern band that has the impact, and they haven’t showed up yet. Or maybe they’re out there and I just haven’t heard them yet. Do you know what I’m talking about?

At Revolver, we have this conversation all the time, and it’s weird because it seems like there’s been bands that seem like they have the potential—you know, Pantera, Lamb of God…
…Slipknot, Korn, yeah. But it just doesn’t happen for whatever reason. My brother-in-law came up to me and was like, “Are there any bands who are in their 20s that you guys are intimidated by?” And I thought about it long and hard and I’m like, “No.” I wish there was, you know. I wish there was because it would give us a nice challenge and motivate us to maybe step up to their plate, whatever their plate might be. It just hasn’t happened yet. And if it has happened, maybe it went by so quickly that we didn’t notice. I dunno. I don’t have an answer to that question. I mean, changes in the market, situations with the record companies, I think that that has a lot to do with it, but really, it just has everything to do with sitting down and writing good songs.