METALLICA Intends To 'Hit All The Major Cosmopolitan Cities All Over The World'

Earlier this week, Meltdown of the WRIF radio station in Detroit, Michigan conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET)

On METALLICA's tour in support of its upcoming tenth studio album, "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct":

Hammett: "We intend on heading to as many places as possible. We're trying to hit all the major cosmopolitan cities all over the world. We have a large handful of dates that are deserved for the States, which is something that we're looking forward to, because we have not done a proper tour of the United States for a long time now. I mean, we're known for playing a show here and show there, and we're also known for doing small festival tours in Europe or Asia or Australia or South America. But we really have not done very many shows in the States over the last six or seven years, so we're really looking forward to getting out there and playing for our American fans, 'cause that's us. That's our base, you know."

On how he prepares for a tour:

Hammett: "I make sure I'm in shape physically and mentally, I make sure that my guitar playing is always up to snuff. And I make sure that things are going well at home too. It's really important for me to check in to make sure the family is doing well. You know, we've been doing this for so long that we know how to do it well. We've been doing this for so long that every show runs really, really smoothly, because we're just veterans. We know how to go out there and get into a space or a feeling right before the show and then go out on stage and just kick it out, bro, and just rock it, and give the metal to the people."

On the "Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" album:

Hammett: "I think it's a lot along the lines of 'Death Magnetic', but the grooves are a little bit easier to kind of log in on. There's a more simplistic sort of approach. It's less progressive than 'Death Magnetic' and just more groove-oriented. That's my take on it. Everyone else has a different take, so I can only tell you my take. And I like it; I think it's great. But then again, I'm biased."

On the 25th anniversary of METALLICA's "black" album:

Hammett: "The black album is something that just kind of happened. The black album was where our heads were at musically, and it seemed to be in synch with what the music industry and rock radio seemed to be also. So there was a kind of a synchronicity… not synchronicity, but a real synergy with us making the type of music that rock radio seemed to have needed at that time. Because we got so much airplay and we were able to really just get into the minds of a lot of the record buyers. It wasn't just the album itself and going on tour for three years; it was also the support of radio that made that album what it became. And the fact that radio is still playing it now, still playing those songs now, contributes to the timelessness of those songs. If you put out that album right now, it would just totally fit into the overall musical culture that's going on right now."

"Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" will be released on November 18 via Blackened Recordings. The long-awaited follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic" consists of two discs, containing a dozen songs and nearly 80 minutes of music.

"Hardwired...To Self-Destruct" was produced by Greg Fidelman with frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. The band recorded the disc at its own studio.

Interview (audio):