METALLICA's HAMMETT: 'Our Goal Is To Always Write Songs That Are Fun For Us To Play'

Darryl Sterdan of the Toronto Sun recently conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Toronto Sun: So, having a new son or making a new METALLICA album — which is the scarier prospect?

Hammett: Actually, during the creation of this album, I've managed to sire two children! My other son is two years old and this album is three years old, when you go from start to finish. I would say that two little guys are still scarier than this undertaking — and this is a huge undertaking.

Toronto Sun: After "Some Kind of Monster", a lot of people would not have been surprised if you were hesitant to go back into the studio.

Hammett: We've moved on so much from that point. From that period to where we started writing the songs, there was a two-year gap, and in that time we did a lot of touring and we got Rob [Trujillo, bass] in the band. And we started acting and operating and feeling like the unit that we were in the past. So when it came time to start writing the material, we were back to four guys in a room playing our instruments and milking that energy that we create.

Toronto Sun: So how did you recapture the spirit of "Master of Puppets"?

Hammett: We just asked ourselves, "What would we have done if this was 1986?" We kind of put it through that filter, that lens.

Toronto Sun: But if it really was 1986, you would have drunk a bottle of vodka first.

Hammett: Ha! Yeah, definitely. But it started off as an experiment and we started to get some really great results. So we decided to just follow it through. And we continued writing in that dynamic manner that we did back then — which is to fuse a lot of vague, disparate pieces of music together to make them work rather than taking one bit of music and milking it for ideas.

Toronto Sun: So are these songs a lot more enjoyable to play?

Hammett: Oh, they're totally fun for us to play. Are you kidding? We're rehearsing five of them because the intent is to play at least five new songs in our set, because we're tired of playing the same set list for the past three years. Our goal is to always write songs that are fun for us to play. But yeah, that these songs really do stand out — they're just a lot of fun.

Toronto Sun: How long are you going to tour for this album?

Hammett: For as long as we can. We're setting aside a good two years, but it depends on the success of the album and the demand. It takes two years just to play all the places you need to play, especially if you're doing one week on and one week off. And that isn't even counting all the places we've already played that want us back. So it could run into three years.

Toronto Sun: Over the years, you've had this reputation as the George Harrison of the band — the guy who's caught between these two massive egos and doesn't get his due. Is that fair?

Hammett: It's easy to think that. But all the music I write, I write for METALLICA. All my musical motivations are always METALLICA-oriented. It's just the tempers and the egos that I'm stuck between are frustrating, because I want everything to progress and I'm so dedicated to us reaching the goals we set for ourselves. It's not that I don't have a means of expression. I've always been able to express myself in this band. Even with "St. Anger", even though I didn't play a bunch of guitar solos, I was still writing a lot of the music and lyrics — and keeping those guys from tearing each other apart! I had my hands full!

Read the entire interview from the Toronto Sun.

Professionally filmed video footage of METALLICA's record-release party held Friday night (September 12) at O2 World in Berlin, Germany can be viewed below.