METALLICA's KIRK HAMMETT Talks About ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

Bam of NewsOK.com recently conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

NewsOK.com: One of the things I obviously noticed about this album ["Death Magnetic"] is all those super-fast thrash solos that we haven't heard in a few albums: Was that fun to do and was it a conscious choice or just how the album developed?

Hammett: It was totally conscious, you know, I kind of looked back at what I used to do in the past, and took cues from that same sort of approach, that same sort of attitude, and how it could fit in with the music we're doing now. You know, in retrospect, when I kind of like glance over all the guitar solos … over the course of the album, I kind of realized, that I just really, like I said, I went for the jugular. I mean, there's absolutely no subtlety whatsoever. (laughs) I pretty much went in there with the attitude of just doing the fastest, most aggressive, loud, raunchy-sounding solos that I could possibly dream up for the material, and yeah, you know, it really suits the songs well I think. There's a level of energy that guitar solos have that really just kind of like amplify what the music is doing at that point in time. You know, a lot of the albums that we made in the '90s, a lot of guitar solos were much more melodic, and much more blues-based, and much more laid back, which is fine, but for this album, that approach really didn't work so well. So, like I said, just kind of went for it and let it rip.

NewsOK.com: Was there more pressure coming back after such a long period? It had been five years since you'd had album, so was there that pressure to really hit one out of the park, so to speak?

Hammett: You know, we kind of feel that a little bit. You know, whenever we go into the studio to make an album, there's always a little pressure to just come up with what we do best, which is write the best songs that we can possibly write at that point and just try to make the best album that we possibly can. And we follow through with that. You know, a lot of the times, the concepts are just different. Like for "Load" and "Reload", the concept was to kind of like play more laidback, more groove-oriented, kind of blues-based sort of heavy rock, heavy metal. For me, I mean, "Load" and "Reload" are kind of like subconscious tributes to the classic hard rock we kind of grew up on when we were all teenagers. And you know, with this album, the concept was just again to make a really heavy album with progressive flavors here and there, a lot like the stuff we did in the '80s. And to make the best album we possibly can. I guess to answer your question, there's pressure to do the best we can, under whatever circumstances and to follow through with whatever we're thinking conceptually.

NewsOK.com: You guys are on the short list for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Is that gratifying? Is that exciting? Is it kind weird that so much time has passed so fast?

Hammett: You know, it is pretty cool to be nominated and to be acknowledged by the industry. It kind of vindicates all the blood, sweat and tears and sacrifice and long hours, all the traveling, and all the ups and down that you've experienced over the course of 25 years or so. And it kind of makes me feel that wow, you know, it's been a great, great journey, and now the industry's actually recognizing it and considering us for the Hall Of Fame. And that's a great feeling. I mean, it really is exciting, and I really hope we win, obviously. (laughs) In fact, you know, I was just thinking today, "Oh my God, I gotta start working on my acceptance speech 'cause I want it to be perfect." (laugh)

NewsOK.com: Is it really gratifying to be cited as an influence, because a lot of hard rock, metal and thrash bands cite you as an influence. Is that pretty thrilled? Is it something you never considered when you started this?

Hammett: When we started doing this, we just wanted to make music that we wanted to hear. We wanted to play music that was fun to listen to and fun to play and exciting for us and that was the intention. … And you know, it's … inspired a lot of bands and continues to inspire bands, generations of bands now, and it's super, super flattering. And you know, again, it's very gratifying to know that you've helped other musicians to kind of like help set them on their paths and set them in a direction that you kind of forged. And it's great to know, I mean, because to be known as a band that's had an impact on musical culture, I mean, that's great to me. Because I know what sort of influence a band like LED ZEPPELIN had on my life — just to like name one band among many — and to know that we mean that same sort of thing to a bunch of people out there of all ages, denominations, whatever, you know, again, it's very, very gratifying. It's very cool to know. …

NewsOK.com: It has been 25 years now, are you really just glad and grateful that the band came knocking on your door? Have you looked back with the recent success and Rock Hall nomination? Are you happy with where you are?

Hammett: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'm absolutely thrilled that 25 years into it we're still able to like put out an album that's relevant and that mends people and that we're able to go out on tour, especially at a time like this when the economy's all shot to hell and there's just a lot of things wrong in the world. You know, it just feels good to be able to go on tour and that people are spending their hard-earned money to buy tickets to see us, to have a good time. I have no regrets whatsoever. You know, we've done some pretty dodgy things in the past careerwise, but I don't regret any of it because it's been an amazing learning experience and a lot of great music has come out of it. You know, that's what I pretty much think about that.

Read the entire interview at NewsOK.com.