METALLICA'a KIRK HAMMETT Talks To DUNLOP TV (Video)

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett recently invited Dunlop TV host Bryan Kehoe into the secret lair of METALLICA headquarters in San Rafael, California to discuss his horror memorabilia collection and convention. These two longtime friends talk about "the good ol' days," musical inspiration, and some of the gear he chooses to use live and in the studio. You can watch the chat below. Also available is a video report on Kirk Von Hammett's Fear FestEvil, a three-day horror convention founded and hosted by Hammett, which was held February 6-8 in San Francisco, California.

Hammett told the U.K. magazine Kerrang! that the band "cannot think of any other reasons to procrastinate" over the making of their 10th studio album, which is slated to begin this year. He added, "We're kind of backed up into the corner now, so yes, we have to start working on the album. And I'm excited. James [Hetfield, frontman] has, like, 800 riffs. I only have 400, but there's not going to be any shortage of ideas. It's going to be interesting to see how it turns out."

Hammett offered one reason why the band has delayed the start of work on the record, saying, "We're only procrastinating because we love being at home with our families, but we really do love writing songs together and making an album."

Aside from touring, METALLICA has spent much of the five-plus years since the release of its last effort, "Death Magnetic", on several other projects, including launching a music festival, collaborating on an album with the late Lou Reed and making a feature film.

Drummer Lars Ulrich told The Pulse Of Radio not long ago that spending all its time making an album is no longer a priority for METALLICA. "If we had to sit there and, 'Okay, boys, now you write for the rest of the year and then you spend the next year after that recording' — I would pull what seven hairs I have left, I'd pull those out and rather just stab myself in the eye with nails or whatever," he said. "I just, I couldn't do it. I mean, we love the position that we're in to be able to come and go between all these different projects. That's what keeps us alive."

Hammett told Kerrang! that the group doesn't have any finished songs ready yet, explaining, "We have little bits and pieces of music earmarked to become songs, and really that's all I can say about it. We're pretty psyched about it."

METALLICA will hit the European festival circuit this summer, on which the band will play all-request shows and introduce a new song into its set.

METALLICA is asking fans to vote on which two songs to add to the band's official pinball machine. The group said at its web site, "We first introduced you to the machine in April of last year and the response has been phenomenal, so now it's time to add to the 12 songs already part of the game… Pick your two faves and they'll be all yours along with a few upgrades already in the works.” Voting closes March 3 and the winning tunes will be announced the next day.