Shortly after launching a new book, guitarist reflects on his career, partnerships and his own future in an interview with Podcast Rolling Stone Music Now
Article published on March 23, 2025 at Rolling Stone. To read the original in English, click here.
Kirk Hammett is working hard on his first complete solo album and, unlike debut solo EP, Portals (2022), will probably have invited vocalists. The detail was revealed by the musician himself in the new episode of the podcast Rolling Stone Music Now. The guitarist also has a huge collection of new riffs for the next album of the Metallicin which he expects the band to start working next year, right after the end of their current tour.
Hammett published a new book, The Collection: Kirk Hammett (Not yet expected to launch in Brazil), which shows his impressive collection of vintage guitars, and to mark the news, he sat for a new interview that covers the entire career. Here are some highlights of the discussion:
Kirk Hammett doesn’t know how many guitars he has: “I had a long time I made a point of not counting,” he says. “The number is discouraged, because I can’t touch them all. And then, over the years, I’ve been trying to reduce this amount because it makes me crazy to know that there are guitars stored on boxes that are never touched. I have a main collection of about 40 to 50 guitars that try to play all the time. These are my favorites and most of them are in the book.”
He kept an impressive number of new riffs for Metallica’s next album: “I have 767 new to the next album. It’s a nightmare to go through that too. I’m responsible for all this, and I can’t realize … I don’t predict that we start the next album for at least another year, because we’re still finishing the tour 72 Seasons. As soon as we completely finish the tour and go to all distant places, such as Asia, Australia and New Zealand, I think we’re going to take a short pause, not too long, and then let’s go back to the next album. “
A solo album is underway: “I’m just gathering ideas actively to my first solo album,” he says. “I think the best way to describe is that it will be a fusion of all kinds of styles … Suddenly, I’m writing classic progressions, and then I see myself writing heavier things and then something like funk … There will be vocals because the songs I wrote cry this time. I don’t know. I hope it’s not myself – I already have a lot to do on the stage. ‘The Mysterion’. It’s based on all these things I have read, the ancient Greek texts, and it’s amazing to me because I wouldn’t have this instrumental if I hadn’t started reading these ancient texts. ”
He is intrigued by the suggestion that Metallica could return to the sound of the nineties: “Who knows? We can just say, ‘Okay, let’s go back to the 1990s again. It’s not a bad idea! We haven’t said that yet. And it’s interesting because when Load and reload (1997) left, there was a lot of negative reaction. But nowadays I find fans and they love that time. We play ‘Fuel’ And people go crazy. We play ‘UTIL IT SLEEPS’ And people know each word. It’s like when I was a teenager, I heard all the albums in Zeppelinexcept Zeppelin III (1970), because it was more acoustic and I just wanted the aggressive things of high energy. But over time I really started embracing the Zeppelin III And how wonderful he is. ”
He has good memories of parties with the late Marianne Faithfull, who sang in “The Memory Remains”: “Lars [Ulrich, baterista do Metallica] And I loved Marianne and we went out with her. Once, we went out to dinner with her and Anita Pallenbergthe first wife of Keith Richards. And man, what a dinner was that. The stories we hear. Anita and Marianne They really liked to go out with us, because we accompanied them. Every drink, every speech, everything. We use many drugs that night. Marianne It was amazing, man. She never diminished the pace. ”
Work with Lou Reed in Lulu It was a deep experience: “That album means a lot to me for a series of reasons,” he says Hammett. “The lyrics are amazing. It’s track poetry. I’m a big fan of Lou Reed. Being able to go out with him and work with him musically meant a lot. And the track ‘Junior Dad’ -I can’t hear her, man. It makes me cry. I remember when Lou He said, ‘I have a song for you and I want her to be on the album.’ And he touched to James [Hetfield, vocalista do Metallica] and me. At the end of the song, I looked at JamesHe looked at me and we both had tears in the eye. Then Lou Reed He entered and saw us crying in the kitchen. He was smiling and said, ‘I took you, I didn’t?’ ”
Reed was not a fan of guitar soils: “I remember that I started doing some things using the effect Wah-Wah And he just went to the microphone and said, ‘no’, he remembers Hammett. “I was like, ‘what?’ And he said, ‘no guitar soils’. So I remember that at one point I went to a dominant frog, a kind of eastern sound scale.
At 62, Hammett is still creatively excited: “I’m 62 years old, and many artists, when they are this age they are ending things. I feel that I’m still climbing the summit. I have not reached the top of the mountain. I have not reached the top of the pyramid.
The creative process is purely spontaneous now: “The things I don’t think are usually the best because they just come to me. And if they just come to me in a natural way, then there’s a kind of organic feeling about it. And that’s how I invent everything these days. I just sit with my guitar and see what happens. I refuse to work hard on anything. I just look at this note and it has to work with that. ‘ It seems that I’m doing algebra. I don’t want it.
He believes that Metallica can continue indefinitely as long as they stay healthy: “Much of this has to do with personal health,” he says. “I think we are all very healthy and we are fit. And sometimes I forget the age I have because I don’t feel like I was 62 years old. I feel I am still somewhere in the house of thirty and, you know, I go out and surf, I go on a bike, run, path and do all kinds of madness physically. I still do everything. Things are improving around me. Lars It is also in great shape. As long as we have health and mind, I think we can continue. ”
He has opinions about Polyphia guitarist, Tim Henson, and defines the traditional solo guitar technique of “Boomer Bends”. “I love it,” he says. “But you know, he will call Eddie van Halen by guitarist Boomer [termo usado para se referir a pessoas mais velhas e geralmente saudosistas]? I really like the style of Henson. It’s really unique, and in terms of technique, it’s amazing. But here comes that old question: how accessible is this? It’s nice to hear about three or four times. Can you really connect? Sometimes people just want to listen to music and not feel challenged. Sometimes people just want to feel a raw emotion. Is he looking for this raw emotion? No. It is very complicated. It is a very distinct emotion that he is trying to achieve. It is accessible only for those who like or can understand it. ”
Rolling Stone Music Now is a weekly Rolling Stone podcast presented by Brian Hiatt. You can check out interviews with names like Robert Plant, Liam Gallagher, Eddie Van Halen and Snoop Dogg in the top podcast aggregates.
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Source: Rollingstone
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
