Kirk Hammett
Kirk Lee Hammett is an American musician. Hammett has been the lead guitarist of heavy metal band Metallica since 1983; prior to joining Metallica, he co-formed thrash metal band Exodus in 1979. In 2023, Hammett and Metallica bandmate James Hetfield were co-ranked 23rd on Rolling Stones list of Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2009, Hammett was ranked number 15 in Joel McIver's book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.
Early life
Hammett was born on November 18, 1962, in San Francisco, California, and raised in the town of El Sobrante. He is the son of Teofila "Chefela" and Dennis L. Hammett. His mother is of Filipino, specifically Cebuano, descent and his father was of English, German, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, although he has referred to him as a "a full-blooded Irishman who liked to drink and liked to scrap. He was always fighting people, even fighting his friends. He would get together with my uncles and it was just one big fucking toxic soup of masculinity, and that’s what I came out of."He attended De Anza High School in Richmond, California. While attending De Anza High School, he met Les Claypool of Primus, and they remain close friends.
Hammett has a well-known passion for horror movies that stretches back to the late 1960s. After spraining his arm in a fight with his sister at age five, Hammett's parents placed him in front of the television. It was during this time that he first watched The Day of the Triffids. After that, Hammett found himself drawn to his brother's Frankenstein figures and began spending his milk money on horror magazines. For the better part of the next decade, Hammett dove deep into the horror scene.
Hammett began showing an interest in music after listening to his brother Rick's extensive record collection. He began selling his horror magazines to buy music records, which led him to properly picking up the guitar at age 15. Hammett's first guitar was a "wholly unglamorous" Montgomery Ward catalog special, which was accompanied by a shoebox for an amp. After purchasing a 1978 Fender Stratocaster copy, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various guitar parts before eventually buying a 1974 Gibson Flying V.
Career
Exodus (1979–1983)
Hammett's musical interests eventually drew him into the fledgling thrash metal genre. In 1979, he formed the band Exodus at the age of sixteen, along with vocalist Paul Baloff, guitarist Tim Agnello, bassist Geoff Andrews, and drummer Tom Hunting. Hammett named Exodus after the Leon Uris novel of the same name, and played on the band's 1982 Demo and its successor Die By His Hand from 1983. Exodus was an influential band in the Bay Area thrash movement. During the Exodus phase Hammett took lessons from Joe Satriani who was based in Berkeley, California at the time.Metallica (1983–present)
In 1983, Metallica traveled to the east coast to record its debut album, Kill 'Em All. Due to lead guitarist Dave Mustaine's substance abuse and violent tendencies, he was fired shortly after their arrival, and would eventually form the band Megadeth. Hammett received a phone call from Metallica on April 1, and flew out to New York for an audition on April 11, the same day Mustaine was let go. Vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield said: "The first song we played was "Seek and Destroy", and Kirk pulled off this solo, and it was like... things are going to be alright!". Hammett was instantly asked to join the band.Hammett has written a number of riffs for Metallica since Ride the Lightning. One of his riffs was used on "Enter Sandman" - which went on to become one of Metallica's most popular songs. It was the first track and the first single on the band's self-titled album, and was ranked 399th on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The bridge for "Creeping Death" was originally an Exodus riff that Hammett took with him to Metallica.
In 1986, during the band's European leg of their tour to support Master of Puppets, the group had a dispute over sleeping arrangements on their tour bus. The outcome of the dispute was decided by a card draw, which Cliff Burton won by picking the Ace of Spades. Once the draw was completed, Burton looked at Hammett and said "I want your bunk", to which Hammett complied, saying that he might be able to sleep better in the front of the bus anyway. In the early hours of the following morning, Metallica's tour bus slid off the road and overturned in Sweden. Burton was thrown through the window of the bus, which fell on top of Burton and subsequently killed him. Hammett has stated in an interview that he once thought that it easily could have been him who was killed instead, since Burton was sleeping in what was considered to be Hammett's bunk. In Kirk's own words: "You know to this day I just think, it could have been me or it couldn't have been me but... it's never left me to this day."
Between the end of touring the Black Album and the start of touring in promotion of Load, he studied at San Francisco State University, focusing on film and Asian arts. Hammett went through a "blues period" around this time - which had some influence on Metallica's Load and Reload albums. He also began listening to a lot of jazz music. Hammett described this period of his life as "great education", because he was able to discover where all of his own rock influences had gotten their own guitar licks. However, even though jazz music had a profound effect on his improvisation skills and solos, Hammett felt that he was delving too deep into the genre. Since Death Magnetic, Hammett has gone back to being "primarily" a metal guitarist, but some of his influences of jazz and blues music still remain.
Hammett wanted to have guitar solos on Metallica's 2003 album, St. Anger, but drummer Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock thought that the solos did not sound right in the songs. He later admitted himself, "We tried to put in solos but they sounded like an afterthought so we left them out". Recording for St. Anger was halted in 2001 so that Metallica frontman James Hetfield could enter rehab for alcohol abuse. Due to tensions within the band at the time, Hammett expressed interest in working on a solo album. According to Hammett, if he ever worked on a solo album, it would not be "super-duty" heavy metal, and may include some classical guitarists. When he was asked about his experiences of recording St. Anger, Hammett said:
On April 4, 2009, Hammett, along with Metallica bandmates Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, and Robert Trujillo and former Metallica bandmates Jason Newsted and the deceased Cliff Burton, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2009, Hammett provided the foreword to British author Joel McIver's book To Live Is to Die: The Life and Death of Metallica's Cliff Burton.
In April 2015, Hammett admitted to losing his phone - which contained 250 new "ideas" for Metallica's upcoming studio release. The incident happened about six months prior to the admission. The phone was not backed up and Hammett can only remember eight out of the 250 "ideas" he had. On the subject, Hammett said:
In 2016, Hammett provided the foreword to author Greg Prato's book German Metal Machine: Scorpions in the '70s.
On February 8, 2022, it was announced that Hammett would release an extended play entitled Portals. Said to be inspired by "classical music, soundtracks, horror movies and maybe a little Ennio Morricone", the EP is his solo debut and was released on April 23, 2022.
Other appearances
He also appeared on the Kichigai EP by punk band Septic Death. He played additional lead guitar on the title track.Hammett can be seen in the background in Primus' "John the Fisherman" video fishing off of Les Claypool's boat. Hammett has been friends with Primus bassist and lead vocalist Les Claypool since childhood. Claypool even auditioned for Metallica after the tragic death of Cliff Burton.
Hammett played guitar on the track "Satan" with Orbital for the Spawn: The Album soundtrack released in July 1997.
Hammett plays a guitar solo on Pansy Division's song "Headbanger" which appears on the EP For Those About to Suck Cock.
In 2005, Hammett was featured playing the guitar roles on the Carlos Santana track "Trinity" alongside steel-pedal guitarist Robert Randolph. Santana personally asked Hammett to contribute to his then-upcoming album All That I Am. Hammett previously worked with Santana in 2001 at a live show benefit in San Francisco. Metallica had also invited Santana into the studio while recording St. Anger.
In 2006, Hammett voiced himself on The Simpsons. He also provided various voices on the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse, including a two fingered fan, The Queen of Denmark, and a Finnish barkeep.
Hammett also appeared as a guest in an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast titled "Jacksonville", alongside fellow Metallica member James Hetfield.
He appeared as a guest guitarist on K'Naan's 2006 song "If Rap Gets Jealous" off of the Troubadour album.
After performing a set with Metallica at Bonnaroo in June 2008, Hammett played one song with My Morning Jacket and a couple songs with the annual Superjam collaboration, which also included Les Claypool and members of Gogol Bordello playing primarily Tom Waits songs.
Hammett is one of the main characters in Guitar Hero: Metallica, along with the rest of the current line-up of Metallica.
In 2011, Hammett appeared in an episode of Jon Benjamin Has a Van as an actor and guitarist.
Hammett collaborated with Cindy Blackman Santana and Vernon Reid from Living Colour on Evolution Revolution, a track from the former's 2020 album Give the Drummer Some.
Hammett has appeared as himself, representing the character Kevin's conscience, in the 2022 American teen comedy-drama Metal Lords.
In May 2023, Hammett performed at the Jeff Beck tribute concerts held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, sharing the stage with Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Billy Gibbons and Johnny Depp among others.