Kirk Hammett discusses new Metallica album, The Big Four.

Blabbermout.net reports that Shawn Fernandes of GibsonGuitar.in recently conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

GibsonGuitar.in: Can Indian fans expect any new material at the [upcoming] shows [in October]?

Kirk Hammett: Well, as far as new material is concerned we're just now starting to think about writing new material. I guess if anything is going to be finished between now and the end of October, who knows? We may play a new song, we may not, but because India's kind of a special place and it's the first time we're playing there, we might even break out a song that we haven't played for a while.

GibsonGuitar.in: Which band, in your opinion, is the best band of the "Big Four?"

Kirk Hammett: Err… well, us [laughs]. But, of course, I'd say us. The better question is who's my second favorite?

GibsonGuitar.in: Fair enough. So who's your second favorite band?

Kirk Hammett: I have to say SLAYER. What can I say, they're evil, they're heavy and they don't really compromise. SLAYER just rules. I also have to say though; Scott Ian [from ANTHRAX] is one of my best friends. I've known him for as long as I've been in the band and we hang out a lot socially. We do things together, our families get together, so I have to say I really just like hanging out with Scott 'cause he's one of my bros.

GibsonGuitar.in: With all the touring, has the band been able to get cracking on a new album?

Kirk Hammett: We haven't really started yet; we're thinking about it, though. [laughs] There's just a bunch of other things that we're doing right now. We keep telling ourselves that we're going to get 'round to start writing songs but, you know, something comes up. Normally it's a show or us having to travel to India to play or something or the other, and then the album gets put on the backburner for a bit. But I think personally, the new album will just happen when it happens.

GibsonGuitar.in: You learnt under a legend, the great Joe Satriani. How did that happen and what was it like?

Kirk Hammett: Well, by that time I had my Flying V and one day I said to a friend of mine, "Your guitar playing's really good. What's up? How come you're playing so good?" He said, "Oh, I found this new teacher in Berkeley, his name is Joe. You should check him out." So I went to this music store called Secondhand Guitars in Berkeley and I walk in and in the back I can hear someone playing guitar, crazy guitar, like no other guitar playing I'd ever heard. I went back there and there was Joe sitting on a chair and he says, "Hi, are you my new student?" I said "Yeah," and so we sat down and Joe just started playing. Even back then he sounded like he does now. I mean, all the components of his guitar style were in place back then. I was just so totally blown away by his technique and his style. The first thing he said to me is: "OK, if you're going to take lessons from me I expect you to learn your lessons. If you come in next week without learning the lessons, you're just going to be wasting our time and there's no real lesson for you to be taking lessons." So he kinda basically told me to have my act together when I came in the next week. So I had the lesson, learnt everything over the week and came back the next week. It just totally grew from there. I could tell that Joe really liked playing with me because we would always play longer than the allotted time. I mean usually he'd spend about a half an hour with his other students but for some odd reason he'd spend more time with me. I found out later that it was just because he liked playing guitar with me. Later on in interviews, Joe said that when he first started teaching me he could see something in my playing style and my approach that was just radically different from most people's approach at the time. A lot of it had to do with the fact that I was way into heavy metal at a time when heavy metal wasn't even popular. It probably also had something to do with the fact that I was listening to guitar players like Ulrich Roth and Michael Schenker. I mean, there weren't a whole lot of people in the United States back then who even knew who those guitar players were. So I was coming from a pretty unique sort of perspective. I learnt a lot of things from Joe, a lot of things about technique especially. I also learnt that feel is better than anything and everything. So I've always strived be a player with a lot of feeling rather than a player with a lot of technique. I was always aware of the fact that you can say just as much with five notes as you can with five thousand notes. Learning that was very, very important to me.

GibsonGuitar.in: METALLICA's been around 28 years now. We've seen many metal bands come and go, the genre itself has been through its ups and downs. What's that special sauce that's kept METALLICA at the very top for the last 30 years?

Kirk Hammett: I honestly don't know. All I can tell you is that I think our music stands the test of time. The music still sounds modern and still sounds relevant 30 years in. People are hearing it and they still hear it fresh. All I can say is that it's just incredible that it's actually happened to us.

GibsonGuitar.in: We have to ask you about this new book about horror movie memorabilia that you're working on called "Too Much Horror Business".

Kirk Hammett: It's a book on vintage horror movie posters and vintage monster toys. I've been collecting this stuff for, like, forever. I bought my first monster movie magazine when I was five years old and I've been into this stuff forever. I just decided one day that because I have this huge collection of posters and monster toys, that I was going to share it with the world. Basically that's what I'm doing right now, I'm just sharing it with the world. It's really fun. It's a lot of work and I'm still working on it right now but it's a lot of fun and I can't wait to release it.

Read the entire interview from GibsonGuitar.in.  

Megadeth nears completion on new album.

According to a post on Blabbermouth.net MEGADETH has resumed recording its new album at mainman DaveMustaine's Vic's Garage studio in San Marcos, California after the sessions were briefly "halted" when producer Johnny K (full name: John Karkazis; DISTURBED, SEVENDUST, MACHINE HEAD, STAIND) was "suddenly struck ill." According to Mustaine, Day 29 in the studio was spent working on the arrangements of the 12th and final song that will appear on the CD, with overdubs slated to begin next week.

The drum tracking for the CD — which is tentatively due this fall via Roadrunner Records — began earlier this month, with the entire recording process expected to be completed by the time the group hits the road this summer as part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival with DISTURBED and GODSMACK.

Speaking to U.K.'s Terrorizer magazine, Mustaine stated about the band's upcoming album, "This is our 13th studio record, and we've already had a bunch of weird things happen. Car problems, stuff disappearing, a guy who worked for me that was the most white-laced guy you could imagine falling out on drugs and disappearing...but this one's got me excited!"

MEGADETH's platinum-certified 1986 masterpiece, "Peace Sells… But Who's Buying?", has been digitally remastered for the first time and expanded for a special 25th-anniversary release in multiple configurations. It will be released July 12 by Capitol/EMI.

All of the versions, including a 2CD lift-top box, digital album and a deluxe 5Disc+3LP box set, contain a previously unreleased 1987 concert from the band's first world tour and new liner notes written by Mustaine and METALLICA's Lars Ulrich.

Anthrax gets ready to go back to their roots on new album.

Blabbermout.net is reporting that ANTHRAX drummer Charlie Benante spoke to Revolver magazine about the status of the recording sessions for the band's long-awaited new studio album,"Worship Music", tentatively due in September via Megaforce Records in the U.S. And Nuclear Blast Records in Europe.

"Worship Music", which was originally supposed to be released in 2009 and be the band's first CD with singer Dan Nelson, will mark the first new ANTHRAX recording to feature vocalist Joey Belladonna in 20 years.

"Some of the songs we tweaked, some of the songs we did more than tweak," said drummer Charlie Benante. "Some we started from scratch, and some were written just for this album."

"With Joey singing them, they sound like classic ANTHRAX. The hair on my arms stood up when he started singing them. It was ANTHRAX once again."

Guitarist Scott Ian agreed. "The songs like sound like metal. They sound like ANTHRAX circa 1987 through a 2011 filter."

"I think this record is more of a celebration for us," Benante added. "We haven't had a new record since 2003. The ups and downs in between really reflect the mood of this record. There is a lot of aggression, emotion and power. I feel like this is once again back to our New York style and attitude."

Song titles set to appear on "Worship Music" include "Fight 'Em 'Til You Can't", "I'm Alive", "Crawl", "The Giant", "Earth On Hell" and "Down Goes The Sun".

During a chat with RockMusicStar.com, ANTHRAX singer Joey Belladonna was asked if working on the band's new songs was a challenge because of the fact that most of the material was written for previous vocalist, Dan Nelson. "I kind of hate that someone was already singing this stuff and now I have to kind of dance around it and do it all over," he said. "They [the rest of ANTHRAX] have in their mind already how they want it to sound, so it's kind of hard to shake it away. They are not going to say to me, 'Go on and do something totally different and we will just dig it.' [Laughs] It's hard, but I'm not worried about it."

The Big Four is coming to New York in September

Following the success of last weekend's Big Four of Thrash show in Indio, California Metallica has announced that there will be a second show in Yankee Stadium on September, 14. Tickets for the show go on sale next Friday May 6^th via www.ticketmaster.com. All seats will be reserved meaning there will likely not be general admission seating available. This makes sense with the Yankees likely in the thick of a pennant race. Lars Ulrich commented in the announcement:

“A huge thanks to everyone who came out to the desert this past weekend . . . we felt the enormous love and support, so we just had to find a way to make one more Big 4 show in the States happen. Enter New York . . . that’s right, the Big 4 of Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer, and ‘Tallica will be in the new version of the famed Yankee Stadium on September 14, 2011! We can’t wait for a night in the Bronx as our second American show and for those of you who love fun facts, this will also be the second live music event hosted at the new ballpark.”

The attendance last weekend was placed at over 50,000. The new ballpark that opened in 2009 usually holds upwards of 50,000. The seating can be expanded to 54,000 plus as it was for a college football game last December. 

David Ellefson hints at direction of next Megadeth record.

In an interview with www.ugo.com Megadeth bassist David “Junior” Ellefson discussed topics from his return to the band, the 20^th anniversary Rust In Peace tour, The Big Four Shows and other information. He gave a general overview of the sound of the next Megadeth record of which he remarked:

“We are working on it now so it's a bit early to encapsulate what the final will ultimatelt sound like. I think we know the punch and impact we want to have, but also not be afraid to let new ideas develop, too. Just know it will be heavy, hooky and have the trademarks you'd come to expect from us.”

The band is already having its third straight banner year. Megadeth will appear at the (so far) lone Big Four show in America on April 23^rd at the Empire polo Club, Indio CA. They will play another round of The Big Four shows in South America and Europe before playing the main stage at this summers' Rockstar Energy Mayhemfest. They will follow that up with recording their next record and possibly a US Tour to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of Peace Sells....But Who's Buying which Dave Mustaine himself has hinted at.  

SLAYER GUITARIST TO MISS AUSTRALIAN SOUNDWAVE TOUR. REPLACEMENT TBA SOON.

Slayer guitarist and thrash metal legend Jeff Hanneman has been forced to sit out the groups' upcoming trip to Australia for the annual Soundwave Festival Tour. Jeff was hospitalized in late January when he underwent emergency surgery for a serious infection in his right arm. The initial diagnosis was necrotizing fasciitis, more commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria syndrome. Jeff is at home recovering and is undergoing treatment, including skin grafts. He is expected to make a full-recovery. He will however, miss all five dates of the already partially sold-out tour that is slated to hit every major Australian city. No word as yet if he will be recovered in time to be able to play The Big Four Show, April 23^rd in Indio, California.

Slayer made the decision to do the shows without Jeff rather than cancel the tour together. They are in the process of recruiting a fill-in guitarist until Jeff is ready to perform again. The band released a statement from the explaining the decision:

“Jeff is our brother, we've all been friends and together as a band for almost 30 years, so we want him to completely recover as soon as possible.” said Tom Araya of Hannemen.

Added Kerry King: “After everything that happened last year we all agreed that we just can't let our fans down again. Jeff is totally on board with this decision, so he'll be back as soon as he possibly can. And we can't wait for Jeff to get better and get his ass back on the road.”.

King was of course referring to the last few years which saw Slayer postpone and cancel several tours due to health concerns, mostly due to Tom Araya's ongoing neck and back problems.

All of us here at the Vulgar Display of Blog wish Jeff a speedy recovery.