Kirk Hammett says his working relationship with James Hetfield is “actually a scary place”
“When it comes to James and I, mentally, we’re both challenged and sometimes we’re challenged in a similar way.”
Image: Kevin Mazur / Getty
Kirk Hammett has shed light on his partnership with Metallica bandmate James Hetfield, describing their connection as one that takes both guitarists to an uncomfortable place.
Hammett shared his comments in a new interview with Metallica fan club magazine So What, revealing that the two are more similar than commonly believed. “When it comes to James and I, mentally, we’re both challenged and sometimes we’re challenged in a similar way,” Hammett shared, adding, “So, we have this weird emotional connection. We connect in a place that is not comfortable. It’s not warm and fuzzy. It’s actually a scary place and a place that’s super challenging and dark.”
The guitarist also opened up on Hetfield’s recently documented struggles with sobriety in 2020, sharing that he felt that the situation was reminiscent of the turbulent time period captured in Metallica’s often maligned documentary Some Kind of Monster. “Because whenever someone experiences something that’s life-changing, life-moving, you have to just accept the fact that you don’t know what’s going to happen once the person returns,” Hammett said. “You don’t know how the process might change them. So, when James went off to rehab, and then COVID hit, I mean, that was a double whammy! And it looked like the future was very, very bleak.”
Hammett’s way of dealing with that uncertainty was to pour more of his effort into the creation of Metallica’s new album 72 Seasons thanks to the encouragement of his musical partner in crime, bassist Rob Trujillo. “For me, being positive is picking up my guitar every day. Playing guitar with an eye to writing music for the future,” Hammett concluded. “That’s a very, very positive sort of practice that I can rely on to bring me to a good place pretty much every time because that’s what I used to do when I was a kid. [When] I just didn’t know how to deal with certain things, I’d pick up my guitar, and all of a sudden, I was brought to a better place.”