Kirk Hammett is "very excited" about Metallica’s full North America tour.
The 54-year-old guitarist is due to head off on an extensive run of dates with his bandmates – James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Robert Trujillo – next year in support of their album ‘Hardwired… To Self Destruct’, and has admitted he is itching to get back on the road since the rockers haven’t been out on a full US trek since 2009.
Speaking to Billboard magazine, the ‘Master of Puppets’ hitmaker said: "It’s been a long time since we’ve done a proper American tour.
"We’ve done European tours, Asian tours, South American tours – relatively recently – but we have not done a proper American tour as of late, so we’re very, very excited about it, and we’re very excited to be able to do it playing new songs.
"So, yeah, America is definitely slated in there as well as all the usual places, too.
"It’s gonna be really cool, really fun and very Metallica."
The ‘Enter Sandman’ musicians will start touring from as early as January, but will be in between tour legs when the Grammy awards roll around, where ‘Hardwired’ received a nomination for best rock song.
Speaking about the nod, Kirk said: "You know, we’ve had such a crazy relationship with the Grammys, so when the Grammys do something like this we kind of like throw our arms in the air – ‘Whatever. Whatever!’
"But it’s still an honour. It’s still great to be recognised by the academy, and it’s still fun to play the Grammys when we’re asked. I think it’s cool. I think it’s funny we’re in a different category, but we take it all in stride."
Kirk Hammett ‘excited’ about tour
