Kirk Hammett says his guitar solos at Metallica’s upcoming live shows won’t sound like “carbon copies” from the recordings.
The legendary heavy metal band’s lead guitarist has revealed he improvised on the band’s upcoming album ’72 Seasons’ and he plans to play “something completely different” at their concerts – and if the fans don’t like it, Kirk insists that’s “tough”.
He told Total Guitar magazine: “I have every intention on playing every solo from this album differently whën we play live.
“If you watch old videos of Ritchie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, or even Michael Schenker, they’re not playing the solos on the album – they’re playing whatever the f*** they wanna play. I love that because it’s a moment of real honesty.
“With this album I went in intentionally to improvise 20, 30 solos, give them all to Lars [Ulrich, drummer] and Greg [Fidelman, producer], and go ‘You guys edit them!’ I know I’m gonna play something completely different live, so I can offer something different every time you see Metallica. When you buy a ticket to a Metallica show, you’re not gonna hear carbon copy versions of the album.”
He continued: “At a time when it’s just so accessible to see videos of your favourite band, there needs to be some sort of impetus for people to go out and see live shows that are actually somewhat spontaneous.”
Kirk concluded: “That’s my thing these days – and if people don’t like it, that’s just tough!”
The ‘Nothing Else Matters’ group are headlining Download Festival twice in one weekend in June, and promise each set will be different.
And their ‘M72’ world tour is set to feature a bold new in-the-round stage design that relocates the famed ‘Metallica Snake Pit’ to centre stage.
The follow-up to 2016’s ‘Hardwired… to Self-Destruct’ will arrive on April 14, 2023, with the European leg of the band’s jaunt kicking off in Amsterdam on April 27.