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Kirk Hammett on Reincarnation, Defending 'Lulu,' 'Load,' and 'Reload' -- and Metallica's Future (Rolling Stone)
Very long new interview. Their Bluesky post about it:
https://bsky.app/profile/rollingstone.com/post/3llp6z333c22e
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/kirk-hammett-lulu-reload-load-black-album-interview-book-1235305572/
Too much here to quote enough to give much of a sampling, but since the headline mentions reincarnation first...
-snip-
I can write and compose without a guitar, just by visualizing and hearing things in my head. I feel blessed. It almost feels like it feels paranormal, and it all feels so familiar. It feels like I’ve been doing this for longer than my lifetime, which means, ’cause I believe in reincarnation, I’m starting to believe that I’ve always been a musician, bro. Chew on that.
Why is that?
Everything seems so familiar. The act of playing music seems so natural and so familiar. And the effects of music on other people. I’m familiar with the outcomes of that, and I strive to be an inspiring force to people because musicians have inspired me. And man, that gift of inspiration is hard and heavy. And when I’m inspired, nothing can stop me until I’ve played out that inspiration. And I want to be able to feel like I can inspire musicians out there to write the music of the future.
I don’t like my celebrity. I have a real hard time balancing it all. ’Cause I want to be inspiring, but then I don’t want a lot of the attention. I wanna just be able to do what I do, put the art out there, and just move on to the next thing. ’Cause that’s what I feel like is what I’m here to do. And everything that comes in the wake of that is just gravy.
But I have no expectations. I have no financial expectations. I’m not looking for status. I just want to put the best art out there with no ego, because ego and things like financial gain and greed stain the whole process. For me, in the last 10 years, it’s all about being as pure as possible and really playing for the music. It’s a great place for me to be because then I don’t have to stress about all the shit that I thought I had to stress about.
-snip-
I can write and compose without a guitar, just by visualizing and hearing things in my head. I feel blessed. It almost feels like it feels paranormal, and it all feels so familiar. It feels like I’ve been doing this for longer than my lifetime, which means, ’cause I believe in reincarnation, I’m starting to believe that I’ve always been a musician, bro. Chew on that.
Why is that?
Everything seems so familiar. The act of playing music seems so natural and so familiar. And the effects of music on other people. I’m familiar with the outcomes of that, and I strive to be an inspiring force to people because musicians have inspired me. And man, that gift of inspiration is hard and heavy. And when I’m inspired, nothing can stop me until I’ve played out that inspiration. And I want to be able to feel like I can inspire musicians out there to write the music of the future.
I don’t like my celebrity. I have a real hard time balancing it all. ’Cause I want to be inspiring, but then I don’t want a lot of the attention. I wanna just be able to do what I do, put the art out there, and just move on to the next thing. ’Cause that’s what I feel like is what I’m here to do. And everything that comes in the wake of that is just gravy.
But I have no expectations. I have no financial expectations. I’m not looking for status. I just want to put the best art out there with no ego, because ego and things like financial gain and greed stain the whole process. For me, in the last 10 years, it’s all about being as pure as possible and really playing for the music. It’s a great place for me to be because then I don’t have to stress about all the shit that I thought I had to stress about.
-snip-