We've all had those moments that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. Kirk Hammett has surely had many of those moments, including the moment he was told he had been accepted to join Metallica. Kirk was of course the founding guitarist of Exodus. He famously said before joining the band, when he first saw them live, "These guys are great, but they’d be so much better with me." So, where was he when he got the call? He was dropping a duece!
Metal Hammer just published an interview with Hammett from 2014, where he reveals the exact location where he was sitting when he got the call – the throne of thrones!
"It was April 1st, April Fool’s Day, and I was sitting on the toilet. I got the call from [Metallica sound engineer] Mark Whittaker, and after I hung up, I was like, ‘I can’t believe I just got that phone call. Was that an April Fool’s Day prank?’ A couple of days later I got this tape from them, but I already had the demo and I already knew two thirds of the songs on there."
Kirk continued "I told the guys in Exodus and they were pissed. They were pissed. I remember Paul Baloff was so pissed that he poured a beer over my head. He said, ‘[angry-hurt voice] I can’t believe you’re doing this Kirk’, then poured his beer over my head. I just took it, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know…’"
Kirk noted in the interview that he felt guilty about leaving the band he started but " I also left a lot of music with those guys. A lot of the music I wrote ended up on that first album [1985’s Bonded By Blood], and they recorded some other songs that never made it. I never said anything because of the way I left them. I always had guilty feelings about that. Well, not any more…"
Read the full interview at Metal Hammer.
