Metallica Guitarist Kirk Hammett Hints That Band Material Is In The Works

Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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In a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett talked about his upcoming solo EP titled Portals. At one point, the Metallica guitarist is asked why he chose to work with producer Bob Rock. Greg Fidelman is an engineer who has worked with Metallica several times before, and per Hammett’s words – Fidelman may have been too busy to help out the Metallica guitarist, given that he “had his hands full with all sorts of other Metallica stuff.”

So if Fidelman is currently working on “other Metallica stuff,” could that mean possible new music?

The Metallica guitarist shared the following via the interview:

“When it came time to get the stuff together, it was last summer. Most of the stuff was recorded. But I still needed to do a few guitar parts here and there to add to the songs. All of it needed to be mixed. The four tracks needed to be mixed and I thought, ‘How am I going to do this?’ You know, I can’t really travel to the mainland and do all of this stuff, because I have commitments in Hawaii and COVID is happening – but when things started to open up a little bit more too as well, I thought, ‘Wait a second, Bob Rock’s in Maui. I’m here in Oahu.’ That’s a short flight and I know that he would be the best person to do this because he loves guitar and this is all fuckin’ guitar-oriented stuff.

“I mean, it’s guitar-dominated. The guitar dominates everything. I thought, ‘How about I give Bob a call?’ I didn’t want to bother Greg Fidelman, because he had his hands full with all sorts of other Metallica stuff. I didn’t really know who else to call. So you know, when I thought about Bob, I thought, ‘That’s great because Bob and I are friends.’ We have a great working relationship. We love the same stuff. We love the same guitar players, the same guitars, the same amps, the same types of music. We have a history and we’re buds.

“So when he came over to Honolulu, it was really cool to see him again and be working with him again. You know, when I see Bob, the start of those days were like this: We’d talk about guitars and music for fuckin’ two hours and then say, ‘Oh, shit! We’ve got to start working!’ Then we would work. I mean, we just have a mutual love for this kind of thing. I really didn’t have anyone else to call. Like I said, I would have loved to have had Greg do it, but he was up to his neck in other Metallica commitments, so Bob was the next best guy. You know, he came through for me and really helped me out. I am really appreciative of that.”

What do you think the Metallica guitarist is hinting at when referring to Fidelman’s “other Metallica commitments”?

Listen: Metallica Guitarist Kirk Hammett Releases New Solo Single “High Plains Drifter”

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Words by: Michael Pementel