Legendary guitarist Kirk Hammett has recalled the moment he was asked to join the ranks of metal titans Metallica.
Before cutting his teeth with the biggest rock act in the world, Hammett was wielding the axe for thrashers Exodus. The musician reminisced that it was April Fool’s Day when he got the call, asking if he wanted to join Metallica.
“It was April 1st, April Fool’s Day, and I was sitting on the toilet,” he shared with Loudersound. “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.”
The rocker then relayed how his former Exodus bandmates reacted to the news that he was leaving them to join Metallica.
“They were pissed,” he recalled. “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 continued to explain that he felt confident about joining Metallica, knowing he had something fresh to offer the band. “I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, but I thought, ‘These guys are great, but they’d be so much better with me.’,” he shared.
“Around that time, Exodus were going through some personnel changes. We just got rid of the previous bass player, and brought another bass player in, and it was a different dynamic within the band.
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“We weren’t rehearsing for some reason or another – I don’t know, maybe Paul Baloff was off doing something. We were kind of going through a hiatus when I joined Metallica.”
