Guitarist Kirk Hammett’s entry was so strange

April 1, 1983 made history for Kirk Hammett. Even if it was the “April Fool’s Day”, which was popular not only in America, the call he received that day was anything but a joke: it was about the telephone call Hammett made to Metallica. The call, however, was quite odd.

Like the 57-year-old in an interview with “Metal Hammer” from 2014, he was sitting on the toilet when the all-important call came.

A prank call and a beer shower

“I got the call from Mark Whittaker [Metallica-Toningenieur], and after I hung up, I thought, “I can’t believe I just got that call. Was that an April Fools joke?”

But the phone call wasn’t an April Fool’s joke, as it turned out a short time later. “A few days later I got this tape from them, but I already had the demo and already knew two-thirds of the songs on it.”

But at that time the guitarist was still a member of the band Exodus, which he had co-founded. Joining Metallica therefore required leaving his band at the time – and his colleagues were anything but enthusiastic.

“They were angry. I remember that [Exodus-Sänger] Paul Baloff was furious. He said, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this, Kirk,’ then he poured his beer over my head.”

Kirk Hammett took Exodus riffs to Metallica

After leaving Exodus, Hammett carried with him some of the riffs he originally wrote for Exodus. But he doesn’t feel guilty about it.

The riffs “came from songs I wrote, music I wrote. I consider them my property. I don’t feel guilty about it.” But he does feel guilty about leaving the band he’s known since high school.

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