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Kirk Hammett
Born:
November 18, 1962
From:
San Francisco
Personal:
Married, 1 child
Instrument:
Guitar, background vocals
Vitals:
Brown eyes, brown hair, 5'8"/1.75 meters tall
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Kirk Hammett, never
without a grin or a curious thought, is the
true Bay Area band-member. Born in San Francisco, and raised in the East
Bay town of El Sobrante, he gained an interest
in music from his brother Rick's extensive
record collection, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin
and UFO. It all led to him properly picking
up the guitar when he was 15, his first being
a wholly unglamorous Montgomery Ward catalog
special accompanied by a shoe box with 4 inch
speaker for an amp.
After picking up a 1978 Fender Stratocaster,
Kirk experimented by mixing and matching guitar
parts to find his perfect sound before falling
for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. In a determined
(and successful) effort to upgrade his equipment,
Kirk even took a shift at Burger King to get
the cash together for his first Marshall amp.
Around that time, Kirk also co-founded Exodus
with Paul Baloff, and the East Bay thrashers
crossed paths with Metallica twice, in late
'82 and early '83, as a support act.
In April 1983, Kirk received a phone call
from Metallica in New York. They were in the
process of firing guitarist Dave Mustaine
and wanted Kirk to fly out and audition. Kirk
got the money together for the flight, left
California for the first time and arrived
in the late afternoon to find three guys who
were still waking up. Immediately he, and
they, knew the fit was right despite the fact
nobody ever formally invited him to join.
A keen student of his instrument even today,
Hammett followed his first 'Kill 'Em All'
tour by taking lessons from Joe Satriani,
and embarked upon a passage of guitar self-education
that took in jazz, blues and classical styles.
Indeed, education has always been Kirk's answer
to potential burnout. After the marathon 'Black'
album tour ended in 1993, he immediately went
to the City College of San Francisco where
he took classes, something he credits as the
reason behind his reinvention as a guitarist
on the 'Load' and 'Re-load' albums.
Kirk continues to bring not only a dazzling array of
lead guitar parts to Metallica's music but also some savage rifferey, having started sharing 6-string duties with James during the 'Load' era.
He is happily
married to Lani, and lives in San Francisco
along with a large collection of old Hollywood
movie memorabilia, his two dogs Darla and
Hoku, plus cats.......Oh, and for the record,
Kirk plays his guitar at least 361 days a
year. |
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 Updated
info coming soon |
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