Kirk Hammett was "sitting on the toilet" when he got the call telling him that he was Metallica's new lead guitarist.
He spilled the beans in a revealing new interview with Metal Hammer. Hammett replaced Dave Mustaine just before they recorded their debut album, Kill 'Em All. And the call from the band's sound engineer that sealed the deal came on April 1st, 1983 -- making him wonder if it was an April Fools Day prank. He says that a couple of days later a tape arrived with the songs for the album, but he "already had the demo and...knew two-thirds of the songs on there.”
Hammett also recalls that when he told his old band, Exodus, that he was leaving, "they were pissed." So much so, that their singer at the time, the late Paul Baloff, said, ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this Kirk,’ then poured his beer over Hammett's head.
Metallica's S&M 2 will be released in various formats on August 28th.
The package documents the band's two shows with the San Francisco Symphony in September 2019. S&M 2 features 20 songs, and the film, which had a brief theatrical run in October 2019, has been re-edited by the band with remixed and remastered audio.
There will be a two-CD version, a two-CD and Blu-ray or DVD version, a four-LP set and a deluxe box set with two CDs, four LPs, a Blu-ray of the concert film, an MP3 download, sheet music and more. The concert film will also be available as a stand-alone DVD or Blu-ray.