In-your-face, aggressive and loud!

-The Black Album has been the most sold Metal album. Did that success somehow change the 4 Horsemen?

Not really, I think we're still the same; that success hasn't changed us but what's around us. The people who know us are aware deep inside we bear no differences and we don't act like rockstars. We have grown big gradually and that allowed us to get accustomed to the new level every time, so we were kinda prepared when the Black Album got to the top.

-What's new in the scene after 5 years since its release?

The US scene is slowly getting swamped; almost all bands copy one another and it looks like no-one wants a real change; the covers change but the music remains unmutated. Luckily we always offered something on our own, we put standards, no matter what was happening around us.

-In fact "Load" sounds pretty diverse; how would you describe it?

It's a reaction to our 80s records where the theme was already clear from the title; everything was supposed to match (cover, title, lyrics). Now we're a bit older and we can look at things more detached, thus we thought we didn't need such plain references any longer. This album sounds quite live and some tracks do sound very different from all we did in the past. Some songs might've fitted our previous record, too, yet the variety of today offers a new outlook of the band. Here there's definitely something nice for everyone.

-This time you recorded at the Plant studios at Sausalito, a place rich in tradition...

Yeah, we wished to record near home, around San Francisco. Renowned artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Stevie Wonder, Rick James, but unfortunately it wasn't up to the 90s standards. We thought we should be at our ease if we'd had to spend some time there, so we changed a couple of things so that it'd be OK for us. The drum place was widened, we had the false ceiling eliminated raising it all to 13 feet in height. With this luxury available, we'll record pur next album there, too. The mixing was executed at the Right Track studio in New York.

-Is it true you occupied both the studios for the recordings?

Right, we had to rent both of them to work simultaneously on the album. While I was working on the guitar overdubs in the studio A, the finished material could already be edited in the B studio. The rest of the space was necessary for the huge amount of guitar amps brought by me, James and Bob Rock.

-What sound did you mean to achieve with Bob Rock this time?

We didn't wanna use only run-of-the-mill guitar sounds on all the tracks, we tried to obtain sounds as different as possible and I think we've made it. We also used sounds not belonging to Heavy metal, we experimented a lot instead of playing all the typical hyperdistorted lead sounds.

-You massively recurred to Pro Tools; did you happen to think you were gonna correct mistakes later?

Not at all; we approach every song of ours intending to record it without mistakes so as to avoid putting our hands on them later. It'd be a waste of time, Pro Tools was used only to intervene on the final recording. I've worked with this software in my home studio for a long while to create unusual artificial guitar sounds, to record licks backwards and sample guitar structures. It's similar to the chemical lab you're given as a present when you're a child. You try, play and sometimes something fascinating comes out. On "Load" there're a few riffs and licks I elaborated home with Pro Tools, like the twisted sound part before the talk box in "The House Jack Built"

-After Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton and Joe Perry Metallica started using the talk box as well...

Yep, we used Bob Rock's talk box during the recordings and James tried it for this solo and the effect was perfectly matching with the rest of the track. James plays theleads and I concentrated on the rhythms, breaking our traditions radically. Our roles have changed and you can hear that in our current sound. There's more consistency in our latest album than in "Metallica", even if it doesn't include a hit track like "Enter Sandman"; this ain't important, what matters is the susbstance in it; James sings marvellously and the arrangements are better.

-How'd your songwriting evolve in these last 4 years?

This time I'm happy I've composed more than before, and James and Lars have started appreciating my musical inputs. I have been more motivated and this has changed the whole sound. Working in my homestudio I saved lots of time to try and memorize guitar sounds. I'm really into tech; when there's a novelty on the market I gotta grab it!

-The new songs are fully playable live?

I think so, there're several songs with a hell of guitar tracks, but we avoid over-arranged productions, so we're always able to play them live.

-Any anecdote about the recording of "Load"?

Once I forgot my guitar and thought someone'd stolen it, then I realized I simply left it in my car. I had to record some takes but I was so upset I couldn't even play. Bob Rock looked at me and told me thru the talk box: "Hey, you're playing real shit! Look in the mirror, you look friggin' bad, you drank too much. Why dontcha go home, take some sleep, a shower and come back later to play the way I'm accustomed to hearing from you?"

-What's your favorite track among the 14 new ones?

Hard to say, depends on my mood, if I'm sober or not. I love titles like "Cure", "Hero of the Day" and "King Nothing" but I love all the songs. I'm listening to the album twice a week and this morning I listened to "Poor Twisted Me", cuz I was in the right mood. This is my favorite among our albums.

-It's also the longest you ever recorded...

Oh yeah, 79 minutes is the maximum length at the moment and we stopped at 70; the only faded out track is "The Outlow Tour"; 2 or 3 seconds more and most CD players wouldn't have been able to play that.

-What's your studio equipment?

I used some Marshall amps, a few old Vox 30 amps, one Fender Vibroverb amp, several Mesa Boogies, and an excellent Spitfire Matchless amp, which I'd never used before. Moreover, I'd never played a Stratocaster with a Fender. This time we mixed the amp sounds and the ambience mics, obtaining cool sonic combinations. We saved time instead of mounting and disinstalling amps, mics and cables.
As to the guitars, I used ESP guitars for almost every song, as I'm still endorsing them. I played a couple of tracks with a '58 Les Paul Standard, a '58 Flying V, a '64 Strato, a '62 ES 335 with PAF pickups, and a Parker Nitefly. The Parker hugely differs from the rest of vintage axes, but the neck's awesome! It offers a great deal of high quality sound variation; I mainly used it for clean sounds. I sorta got the best of the 2 worlds.

-Is James still a fanatic of Gibson Explorers?

You can bet on that, yet in the studio we use the same instruments. We also played some of Bob Rock's guitars. We're not jealous and this made James fall in love with my '58 Les Paul, which he didn't even hold in great consideration in the beginning. When we needed a melodic solo sound he went into the recording booth with my Les Paul and when he came out he was like: " This guitar sounds damn good!"
That's why I bought that, but when I told him the price he closed with: "Fuck that!" I won't tell you how much it cost me but it was that much. I had to sell 10 guitars from my collection for my '59 Explorer.

-It's known you're a guitar collector; what special models do you got?

Almost nothing extraordinary, a Coral Sitar and a Jerry Jones doubleneck with Lipstick pickups; the upper neck is a bass one and the lower a normal neck one. I don't have many instruments, I just collect vintage items when they sound well. I don't buy strange things because they're rare, all that I buy I play it.

-Can we talk about the several rumors about Metallica's life, like the cake battle at the Day on the Green festival in Oakland between James Hetfield and manager Bill Graham?

It's true, who told ya? James was a bit drunk and wasn't able to control himself perfectly; he threw cakes in the dressing rooms, but Bill and James made peace about that episode.
After our Donnington headlining gig we played at the Ice Polar Beach festival at Tuktoyaktuk near the Arctic Pole circle; it was an interesting event because after Donnington it was like playing at a small club. It was painfully cold but people were enthusiastic about seeing so many rock bands, a pretty rare opportunity over there. The atmosphere was relaxed and before the show we met some local fans, who were a tad scared by my lower lip piercing and ran away, hehe.

-Probably the most popular story about Metallica is the one about your guitar tech John Marshall who temporarily replaced James after he had his arm broken when he went skateboarding. Not all bands accept the risk of confirming all the shows and presenting a new guitarist uncertain about their fans' reactions...

Actually we used to hide him in the beginning and then we openly introduced him after some shows. That was a precious experience: when James had a serious accident in Montreal we already trusted John deeply and had already become friends with him. When we were children we used to be neighbors and started playing the guitar together. It was incredible for him to play before 50,000 people. He's a good friend and was also best friend at my wedding.

-You were one Satriani's pupils along with Larry Lalonde, Steve Vai, Jeff Tyson. How'd you get in touch with him?

There was a time I used to hang out with all guitar players from Frisco and one of them had great skills; he told me he'd a fantastic teacher, Joe. I called him and started taking lessons from him; it was back in '82. He taught me all the technics I've used so far and he was also a vast inspiration. Now we're also neighbors but we seldom meet because we're both pretty busy.

-How'd your style change thru the years?

Now I look at the guitar as a way to paint songs, not original to say but decidedly true. I don't have to prove my skill, my speed or the number of licks I know. Today I try to give a new tone with my guitar instead of filling a part with solos, that's why you find more riffs than leads in "Load". There're still some solos, but my phylosophy's changed. I avoid being influenced by trends as much as possible, while in the past I had to show I was the fastest guitarist in the Western emisphere. I was a victim of that and now I'm just trying to play to create the basis of our songs. I'm more mature: some years ago flamenco was disgusting to me and jazz was boring, whereas at present I'm listening to a bunch of jazz and blues guitarists to assimilate their style. The jazz guitar is cool but requires discipline and experience.

-Your Achilles' heel?

I hate to admit it but I analyze everything excessively. Once Bob Rock told me I should stop thinking about the best scale and start taking out what comes from my guts, still sometimes my weak point turns out useful. When I see a guitarist I remember his style and can repeat what he just played exactly. I'm the master of counterfeited solos! It's comfy when I'm in the stuidio and think about the solos of my fave guitarists, Steve Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and Carlos Santana. I put them together and compose a lick of my own. I can do that pretty smoothly.
This opens new perspectives, like being inspired by sax solos; the solo in "2X4" is a reproposal of John Coltrane's, Chet Baker's and Miles Davis's licks. One may think it's nonsense but if you listen to these musicians carefully you'll dig what I mean.

-What do you suggest a beginner dealing with their first guitar?

Learn the technics first of all. Better have them and not use them than the opposite. Afterwards learn the songs you love; it's a good way to practise and find your own style. I started learning as many licks as possible from the solos of Hendrix, Michael Schenker, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Pat Travers and Jeff Beck. After a while you realize you're not playing like them exactly, cuz you're adding your feelings and personality into those solos.

-Ever have problems with James as a 2nd guitarist?

No, we follow the same ideas by instinct. We never quarreled about a solo. It's a natural process, we spontaneously decide who can develop the best feeling on a part. We work well together, it's never been a competition like with Thin Lizzy's Scott Gorhem and Brian Robertson, cuz we're 2 different guitar players. For instance when we worked on "Thorn within" I had a part for the end and James one of his own I didn't know of. Playing the solos together we realized they matched perfectly. What's unbelievableis that at the same beat and at the same point we played the same lick! On that occasion we had an analogue way of thinking.

-When shall we see a solo album of yours?

Now all my energies are reserved for Metallica. One day you'll see my project, but it's gonna be so weird you won't believe it'll be from Kirk Hammett. It won't be a record for guitarists and there will be no need to sell out either.

-In fall you're touring Europe. What should your fans expect?

Metallica in their face and down their throat. The shows will start where we stopped with "Metallica". We're gonna have a new stage that'll get us closer to our fans, changing the perspective to a rock band. It'll be a hell of fun.

-Thanks for the cool answers!

MARKUS GANZHERRLICH - August 1996