Kirk Hammett says the new album is the "missing link" between AJFA and TBA.
VG-TV: Hi Kirk. Welcome to Norway again
Kirk: Very very good te be here, it`s been awhile
VG-TV: Your sixth time playing here. How does it feel to be back?
Kirk: Great, I mean.. I have some really great memories of playing at some really great shows in the indoor venue here in Oslo... and you know, Norway has always been really great to Metallica and very supportive. We always feel the need to always come back whenever we have the chance. For sure.
VG-TV: This concert sold out in less than a day, and is your biggest to this day in Norway. How does that make you feel?
Kirk: Great. Really fires us up to know we`re still welcomed here.
VG-TV: The tour is called sick of the studio. But are you really sick of the studio? How`s the studio work going?
Kirk: You know.. I would`nt say we`re sick of the studio. It`s more so that we needed..ah.. a name to call the tour.. and then it sounded pretty..ah..pretty..ah sarcastic and funny at the same time, so we just called it sick of the studio. But things are going really well at the studio. We`ve finished, for the most part, the drums and.. ah it`s moving quite well. We`re working with Rick Rubin which is definately different from working with Bob Rock. And.. ah , we`re putting down tracks for about 14 songs at the idea of maybe putting on the album maybe 9-10 and whatever.. it all depends on wether we pick the shorter songs or the longer songs or what, but I mean.. we have some pretty long songs so... we`ll see how it goes.
VG-TV: What can the fans expect from the new album?
Kirk: Well.. Its really hard and difficult to describe it this time... ah.. I would say, if I looked at it in terms of comparing it to our old material, it sits somewhere in between AJFA and TBA. It`s like..ahh.. the missing link in between those two albums, because there`s alot of songs that are really progressive .. then alot of the songs have like a very melodic touch to them, like the black album did. And..ah.. Yes, there`s guitar solos all over the place..umm.. We didn`t record it at HQ this time, we`re recording it down in LA in a couple of different studios, and so the actual sound of the album is gonna be ..ahh.. different. Ah, but you know, its really early still to really give you that good description on how its gonna be.
VG-TV: When you`re playing with the new bassist, Robert Trujillo, has been playing some funky stuff. How`s that influence the new songs on your new album?
Kirk: You know Rob can break out the funk when he wants to, but he can break out the metal when he wants to too, and he has a sort of ..ah progressive aspect to his music. Umm, alot of the stuff that Rob writes, or has been writing for the band has been very progressive, and we`ve been like Yeah! That`s really really great, that brings the song a couple notches up in terms of .. ah, you know , just playing abillity and technic, so I mean, he has alot to offer to the band. Wide variaty of styles. He hasn`t got that funky though, yet - but he definately has it in him.
VG-TV: Whats the inspiration of the new songs , and the new album?
Kirk: I think we`re just more at peace with each other nowadays, and again - having Rob in the band makes it more exciting because its new blood and we`re kind of taking advantage of the fact that all of us are writing together, the four of us writing together as a group. As for St. Anger.. it was four of us writing, but Bob Rock was playing bass. It good to have like a full time bassplayer now, you know Rob being a full time guy, and having him onboard for the entire experience. Its really inspiring, just moving away from that whole St.Anger period, which was really really difficult for the three of us. And I`m glad to say..um, its good to have all that behind us. We feel like the band we were in the 80ies, you know.
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