It happens to the best of us, and now it’s happened to Metallica axeman Kirk Hammett. The guitarist is running a little shorter on riffs for the band’s next album, after losing an iPhone which contained recordings of 250 new riffs.
In a recent interview with The Jasta Show podcast (below), Hammett said the experience of losing the phone and the recordings last year really got to him.
“I put riffs on my iPhone, but something very unfortunate happened to me about six months ago,” Hammett said. “I lost my iPhone [containing] 250 musical ideas. And I was crushed. It didn’t get backed up. And when it happened, I was bummed out for about two or three days.
“I walked into the house. My wife saw me and she said, ‘Uh-oh, what’s wrong? Did you get a phone call from a relative?’ I said, ‘No.’ She said, ‘What’s going on?’ I told her, and she understood.
“I lost [the phone]. I just plain lost it. I can’t find it. I’m still looking for it to this day. I just set it somewhere and… It still might turn up. I’m hoping that it will,” Hammett said.
Oddly, though, Hammett revealed that he can’t actually remember many of his riff ideas, but he’s not letting the setback slow him down. “I can only remember, like, eight riffs. So I just chalked it down to maybe it just wasn’t meant to be and I’ll just move forward with it,” he said.
“For me, music comes at all times of the day. When I get a riff, sometimes it’s a complete riff and I can just play it and there it is, sometimes it’s half a riff and I have to tweak it. Sometimes it’s just a rhythm or a note selection. Or sometimes it’s just something that I hum in my head. But it can come from anywhere, and I put it on my phone, and I make sure the phone is fucking backed up.
“All you musicians out there who use your phone, make sure it’s backed up. Right?!”
Hammett added that Metallica’s new material is “super riffy, super heavy”, and is “a lot similar to Death Magnetic but different in certain parts”. Back in March, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said the band have 20 songs ready for their next album.
Listen to Kirk Hammett’s Jasta Show interview in full, below. The iPhone-related stuff happens at around 26:50. Oh, and stay out on lookout for a very, very important iPhone.
Listen: Kirk Hammett Interview – The Jasta Show
https://soundcloud.com/jameyjasta/episode-78-kirk-hammett-metallica
