Kirk Hammett Bio

Name - Kirk Hammett

Instrument - Lead Guitars

Place of Birth - San Francisco, California

Date of Birth - November 18, 1962

Fav. Bands - Jimi Hendrix, UFO, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, John Coltrane, Goul Mule, Chet Baker, Prez Prado, AIC, David Bowie, U2, King Crimson, Robert Johnson

First Concert - Day on the Green with the Eagles, Steve Miller, Heart, and Foreigner

On April 1st, 1983, the phone rings and Kirk answers it. "Hi, Kirk? This is Metallica, he just fired our lead guitar player and we are in need a new one. Are you intrested?" Things didn't happen exactly like that, but fifteen days later, Kirk was on stage in New Jersy with Metallica.

Kirk grew up in the Bay area town of El Sobrante. He started to play the guitar at the age of 15. His first guitar was a Montgomery Ward catalog special and his first amp a shoe box with a 4 inch speaker. A few years later, he got a 1978 Fender Stratocaster. Later he traded it for a 1974 Gibson Flying V which is still part of his collection and still appears in some of the albums.

With his Gibson Flying V in hand, he started playing with other people. But he had one problem, he had no money. A job at Burger King fixed that problem and he saved up enough to buy a Marshall Amp. Around that time, Kirk co-founded Exodus with Paul Baloff. They were the support act for Metallica twice, November 29, 1982 and March 5, 1983.

After the call from Metallica, he saved up enough money to make a trip to the east coast. He never did fell like he was really in the band until they recorded 'Kill Em All.