Kirk Hammett was born in San Francisco, California, 1962. Contrary to James and Lars, Kirk was not at all interested in sports as a child. All his interests circled arounnd music, and he found his older brother's guitar the "neatest thing in the world". It was Kirk's brother who got him into heavy-metal in the first place.

At the age of 15 Kirk formed his first garage band, playing Hendrix tunes. The band used just one amplifier, which they all were plugged into, and which naturally blew up after a few rehearsels. After school Kirk worked at Burger King and in a warehouse in order to earn enough money to buy guitars and an amplifier. Around this time Kirk decided to take guitar lessons and studied for Joe Satriani for a couple of years, to refine his technique.

In 1981 Kirk formed together with Tom Hunting a band which they called "Exodus". They played at local clubs and once at the same place as Metallica. It was about this time that Dave Mustaine was kicked out of the band. Kirk eventually got a phone call from the other Metallica members, and was invited to jam with the band in New York. He flew to NY, not being quite sure of what was going on. It was not before he was included in the recording of "Kill 'em all" that he realised that he was hired.

Kirk Hammett is an extremely cheerful person. He enjoys mountain biking and collects vividly horror-movie things. As a Christmas present to himself in 1995, Kirk got himself a tattoo wrapped around his belly button which reads: "Made in SF 11-18-62". Besides decorating himself with tattoos, he has also got many piercings. Kirk claims that he hates sports, and asked what his favourite sports teams are he answered wiht a smile: "What ever team James and Lars don't like!"

From being the natural lead-guitarist, with wonderful techniques and full-blown kicking sound, he now does not have second thoughts about playing lead- and rhythm guitar indiscriminately. The Kirk Hammett way of playing guitar has developed throughout the years but do still include a special type of sound which makes him so unique. You can however hear some tracks of the absolutely main influence Jimi Hendrix left, but can complain about that? It only makes the sound even better!

Being responsible for most Metallica guitar solos, Kirk himself has been a big source of inspiration for many guitarists around the world. He is one of the absolute best guitarists in the world and now with the release of "Reload" we can once again lean back in our armchairs (or preferably bang our heads ) and enjoy his incredible sound.

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