METALLICA's JAMES HETFIELD: 'When I Don't Pick Up The Guitar, I Get Depressed'

November 2, 2008

Aaron Beck of The Columbus Dispatch recently conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Columbus Dispatch: You've been doing this since you were a teenager. What do you physically and mentally still get out of playing METALLICA music?

Hetfield: When I don't pick up the guitar, I get depressed. When I'm at home and starting to get bummed out, my wife will point it out: "Well, you haven't played guitar in a couple of weeks." Then I'll sit down and play. It's my weapon; it's my pacifier; it's kind of everything just to write one riff and then feel good about myself: "Oh, yes! I'm still relevant!" But just using different amps, different guitars — I truly believe, finding an older guitar that might cost some crazy amount of money, you get this thing, and there's something living in it. It's still got riffs in it, and I think they're grateful that you have the guitar. I think the souls of these guitars speak.

The Columbus Dispatch: You've had to be onstage and singing a few times without a guitar, most notably after you were burned onstage in Montreal in the early '90s. What does that feel like?

Hetfield: It sucks. You're up there and you're singing, but a lot of our songs have some pretty long instrumental bits and it's, like, "What the hell am I going to do here? Head backstage, do some laundry?" You can only be a cheerleader for so much, and it looks kind of silly. I did not like it. It is kind of job security when you can play guitar and sing.

The Columbus Dispatch: What is in your mind when you go onstage now versus, say, 1990?

Hetfield: We get pretty inspired when we go in the tuning room beforehand and jam together and maybe write a riff. We bond that way, then we hit the stage. I don't know if it's us against them anymore; it's more just us. In the old days, it was us against them: "Let's kill 'em! Let's smash it!" Now it's more "Let's go out there and show them what a force to be reckoned with we are and see how many new fans we can disease with METALLICA and see if they'll come back."

The Columbus Dispatch: How did having children change your approach to your job?

Hetfield: At the beginning, it was a big struggle, me being the first one having kids and drummer Lars (Ulrich) soon after. Trying to separate the two was hard, you know? "I have to carve out time for family," and it wasn't well-received. Then it became more of a normal thing for us. We have to balance these two things and have them live together. We have to get everyone knowing each other. There's really a lot of fear for the wives — "What's going on out on the road?" and "Why don't they want us coming out?" Sometimes it is what it is, and sometimes it's "I need my space." But as soon as you invite 'em, sometimes it's, like, "No, I don't want to go" (laughs). But the kids have brought such a joy to all of us. I think it inspires us, and it's made us happier so we can be even more "metal" (laughs),if that makes any sense.

Read the entire interview from The Columbus Dispatch.

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).