Kirk Hammett On Greeny, Metallica And The Power Of Great Guitars

It is a hot summer’s day with a large Pride event going on across the East End of London. Men in short, see-through mini-skirts, thongs, and not much else provide a contrast to the queuing round-the-block Metallica fans on Dalston’s Kingsland Road. They are there early to get a prime viewing spot to see Kirk Hammett in conversation with Phil Alexander, long-term editor of Kerrang and well-known broadcaster, about his new book The Collection: Kirk Hammett.

In Conversation With Kirk Hammett

EartH Theatre, Hackney – 4 July 2026

Words: Sean Titley

Photography: Manuela Langotsch

The 680-seater EartH Theatre venue was sold out long ago. A relatively new venue, it is a surprising but cool location to hold the event. The seating mainly resembles a Roman amphitheatre crossed with a school dinner hall. Staff are really friendly and clearly battle-hardened by the eccentricities of Hackney. Metallica like to support the areas where they play, which may explain Kirk’s choice of venue.

Whatever the reason, once the super excited fans are allowed, they come running in. The energy and buzz are frantic. Fathers and sons, lifelong fans of all ages, all of the Metallica family are here to celebrate Kirk and his passion for guitars. 

On the stage stand three guitars. Kirk’s famous guitar Greeny (a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard) on the left, Karloff The Mummy in the middle and his black and white Flying V on the right, used in the making of the first five Metallica albums.

These are the showpieces, and people stream down the theatre stairs, overjoyed to get selfies with these talismanic guitars. Other than that, there is a tour box and an amp with Kirk holding his guitars aloft in silhouette. A slide show screen, a simple table, and two seats are there for the conversation.

Phil Alexander, casually dressed in nothing that would take your eye away from the star of the show, introduces Kirk Hammett to the stage to loud cheers. Looking rock star stylishly in an expensive-looking green leather jacket, surprisingly, Kirk has his phone camera out as he comes on stage to film the crowd filming him.

No paid professionals are filming for him tonight. Kirk wears heavily tinted glasses all night, maybe the bright stage lights, maybe for privacy? This does put up a small barrier between him and the audience getting to know him better, but his words and music are, in the end, more than enough. 

Over more than an hour, Kirk covers a banquet of topics, expertly led by Phil, a long-time friend of Kirk’s, who is never intrusive but does probe.

First up, Kirk’s book The Collection, a coffee table book shot in LA and Hawaii. Described as “Guitar porn”, it documents Kirk’s guitar collection, of which he tells us he has four hundred and ninety-two!

Pictures in the book are shot by the renowned photographer Ross Halfin, who has photographed Kirk since 1984. The book is published by Gibson.

Kirk takes the opportunity to wish the audience a “Happy 4th July” which he says he had been wanting to do all day. Phil points out that it is also Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon’s wedding anniversary.

Seems a tangent and level of band knowledge that is way beyond the normal. But it makes sense when it leads to a conversation about the current UK and London dates and the fact that it is the anniversary of Metal’s “Live Aid” on 5 July 2025, Back To The Beginning.

It was drawn out of Kirk that Metallica might do something to honour this historic gig and Ozzy on their final night of the London shows. We are being let in on Tallikatz secrets, and the fans are loving it. 

Kirk also discussed a minor knee injury that means it can suddenly click out of place on stage. Phil Alexander said he thought it was just a Creeping Death dance move, getting a hearty laugh.

There were jokes about Lars’ struggles with drumming the covers of Ian Dury and The Clash on the Friday night gig in London. Kirk also discussed playing Delilah in Cardiff a week before, only finding out afterwards that the wonderful Tom Jones classic is now frowned upon and “banned” because of issues of violence towards women. 

The struggles of the early days, London and the UK are discussed. Metallica first arrived in 1983, touring with two bands, one of which was Exciter. You will not find much mention of it online. Due to a lack of interest and ticket sales, the tour was cancelled.

Kirk goes on to say that he saved up for his first Flying V by working at Burger King in 1979 and jokes about James also buying a Flying V, but it being a copy with a Gibson sticker attached, which mortified him. He also discussed an early American tour with W.A.S.P, playing in clubs with fifty or sixty people in them, with no one knowing who they were.

Influences are myriad, but those formative years really shine through with discussions about Phil Lynott, whom they met at an event in Walthamstow in 1984, giving each member of Metallica a signed copy of his poetry book. Kirk talks about UFOs and their influence on him, and then recording at Abbey Road and the residual energy of all the greats who had played there. 

His guitar collection is the centrepiece of the conversation, and for the aficionados, this is pure heaven. Kirk talks of his “Edna” Guitar and Michael Schenker’s (UFO) Flying V, which was used for the first three UFO albums. Also, Randy Rhoads Flying V and seeing Ozzy play twice in ’81 and ’82. Kirk describes Tony Iommi as “the true riff lord”, who heavily influenced Metallica’s first five albums. 

So many famous guitars. Kirk owns Les Pauls also. Les Paul! He also discusses the Zorlac guitar, which was based on a 1970’s skate company with drawings by Metallica’s famous illustrator Pushead. This was Kirk’s first electric signature guitar. He also shows pictures of modern, innovative guitars, including The Birdfish guitar, which has no body (used on Judas Kiss, from Death Magnetic) and the Tesla, a half guitar. 

Each of the guitars on stage is discussed. Probably the most famous being Greeny, so-called because it was owned by Peter Green (founder of Fleetwood Mac) and Gary Moore.

We were given an insight into Kirk’s interest in Aleister Crowley and his concept of Contagion that Kirk and no doubt many others subscribe to, and that the energy of those who have played the guitar is imbued in the instrument, passing on their inspiration to future users. Kirk clearly believes that Peter Green and Gary Moore are still communicating with him through the residual energy in Greeny.

He also talks of The Mummy, a guitar designed by Kirk and built by Xeroxing a Mummy Poster, cutting it out to the desired design, and from there it was constructed by Gibson.

It is well known that Kirk is a fan of horror films, hence the name The Mummy. He says he may have a dark psyche and was always drawn to the dark side as a kid, leading to the appeal of bands like Black Sabbath and the Misfits, who were the same kind of “Monster Kids” as himself.

In other genres, he likes dark classical and dark 1950s jazz. Joking about his Ouija Board guitar, he says he uses the Yes / No function on it to pick his licks. Kirk also references his Raven guitar, named after the Edgar Allen Poe book. This was the first acoustic guitar created by Kirk and released as a limited-edition signature acoustic guitar by Gibson.

Kirk is a reggae fan and a surfer. Discussing Peter Tosh’s guitar (a core member of the Wailers, Bob Marley’s band), which he picked up in an auction of the famous actor Richard Gere’s belongings, he says he cannot help but play reggae.

The guitar talk is never inaccessible, but some of the facts are fascinating, with discussion about the fact that guitar manufacturers now MRI scan famous old guitars to reproduce them exactly, and Abalone inlays being like a guitar’s fingerprints.

Discussing his musical writing, he emphasises real intelligence over artificial intelligence, which gets a massive cheer from the audience, and that he writes on acoustic and electric guitars, seeing no difference. 

Kirk’s writing style is meditative, clearing his mind and waiting for the inspiration to arrive, describing how vital that stage is and not to let ego get in the way. He gets a laugh when he discusses getting solos wrong with seventy thousand people watching, all with their phones on record. 

The near future for Metallica includes playing The Sphere in Las Vegas, where he says they will “blow the place up.” He can see the mushroom cloud now. He personally has a bunch of projects, the largest of which he cannot speak of yet, but it involves multimedia.

Discussing the Metallica family, he says every year the band gets bigger and bigger, snowballing by parents bringing their kids to the shows or even their kids’ kids. 

Kirk says that Metallica have almost folded a number of times, not because of band disunity but life. However, they are now in a great place. His relationship with Rob Trujillo is clearly special and close. Growing up in an area where the only white person he knew was his dad, possibly Rob’s Mexican / Native American background makes him extra relatable for Kirk, who has Irish / Filipino heritage.

They love jamming together in all different styles, including jazz, opera, space rock, and even traditional Greek songs. He says that with Rob, there are no limits and that they are great foils to each other.

The conversation with Kirk was fascinating and exciting, funny and insightful, with only the lack of an audience Q and A missing. But the real magic happens when he phones Rob on his mobile and pretends he needs to yank him out of the local Taco shop to come on stage. 

Shortly, Rob does appear doing his trademark squatting guitar style moves, jumping around the stage. Rob jokes about the phallic nature of guitars and one picture of Kirk, in particular. But this is not a conversation. They are here to jam a duet together. 

Kirk invites the front rows up to the stage, maybe a hundred people, who metamorphose with a snap of the fingers from a theatre audience listening to an extraordinary but at the same time accessible, normal man to ultra-excited, adoring fans worshipping their rock gods. 

It is very intimate being so close to Kirk and Rob that you can see every bead of sweat. Kirk, playing Greeny, amazingly allows the crowd to touch the totemic instrument. Many, many hands do, transferring their energy to and from the guitar. 

The duet they play is called Devils Lettuce, a nickname for marijuana, but there was nothing stoned about it. It is a guitar jamming communion. Being so close to them, the sound is amazing.

To know so much more about what Kirk is playing on stage enriches the live Metallica experience. I, for one, will be adding Kirk’s book The Collection to my Christmas wish list. 

The Collection: Kirk Hammett is out now and is available from Gibson.

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