METALLICA Guitarist KIRK HAMMETT Talks New Album – "The Songs Are Ever-Changing At This Point; Nothing Is Etched In Stone"

Billboard.com recently spoke with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, who officially launched his annual Fear FestEvil in 2014. They discussed the event – on again this weekend at the RockBar Theatre in San Jose, CA – and Metallica’s forthcoming album. An excerpt from the story is available below:

Hammett adds that his favorite part of the FestEvil is sharing his collection of horror memorabilia with attendees. This year he says he’s added some rare and vintage horror toys, movie posters and the Nebularium, a mirror-like prop used in the Frankenstein films as well as Young Frankenstein and The Mask of Fu Manchu. 

“We don’t want Fear FestEvil to be like a San Diego Comic Con or Monsterpalooza. Those two events are great, but we just want something different, a different approach because those two events kind of have a very standard approach that they take, and we want our event to be more interactive, more fun, somewhat enlightening and educational but have good music at the same time.” 

Immediately after the festival Hammett will be back in Metallica’s HQ studios to continue work on its next album, the long-awaited follow-up to 2008’s Death Magnetic. 

“We have a lot of good songs,” Hammett reports. “The songs are ever-changing at this point. Nothing is etched in stone. We still have a lot of material have to sift through, still. We have well over a dozen songs and we still have well over two or three hundred riffs, too, so it’s hard to say at what point we actually are in in the project. I don’t think we hit the middle point yet. I would say we’re at the 25 percent point, maybe 30 percent point. It’s hard to say, but I mean we are working on it and there are songs and we’re making plans to write more songs and record.”

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Hammett recently announced the addition of a free outdoor Carnival Of Chaos to take place outside of the RockBar Theatre in San Jose, CA on Saturday, April 11th and Sunday, April 12th as part of his second annual Fear FestEvil. The carnival will feature an authentic freak show, carnival games, hearse car show, Kirk’s ’36 Ford and crypt, and various vendors all weekend.

VIP and Murder Mystery Dinner tickets are now Sold Out, but General Admission tickets for Fear FestEvil are still available here.

On Saturday April 11th and Sunday April 12th, Fear FestEvil friends heading to the RockBar Theater can expect to see some of the finest pieces in any modern horror collection as Kirk Von Hammett unveils more of The Crypt publicly, before throwing down some heavy music courtesy of Meshuggah, High On Fire, Orchid, Ghoul, Agnostic Front, and Asada Messiah. There will also be special guest appearances from Corey Taylor, Slash, John 5, Sara Karloff, Bela Lugosi Jr., Ron Chaney, Charlie Benante, and Bill Moseley. Sirius Radio’s Liquid Metal host Jose Mangin and 107.7 the Bone’s Nikki Blakk will preside over proceedings.

Kirk Von Hammett’s Fear FestEvil kicked off last year in San Francisco at the Regency Ballroom. The inaugural event featured highlights of Hammett’s world famous Crypt Collection, an array of panels and guest speakers, live musical performances, and various on-site vendors. To see photos from last year’s FestEvil, click here.

For tickets and further details visit FearFestEvil.com.