Q&A: James Hetfield

What are you listening to these days?
Hard Attack on Sirius is the station I'm plugged into, all the time. There's a DJ on there named José who is so in love with metal — he's like a friggin' firecracker. And I've been listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage. The dude's a wealth of information, and he's got Handsome Dick working with him — I'm learning stuff all the time.

You are an avid hunter. Can you field-dress a moose?
In a dress? Or black tie for a formal affair? I know what you're talking about, but I've never had to do it. We've done some elk.

What album have you listened to more than any other?
I'd have to say Aerosmith's Rocks. When I was 15, I went over to watch this band rehearse. All I had was this little combo amp, and they had a real PA, the smell of the gear, the smell of tubes burning . . . I got hooked. In the back they had some Aerosmith records, and they played Rocks. At that point, I fell into the rock & roll fever. That was it.

What single piece of Metallica memorabilia do you cherish the most?
You mean one piece that Lars doesn't have?

He's hoarded everything?
Lars has enough to open up four Metallica museums. One with his stuff, one with my stuff, one with Kirk's stuff. . . . I would say the best thing I have is a poster from the tour we did with Raven, from a gig in Bald Knob, Arkansas [in the Eighties]. The show was basically on a slab of cement in the middle of a field filled with insects. There was a guy on the side selling catfish sandwiches.

It reminds you how far you've come?
Yeah. The poster itself says, "Raven: Number One Metal Band in Europe." Which was not exactly true. Then below, it says, "Metallica: Potential to Become U.S. Metal Gods."

[From Issue 1065 — November 13, 2008]

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• Metallica: Metal Machines
• James Hetfield: "There's More Dedication From the Four of Us Than Ever Before"