Kirk Hammett Reveals Biggest Influences on Kill ‘Em All

Metal purists, get ready to stay mad. Kirk Hammett just spilled some unlikely history lessons in a recent interview, including how much the band UFO influenced Kill ‘Em All.

In an interview with Metal Mayhem ROC, which you can watch below, Hammett reflected back on the iconic Metallica album on it’s 40th anniversary and talked about what influenced it. He mentioned not only how much he liked the band UFO, but how much an encounter with the band’s former guitarist, Paul Chapman, influenced him on the record.

He also admits he never saw the band featuring their more famous guitarist, Michael Schenker, and was skeptical about seeing them with Chapman, but was then totally blow away. In the interview, he says:

“I had never seen UFO with Michael Schenker. The first time I saw UFO, which was my favorite band of all time, was with Paul Chapman. I showed up a little skeptical to that gig, but then I saw Paul on stage and he blew me away. It wasn’t fair to compare him to Michael Schenker because they’re two completely different players.”

He then mentioned that he got to meet Chapman years later, which was a full-circle moment for him as a guitarist.

“I felt like I was finally closing that circle, meeting everyone who was instrumental in shaping UFO’s sound. When I met him, I was just so stoked. I can play a lot of his stuff, not just Michael Schenker’s licks, and especially on Kill ‘Em All. Now that I think about it, there are Paul Chapman licks all throughout Kill ‘Em All.”

He admitted that he even thought about getting a lesson from Chapman:

“I asked him, ‘What do you do nowadays?’ And he said, ‘I play in local bands and I give guitar lessons,’” Hammett recalled. “And, for a second, I thought, ‘Maybe I should get a guitar lesson.’”