It’s November 18, and Kirk Hammett is having a great day. For one, today is his birthday. What’s more, today marks the day that Metallica releases their long-awaited new triple album, Hardwired…to Self-Destruct. So with that said, what better day to talk about Metallica and monster collections than on lead guitarist Kirk Hammett’s birthday? At an early age, Kirk began assembling two collections, horror memorabilia and guitars. He continues to collect them both to this day – and has even combined them. Let’s take a stroll through these two fascinating collections.
Where It Began
Kirk was born on November 18, 1962, in San Francisco, California. At five years old, while recovering from a sprained arm, Kirk saw his first horror movie, The Day of the Triffids. After that, he became fascinated with his brother’s collection of Frankenstein figures. In second grade, Kirk was a regular customer at the San Francisco Comic Book Company, where he spent his milk money on monster magazines. For the next 10 years, Kirk was deeply immersed in the horror scene. But Kirk’s brother also had an album collection – a big album collection loaded with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and UFO. Before long, monsters had to share Kirk’s time with his other passion – music.
According to Kirk, he ordered his first “wholly unglamorous” guitar from the Montgomery Ward catalog. As his experience grew, so did his guitar collection. Kirk’s next purchase was a 1978 Fender Stratocaster copy. Perhaps it was his early interest in Frankenstein that drove him to experiment with spare guitar parts to create his own unique sound. He finally settled on a 1974 Gibson Flying V. Young Kirk also worked at Burger King just long enough to raise the money to buy a Marshall amplifier.
Now let’s fast-forward a bit. During his time with Metallica, Kirk has been responsible for some of the band’s most important guitar riffs. Fans of Kirk’s first band, Exodus, might have recognized the bridge from “Creeping Death” as an original Exodus riff that Kirk brought with him. “Enter Sandman” also contains one of his riffs, and this song went on to land at #399 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
Obviously Kirk’s success with Metallica made him a rich man. A very rich man. Like a kid in a candy store, Kirk pursued his two passions. His collections grew from notable to jaw-dropping.
(Jimmy Fallon, Metallica & The Roots Sing “Enter Sandman” with classroom instruments)
Too Much Horror
In the horror department, Kirk has amassed one of the foremost collections of horror artifacts and memorabilia in the world. His collection holds hundreds of rare and exotic movie posters, toys, costumes, props, and more. He even has life-size mannequins of Bela Lugosi wearing his original costume from the movie White Zombie and Boris Karloff in his outfit from The Black Cat.
His most prized possession? It’s hard for Kirk to say, but certainly the 1922 poster for Nosferatu, an unauthorized German take on Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, Dracula, is near the top. Stoker’s widow sued the movie company and director – and won. The movie company had to destroy all the Nosferatu promotional materials. Kirk’s one-sheet Nosferatu poster had been shipped to Spain before the court order and is believed to be one of only a few in existence.
Kirk is always eager to share his collection with the public. In 2012, he published Too Much Horror Business, a lavish book about his collection. The book features custom photography of Kirk and his collection, along with his own thoughts and anecdotes about the collection.
Kirk also organizes and hosts Kirk Von Hammett’s Fear FestEvil in San Francisco. This annual event, hosted by Kirk’s horrific alter-ego, “Kirk Von Hammett,” is a three-day celebration of horror. It features guest appearances by horror film stars and directors, makeup artists, and of course heavy metal bands such as Death Angel and Kirk’s first band, Exodus.
Kirk Hammett’s Guitars
Which brings us to Kirk’s guitar collection. Like any world-class performer, he has built an enormous arsenal of guitars (and of course, the Kirk Hammett Signature Crybaby wah). Since early on, Kirk has been an ESP guitar man, and ESP is responsible for the majority of his collection. Here are a few of the standouts:
- ESP M-II “Zorlac” – This guitar launched the ESP KH guitars. It rocks a vertical skull & crossbones instead of the horizontal ones available on current KH models. Its most unusual feature is an upside down ESP-style headstock.
- ESP KH-2 “Skully” – Kirk’s go-to touring guitar, the Skully is based on modifications he made to his ESP M-II Standard.
- ESP Flying V copy – When Kirk is ready to play “Seek & Destroy” live, he breaks out this Flying V copy, decked out in cherry red with white pickguard and gold hardware.
Knowing Kirk’s fascination with the macabre, ESP didn’t miss a golden opportunity to combine their Kirk Hammett Signature Series guitars with graphics from Kirk’s horror collection. For example, guitar enthusiasts can own guitars emblazoned with bold graphics from two horror movie posters, Nosferatu, and White Zombie.
Monster riffs. Monster career. Monster collections. Happy birthday, Kirk. We hope your birthday is scary good.
