JAMES HETFIELD: Kirk’s Phone Loss Excuse For Not Contributing To New Album Doesn’t Make Sense

James Hetfield of METALLICA was asked on the Meltdown Podcast about Kirk Hammett saying he didn’t contribute to their new album “Hardwired… To Self Destruct” due to losing his iPhone full of ideas, to which he replied (transcribed by UG):

“That’s what he claims.

“I’m sure he did, but it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t have them on his computer, either. But, whatever… Yeah, Kirk had some riffs that he… I guess submitted – it’s not a very nice word to be used if you’re in a band.

“But you know, we all submit our tapes, and we sit there and we listen to them and we pick the best stuff. There was not much stuff from Kirk. Whether his phone was lost, or whatever…”

James Hetfield recently discussed Kirk Hammett‘s involvement in the creative process of the new METALLICA album, saying that he simply wasn’t there. He stated:

Kirk was not part of the writing. Kirk obviously came in and did the solos. But Lars and I… You know, Lars and I always have done this, but with contributions from other people on their riffs and things. Kirk‘s riffs weren’t there.

Few years ago Kirk stated that he lost his iPhone contaiting 250 musical ideas saying:

“I put riffs on my iPhone, but something very unfortunate happened to me about six months ago. I lost my iPhone [containing] two hundred and fifty musical ideas. And I was crushed. It didn’t get backed up. And when it happened, I was bummed out for about two or three days. I walked into the house. My wife saw me and she said, ‘Uh-oh, what’s wrong? Did you get a phone call from a relative?’ I said, ‘No.’ She said, ‘What’s going on?’ I told her, and she understood.

“I lost [the phone]. I just plain lost it. I can’t find it. I’m still looking for it to this day. I just set it somewhere and… It still might turn up. I’m hoping it will. To try to remember those riffs…? I can only remember, like, eight of ’em. So I just chalked it down to maybe it just wasn’t meant to be and I’ll just move forward with it.”

Watch the whole Meltdown Podcast interview with Hetfield below: