Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett says the band will start working on material for a new album “in a couple of weeks.”
“When we start, that's going to be our main priority,” Hammett tells Billboard, “and we're pretty excited about it because we've been saying we need to start working on this album, but we've been procrastinating greatly with it. We've pretty much come up with every sort of excuse we can not to start work on the album, but we've run out of excuses, so we pretty much have to start work on it now."
Some of the foot-dragging, Hammett says, is the idea of facing a plethora of musical ideas the group has assembled.
"We're a band that never has a shortage of ideas," he notes. "You hear about these bands that are sitting in the studio and they don't have any songs, what are they gonna do? That's not Metallica. Metallica's problem is the total opposite. We have too many ideas. James (Hetfield) has, like, 800 ideas. I have 400. Those number alone are just crazy. That's formidable."
Before the project can really begin, Metallica have a busy couple of weeks ahead, including a Grammy Awards performance with classical pianist Lang Lang on January 26, the DVD/Blu-ray release of "Metallica Through The Never" on January 28 and Hammett's inaugural FEAR FestEvil in San Francisco the weekend of February 6-8.
In addition to the Grammy performance, Metallica’s “Through The Never” soundtrack is nominated for a Grammy for Best Recording Package.
The 56th Annual Grammy Awards will be held January 26, 2014 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and broadcast live on CBS from 8–11:30 p.m. (ET/PT).
See also:
Jason Newsted reveals why he left Metallica
Metallica to perform at the Grammy Awards
Metallica guitarist updates Fear FestEvil plans
Metallica release Antarctica concert