"Too Much Horror Business" by Kirk Hammett

For as long as he can remember, Kirk Hammett has found fascination, escape and even love within the world of horror movies. From nervous yet enthralled nights spent cowering behind the family sofa as another Universal Studios horror classic played on the black and white TV, to the recent years which have seen Hammett gather one of the largest private collections of movie poster art & memorabilia in the world, Kirk's love of the genre has never wavered. As the lead guitarist of rock superstars Metallica, Hammett has been able to indulge this passion and procure the art and artefacts from the world of fantasy and horror, which are only available to a select few. Each piece Kirk has bought holds emotional value for him, each one a memory, whether as a child or today. For this reason, Kirk has previously been highly reluctant to discuss or divulge the details of a collection of toys, posters, and props, which has developed a legendary reputation amongst horror enthusiasts and Metallica fans alike. Until now. "Too Much Horror Business" is the definitive record of his collection and the emotions attached to it. Presented in a full-colour, larger format volume, with three gatefolds, the book does real justice to his treasure trove of horror. This book is augmented with pages of handwritten notes and thoughts, plus a series of, conversation-interviews, which will offer a chronological thread starting with the young Hammett growing up in the Bay Area. For fans of horror, "Too Much Horror Business" will be an exciting journey through unique properties and pieces. For fans of Metallica, it will be the ultimate book about Kirk Hammett. And for the casual reader, "Too Much Horror Business" will be the rock 'n' roll coffee table book that offers an intriguing view into the mind of a horror-obsessed, superstar guitar hero.

-Amazon.com

The first time I can remember seeing anything related to Metallica was in a 1989 issue of Collectible Toys & Values, featuring all things related to Batman (the then current Tim Burton movie as well as the comic and 1960s television series). There was a photo of "Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett", an avid comic book collector, holding a copy of Detective Comics #27, the very first appearance of Batman, which he'd just purchased at a comic book show. Honestly, that photo sort of brushed under my radar, but little did I know that I'd just had a first encounter with the guitar player for what would eventually become my all-time favorite band.

Flash-forward to the present day and Kirk, his love of Horror, and his collection of posters and props are the stuff of legend among Metallica fans worldwide. He's worn countless Horror t-shirts on-stage in the late '80s (Night of the Living Dead and Hellraiser, to name a few), but aside from the odd photograph or video snippet in Some Kind of Monster, Kirk has never really shown much of his collection off to the public. So, when I won a Meet & Greet with Metalllica on 1/31/09, I knew I had to ask him about his collection.

We talked briefly about Chiller Theatre conventions (in '90/'91/'92, Kirk was often seen on-stage and in print wearing a t-shirt for Horror-Thon -- Chiller's original name -- or a Tor Johnson Chiller Theatre tee). I asked if he still gets a chance to go to them; he said not really, but he is still good friends with the show's creator, Kevin Clement. I then asked if he ever considered doing a book one day about his collection; more or less a coffee table photo book just detailing what he's got. He said he had actually been thinking about doing one, but it'd been very time-consuming just cataloging everything because, well, there's so much of it!

















Kirk and I at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ 1/31/09.

More than a year went by before "Too Much Horror Business" (awesome title, btw) was finally announced and I couldn't believe my ears! Not only was Kirk finally doing a book on his collection, but the man was clearly not bullshitting me when I asked him about it way back when (of course, any Metallica fan knows how down to earth and real those guys actually are).

Recently, Kirk was on VH1 Classic's "That Metal Show", where he briefly discussed the book with hosts Eddie Trunk, Don Jamieson, and Jim Florentine. On the show, Kirk displayed a proof for the intro spread, where he's posed with life-size statues of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. What's cool about the statues is that they're wearing the actual, screen-worn costumes Karloff and Lugosi wore in The Black Cat and White Zombie respectively.

Regardless of how you feel about Metallica, if you're a Horror movie fan, this book will definitely be worth checking out. From the sounds of it, once "Too Much Horror Business" is released, we'll be seeing some long lost treasures.

Early reports are saying it's due out 10/1/12 (Kirk did say he was going to be working on it during Metallica's break in the early part of 2011), more information is available from Amazon.com.