Too Much Horror Business: The Kirk Hammett Collection

hi this is kirk hammett and i'm here to

talk about my new book too much horror

business and my vast collection of

horror memorabilia we're here at my

crypt with a bunch of my favorite stuff

all over all around us I'm here to like

go into all the gory details that went

into creating this book and putting it

all together I first got into all this

stuff when I was 6 years old

Dave the Triffids be in the first horror

movie I ever saw check it out it's a

good one I started buying horror comic

books for magazine's monster magazines

just anything that had anything to do

with monsters and horror movies you know

that that was the beginning of my my

collecting obsession and as you can see

it never truly truly went away on

television back then there were these

these TV shows that had these horror

hosts here in the San Francisco Bay Area

the show was called Creature Features

and the horror host was called Bob

Wilkins and it was on every every

Saturday night at 9 o'clock p.m. and

this is where I saw all the classics I

saw Frank Stein Dracula The Mummy

Phantom of the Opera I mean it was

cathartic for me because you know ever

since I could remember I've always had

feelings of being a bit on the fringe

you know a bit of an outcast I always

felt like I never really quite fit in

with a lot of things and so when I

watched monster movies it was really

easy for me to be able to relate to the

monsters and really just kind of like

feel like one of them

you

making this book took me the better part

of three years as I was putting all all

this together I was scrambling and

making notes and drawing all over

everything and making illustrations of

how I wanted things to go here and there

after a while it became a real

production I had a whole staff of people

helping me some of it was damaged some

of the paint was chipped some of it was

just falling apart I had some amazing

effects guys come up and basically

repair a lot of the masks and toys

though I did spend a lot of time at the

kitchen table with with a tube of Krazy

Glue putting together stuff that's

falling apart it was pretty insane

because my house was overrun by this

stuff not like it isn't now my most

favorite pieces in this collection are

two pieces one of them is the outfit

that Boris Karloff wore in the black hat

and other ones the outfit that billed

Lugosi warned white zombie and when I

got these pieces I thought how am I

going to display them and so I remember

reading about the sculptor ago called

Mike Hill and what I did was I had him

sculpt Boris Karloff as the character he

played in the black hat and also sculpt

Bela Lugosi as the character murder

legend our that he plays in white zombie

and the cool thing about the Bela Lugosi

figure is that the logo sees hands on

the figure are molded from Bela Lugosi

Jr's actual hands Mike heel actually

knows bellow the goshi jr. and had him

come over to his house and

and Mike actually molded his hands

haymarket me to him not that one

the funny thing is you know the figures

are here in the house I like to come

down here with a my guitar and just play

and just something stare at everything I

have been scared in this house before

yes actually numerous times some of it

has nothing to do with all this stuff I

mean come on look around I mean how can

you not like it spooked him now and then

that guy right there is the worst my

figure right there is a scariest figure

in this whole place

nice rot too is pretty scary too I mean

especially after I've had a long night I

come back here and come downstairs

sometimes I feel like he looks horror

movies that are both scary and funny at

the same time or some my favorite types

of horror movies and so that's kind of

how the idea of Kirk von Hammett came

around and that's my alter ego that's my

other personality if there's like you

know a movie poster or a piece of

artwork or something that actually

wanted to be or tried to be it would

have to be that painting of on Cheney

senior in a movie called London after

midnight that's what I'm trying to to

get with with my Kirk Vaughn hannett

persona

it's really important for me to really

just come across as being a part of the

collection rather than the collection

just being in a book sitting there in

the midst of all my stuff on that couch

I mean that that is my tribute to some

of the horror hosts that that I grew up

with when I was a kid

particularly Bob Wilkins who's not

around anymore making these personality

shots who set shots gave me a chance to

indulge in all my my little horror

fantasies you know dressing up as a

Herbert West reanimate her with the with

the reanimate her head was just so much

fun and then I brought out my collection

of skulls some reels so I'm not real and

we piled it all around the skull throne

and then just pumped a bunch of dry ice

into it onto the set and I sat there

with my donnie darko mask on and that's

a perfect example of my inner monster

nerd just being released

this is my subconscious I turn into that

after a few lemonade's so I don't drink

lemonade until tonight so I sleep in it

the one part of my collection that I'm

most passionate about are the movie

posters they're not only the rarest

pieces that I have but they're the

they're the most beautiful pieces you

know in my opinion particularly the

posters that are made in the 30s they're

made using a style called stone with oh

as a printing style where they would

actually carve out the images on stone

and and slather color on it and then

print it onto the paper it's a lost art

but the results of that which is these

beautiful images and back then I mean

movie posters they were made very

individually there was no formula to

them so so I mean Oh a movie poster for

like for instance a Dracula had as much

color and romanticism and drama as maybe

a romance movie from the same era

another thing that I was very adamant

about was taking a picture with my mummy

guitar on next to my my mummy 3 sheet

which is like over 6 feet tall

particularly because I wanted to give

people some sort of perspective of scale

on how big that poster actually is to

find a skit are all my favourite guitars

this is the one I hardly ever play ever

in public reason being it has all these

hieroglyphics and it's confusing for me

to figure out where I am because of all

all these graphics just for the record

this says we can all get together

brothers and sisters so you know being

in Metallica has been great it's been

very instrumental in and giving me an

opportunity to be able to track this

stuff down and to continue collecting

but I have to say you know it's not

because of the band that I'm into this

stuff I mean I've I've been into this

stuff ever since I can remember and the

book is has been a great opportunity for

for me to amass and organize all this

stuff and present it to all the other

horror nerds out there as my gift to

them but you know I I really have

nothing else to say about that other

than this is my opportunity to share it

with all you all you people out there

all over the world and I really hope

that you enjoy it as much as I do is

that kind of weird away

you

I don't know what it is what the whole

this stuff has on me but you know I I

feel such a deep emotional attachment

and I have such a sentimental a

connection with all this stuff I mean it

it simultaneously comforts me its

inspires me it grounds me I mean as much

energy as I put into all this stuff the

energy comes back out of it toward me

and it moves me and you know sometimes I

think am i collecting this stuff or is

this stuff collecting me

all right and get out of this monkey

suit