Metallica frontman James Hetfield has revealed he used the wood from his early ’80s home to build a new guitar
A tale concerning 3132 Carlson Boulevard in El Cerrito, California, the band’s residence during its formative years (1983–1986), has been revealed by METALLICA. The group, who had moved from Los Angeles to the Bay Area to perform with bassist Cliff Burton, developed and rehearsed most of the songs for the albums “Ride The Lightning” and “Master Of Puppets” in this time period in the now-demolished garage of the home.
James Hetfield, the leader of Metallica, has disclosed that he constructed a new guitar using wood from this well-known garage. Listen to him describe the origins of “Carl” in the video below.
The Carlson Boulevard home where the members of Metallica resided was described as a mess by author Joel Mclver in his book “To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica’s Cliff Burton”: “It was a mess, because James, Lars, and Mark Whitaker lived there and they would have these nightly drinking sessions.” Anybody who was even somewhat interested in Metallica would show up with a case of beer, and those guys would never turn away strangers who brought presents of booze.”
METALLICA celebrated the release of their first two albums, “Kill ‘Em All” (1983) and “Ride The Lightning” (1984), with a unique weekend that included a return to the band’s El Cerrito origins.
Record Store Day is April 13, and METALLICA’s “The $5.98 EP – Garage Days Re-Revisited” will be released on that day. Five of the tracks from the long-out-of-print EP were eventually incorporated on the “Garage, Inc.” double album, but METALLICA decided it would be interesting to reissue them today in their original 1987 format.
Continuing with the ’80s vibe, the remastered EP will be available on CD and digital download in addition to many vinyl formats such as picture disc, cassette, and longbox (you younger people can google it!). A remastered version of “The Wait” instant-grat single is included with every Metallica.com pre-order.