‘Not So Much Practicing, Just Writing’: James Hetfield on His ‘Soul-Nourishing’ Creative Routine” Got a computer, a few guitars, and a little rig set up. It is just my soul-nourishing place to go in there, and just play.”
Even after 43 years with Metallica, James Hetfield and his bandmates still find joy in creating and playing music, showing no signs of retiring anytime soon. Despite recently releasing their latest album “72 Seasons,” Hetfield’s creativity remаins vibrant, and he often spends his free time writing.
In a recent interview on The Metallica Report podcast, Hetfield, known as Papa Het, reflected on how “soul-nourishing” it is to spend time in his home studio and experiment with song ideas (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):
“Whether it’s just an escape from life or whatever it is, I love my little music room basement. Got a computer, a few guitars, and a little rig set up. It is just my soul-nourishing place to go in there, and just play. Not so much practicing; it’s just writing. There’s always ideas. I get inspired from all kinds of different music I’m listening to.”
He also mentioned how diverse inspirations fuel his creativity, including an encounter with Elton John and Bernie Taupin:
“I meаn, even the Elton John thing, you know, hаnging out with Elton and Bernie Taupin challenged me. Watching ‘Rocket Man’ and seeing how they wrote… Elton is such a visionary, that Bernie sets a set of lyrics, a poem, in front of him, and he sees the music just appearing, which is bizarre to me, a more of the old, kind of Tony Iommi way, where here is the riff, and we build around the riff, instead of building around a lyric.”
Hetfield also recalled how legendary producer Bob Rock used to criticize Metallica’s creative process as “backwards”:
“For me, lyrics are just kind of… You fill it in, you syncopate, you put in where there are spaces for lyrics. So, trying to write from a poem, and then writing around that… Remember, Bob Rock was the guy who said, ‘You guys write so backwards. You’re supposed to have the lyric, and then you build around it.’ It’s like, ‘No, we do it the other way around, challenging stuff like that.’”
