When I got my first Marshall amp, it was so empowering. No one ever forgets their first Marshall amp if you're a guitar player pursuing a big powerful sound. I mean, no one ever forgets their first Marshall amp.

I didn't want to fall into the trap of competing with all these other great guitar players. I just want to sidestep the whole thing and get out of the race.

Although I'm a lead guitarist, I'd say that a good 95 percent of my time onstage is spent playing rhythm.

Musically, there's a movement called the flatted fifth that's really evil-sounding. It was outlawed by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. That movement is what gives you a real evil sound that conjures up dark, fantastic images. It's like an audio horror movie. It personifies what a horror movie is about.

Guitar players in the nineties seem to be reacting against the technique oriented eighties.

Metallica is a very complicated, fragile thing. On the outside, it's all metal, but on the inside it's very delicate.

If a guitar is too easy for me to play, it makes me too laid back. I like to battle with my guitar.