My guitars are my umbilical cord. They're directly wired into my head.

I was really, really wild in my early twenties and a bit self-destructive.

Jeff Beck is one of my heroes and has been since I first picked up a guitar.

We never see ourselves as being on a higher level than our fans.

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.

I think the whole concept behind lyrics is you better mean what you say, or you should like, become a storyteller. I mean, there's a lot of bands who are just storytellers, and then there are bands who actually have something valid to say. And the bands who have valid points are few and far between.

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