Photo: Press
Metallica's Kirk Hammett has recalled the time that he was offered a ride in David Bowie's tour bus, in a moving tribute to the Thin White Duke.
Writing on his blog, the guitar icon Hammett remembers how he was introduced to David Bowie through his ex tour manager Ian Jeffrey - who then offered for Hammet to hop in the bus as they were both going the same way back to their hotel.
“I instantly said ‘sure’ and let me tell you, I felt like one of those guys in Wayne’s World,” he said. “We go up the steps, turn into the lounge and there’s David with a huge grin on his face saying, ‘Sit down sit down.’ Rob and I sat down, once again the fan boy stuff came out, and I cannot remember all the details but we did talk about stuff like music and his love for the Dandy Warhols, I also remember apologizing to him, saying, ‘Sorry David for nicking the title ‘Leper Messiah,’ and he was laughing.”
Hammet continued: “The entire time we were talking on that bus ride, I was surprised at how light-hearted he was. He laughed a lot, had an almost giddy, goofy sense of humor, and he was very relaxed. From looking at all his publicity photos and everything, you’d have thought, ‘Man, he looks like a heavy cat,’ but meeting him in person was the complete opposite of that. My impressions were so off-track. And when we finally pulled up the hotel, I felt a tinge of sadness, because the greatest bus ride of my life was nearly over. We thanked him up and down, left the bus and then when we got to the hotel elevator Rob and I looked at each other and said, ‘Did that just really happen?’ It was a weird, beautiful and totally unexpected experience."
The blog piece, which is titled David Bowie: An appreciation of a great artist, also goes on to say what an important influence Bowie was on him as a musician: "I want to acknowledge what a huge influence he was on me. I bought a handful of albums growing up which I can say heavily influenced me, and one of those was Changesonebowie, which came out in 1976."
