Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has released new track ‘High Plains Drifter’ from his debut solo EP ‘Portals’, which is out this Friday.
The music on ‘Portals’ is intended to be “soundtracks to the movies in your mind”, although - whatever might be screening in your mind right now - ‘High Plains Drifter’ takes its inspiration from the 1973 movie of the same name.
" was not meant to be specifically music for that film, but it was once it was written, I immediately thought it conveyed the same sentiment as the film, so the piece was christened accordingly”, says Hammett.
“The music for 'High Plains Drifter' initially came from a Flamenco piece I had written”, he goes on. “It was a two-and-a-half-minute piece, and I really liked it, but it was one of those riffs that would be hard to integrate into Metallica. I knew I wanted to do something with it, even though it came out spontaneously. I had been sitting outside messing around with a Flamenco acoustic guitar I’d just bought, and it flowed out in the moment. I was determined it would have a life. It would have its moment”.
Listen to ‘High Plains Drifter’ here: