classic Hammett. And yeah, there was some wah involved!
As noted in the below photo, Kirk and I have continued to bump into one another over the years, so it is with great pleasure that he is the first cover story for [ GTR ]!
Joe Satriani + Students // Warfield Theater 1988 Photo: Pat Johnson Studios him how much I enjoyed his playing. A month or so later I went to buy a Marshall head I saw advertised in the paper, and the guy who was selling it was the guitar player in Trauma – and there was Cliff again! That was the great thing about the Bay Area then … you couldn’ t help but run into all of these amazing people.
[ Kirk ] Around 1979 there was a place called the International Café in Berkeley that used to let us teenagers in, and they had tons of bands who played there. One night I saw a band called Easy Street, and there was a bass player in a denim jacket with long red hair, and another guy on guitar with short, super curly hair, and sunglasses. There were three or four other guys with them too, but that guy with the red hair was Cliff and the guy on guitar was Jim Martin – they were in a cover band together.
During the second song, Cliff’ s amp head blew up, and instead of leaving the stage, he just sat there in front of the amp and head-banged while the rest of the band played. It was the craziest thing! Then, about a year and a half later people were saying,“ You gotta see this band, Trauma! They have a great guitar player, and this roaring bass player!” I was at the Keystone Berkeley show, and sure enough,
[ GTR ] How did the“ Bay Area Brotherhood” impact you as musician coming up in the Bay Area?
[ Kirk Hammett ] The Bay Area has always been super supportive of local musicians, bands, clubs and venues. Growing up, I had friends who were taking music lessons, and their parents were all musicians. It just kind of rubbed off on all of us. It felt like a very natural thing for us to start playing music. Everyone that my brothers were hanging out with were in bands, or they were going to see bands. They were playing in Golden Gate Park, Delores Park, and other places. There were free concerts everywhere, and at the street fairs there were always bands. The music scene was super rich and there were always places to play. San Francisco was known as one of the best places to get music gigs, along with L. A. and Seattle. San Francisco was a regular stop for traveling musicians too. I also got to see some incredible local bands during those years, some of which I can’ t even remember the names of.
[ GTR ] One band I remember seeing at The Keystone Berkeley was called Trauma. I went up to the bass player after the show and told