Alan Cross of ExploreMusic.com conducted an interview with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett yesterday (Monday, October 26) prior to the band's concert at at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Watch the chat in two parts below. A couple of excerpts follow.

On METALLICA's October 30, 2009 performance at Madison Square Garden as part of the 25th-anniversary celebration of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame:

Hammett: "The people behind the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were so impressed by our induction and our attitude toward the induction and all the good, positive things we had to say about the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame that they actually asked us back to participate in this benefit. And I'm all for it, because I'm a big supporter of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and keeping the memory of rock and roll through the years alive. Being acknowledged by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame means a lot to me, so when they asked us to do this, we said, 'Oh, yeah. Absolutely.' So exactly what we're gonna do is... it's gonna span the history of rock and roll and what it's attempting to do — this benefit — is to put together current artists with Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees from past years. And so there's these collaborations that are gonna be [taking place]. We're gonna be playing with Ray Davies [from THE KINKS] — we're gonna be playing 'You Really Got Me' with him; we're gonna be playing with Lou Reed, we're gonna be playing a Lou Reed song; and then we're gonna be playing with Ozzy, we're gonna be playing a BLACK SABBATH song. And it should be a lot of fun. It's a two-day thing. On our day, it's ARETHA FRANKLIN, JEFF BECK, us and U2. So it's gonna be a pretty interesting show altogether, as far as the audience is concerned. It's gonna be a big mash-up of talent."

On Morgan Dana Harrington, the missing 20-year-old junior from Virginia Tech who was last seen at METALLICA's October 17, 2009 concert at the John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Virginia:

Hammett: "I can only tell you what everyone knows, really. She went to the show in Charlottesville, got separated from her friends, never really got reunited with them, and later on they found her purse and cell phone, but not her person. So there's been a missing person report filed and there's been a reward put out by the family and we decided to contribute to that reward, 'cause we would like to see — as parents and just of our own good nature — we would like to see her found and reunited with her family. It's a very sad thing to hear about. We're just trying to do what we can to help her and help her family out. It's a pretty intense, screwed up thing that's happened, and I really hope that she's found and that she's OK."

Part 1:



Part 2: