Metallica has had its fair share of musicians enter and depart the lineup over the years, but while the likes of Cliff Burton, Dave Mustaine and Jason Newsted may all be household names, one of the earliest electric guitar players that ever jammed with the group is often overlooked.
That probably has something to do with the fact he joined Metallica before they even considered themselves Metallica – and in a new interview with Reality Check TV, Lloyd Grant himself claims this is precisely why James Hetfield and co don’t consider him an original member of the group.
“I don’t think Metallica wants to say I am an original member because the band weren’t really formed then,” he says (via Blabbermouth). “I was looking for people to play with and we had a magazine, or a weekly [publication] that comes out on every Thursday, and Lars [Ulrich] put an ad in and I answered the ad. And we started jamming and so forth.”
Despite his humble origin story, Grant did play a fairly influential role in the pre-Metallica years, and though he started his days jamming with Ulrich, he’d eventually go on to lend his hand recording an early draft of Hit the Lights in 1982.
Grant’s involvement with Ulrich and his colleagues eventually petered out, and as the guitarist once explained in an interview with Metal Hammer, he ultimately left the picture when Metallica began to officially take.
“I didn’t really interact too much with the other guys,” he recalled. “We would be jamming in Lars’ apartment, but he was still looking for people to play with and so when I wasn’t there he was finding other people to play with, too.
“He met tons of people and would play with them in either the rehearsal studio or his place, but it got to a point with me where we’d not just be jamming but actively trying to write songs. It didn’t happen often – maybe once a week – but I do remember he brought a guy into the practice once and it was James Hetfield.
“They’d got a tape and it was an early instrumental version of Hit the Lights, but at that point there still wasn’t a name for the band.
“I think we stopped playing around the time he started getting together regularly with James and Ron McGovney. By the time he’d got the full band together we weren’t playing any more.”
As for if he ever received a formal invite to join Metallica, Grant went on, “No; they didn’t need to, because by then they already had Dave Mustaine.
“Even when he left, they’d got Kirk Hammett in the wings, so they’ve always had someone great waiting.”
Grant briefly joined Ulrich and Metallica in 2011 during a week-long celebration of the band's 30th anniversary – footage of which can be found above.
