ALTER BRIDGE’s MARK TREMONTI Picks JAMES HETFIELD As His ‘Rock God’: ‘He Carries Himself The Way That I Like To Carry Myself’

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ALTER BRIDGE guitarist Mark Tremonti was the featured guest on BBC's "The Rock Show With Johnnie Walker" during the "Rock God" segment. Mark picked METALLICA's James Hetfield and stated about his choice: "I would say my personal biggest rock god, that person I'm always nervous when I'm in the vicinity of that I looked up to as a musician, as a songwriter, as a performed was James Hetfield, frontman in my favorite band of all time, METALLICA. I've gotten the privilege to meet him a handful of times, and it was a dream come true to be able to open for them as many times as I have. "I look sidestage when we were performing, I think it was Download festival, and watching James looking over our set. "He's that artist for me that I've always really looked up to," Mark added. "I think he's a great frontman, great guitar player, great songwriter, and just carries himself the way that I like to carry myself. So many props to you, James." Last year, Tremonti told the "TODDCast Podcast" that "Master Of Puppets" was the first METALLICA album he heard. "That's my favorite record of all time," he said. Asked to name the best track on that record, Mark said: "For me, it's 'Orion'. That's the one that brings me back to my childhood the most. I was always a huge fan of METALLICA instrumentals. And I was really fond of the 'Black Album,' but there wasn't one on there. 'The Call Of Ktulu' from 'Ride The Lightning' was another one of my favorite METALLICA songs, I thought they did those very well." Back in 2012, Tremonti named Hetfield and his METALLICA bandmate Kirk Hammett as two guitarists that influenced his riffs. "That down stroke thing they do is one of my core sounds — my rhythm playing is very rooted in the METALLICA-based style," he explained. ALTER BRIDGE's latest album, "Walk The Sky", was released in October via Napalm Records.