James Hetfield's Frontman, Metallica

Guitar-shredding James Hetfield, the lead singer of Metallica, is known around the world for his music, but he’s also a passionate car customizer who recently donated most of his collection to the Petersen Automotive Museum. You can also see them in his new book, Reclaimed Rust: The Four- Wheeled Creations of James Hetfield.

You have an enormously popular band. You have a fleet of custom cars. You have a family. You have a ranch. What made you think, “I should write a book, too”? I knew these cars needed to be seen by other people. I just wanted to have a book, basically kind of a yearbook, of all the cars that Rick Dore and I have put together. Having a book is a lot easier than having all these cars in a garage somewhere.

How hands-on are you with these projects? Well, a lot of it is in my head and in Photoshop. I love art. I love logos. I’ve gotten pretty good at Photoshop and being able to cut and paste and do things on the computer to see: How would that look? What if you took this and did that? It’s way easier and way quicker, similar to writing a song. You put a song into Pro Tools or Logic or something, and you’re able to arrange it quickly without having to completely redo it and see what it looks like before you attempt it.