Trivia

Took guitar lessons from Joe Satriani.

Known for his custom made guitars with horror film graphics

Previous band before Metallica was the thrash metal band Exodus.

Replaced Dave Mustaine as permanent guitarist for Metallica in 1983.

Has his birth date and place tattooed on his stomach

Collects horror film memorabilia

In a 1998 issue of Guitar Legends: The Top 100 Guitar solos, Kirk is credited with 3 songs: "One" (No. 7), "Fade To Black (No. 24), and "Master of Puppets" (No. 51).

His musical influences are Led Zeppelin, UFO and Jimi Hendrix.

His father had Irish, English, Scottish, and German ancestry. His mother's family is Filipino, of Cebuano, and some Chinese, descent.

Has one dog, Darla

Officially endorsed by ESP Guitars (a Japanese company). He has several signature ESP guitar models (mostly identified by "KH" letters) and he has worked with the company since the late 80s.

Is an avid comic book collector. He started the hobby as a way to kick a drug addiction.

In November 6, 1998 he suffered from appendicitis when Metallica was on tour in England. He went to a London hospital, recovered, and couple of weeks later flew back to San Francisco.

Son Angel Ray Keala, born October 6, 2006.

Son, Vincenzo Kainalu was born on June 28, 2008.

When he plays the guitar wearing a bandage on the hand to avoid scratching.

As part of his enormous horror memorabilia collection, purchased a costume, allegedly worn by 'Boris Karloff (I)' in The Black Cat (1934). However, the original jacket from that screen-worn costume was torn to shreds at the end of the movie.

Although he didn't join Metallica until 1983, right before "Kill 'Em All" was recorded, Kirk is one of the three members (along with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich) to appear on all of the band's studio albums.

Other than playing on their early demos, Kirk technically never recorded an album with Exodus while he was in the band, but he contributed a guitar solo to the song "Salt the Wound" from their 2014 album "Blood In, Blood Out".

Told Eric Brenner on the set of Metal Lords (2022) he was a very big Willie Sparks fan.