Tim Henson has responded to recent comments made by Kirk Hammett, after the Metallica electric guitar hero recently gave his thoughts on the ‘boomer bends’ controversy that Henson spawned a few years ago.
Back in 2021, Henson made a throwaway comment concerning his stylistic preferences, saying he prefers to avoid “bommer-ish” bends – something that relies on oft-heard blues rock cliché’s – in his own playing.
The offhand remark sparked intense debate and it seems, three years on, the conversation still has legs: earlier this year, Hammett offered both criticism and praise to Henson over his boomer bends observations, praising his technique but questioning just how accessible his style is to the casual listener.
“I love that. Is he gonna call Eddie Van Halen a boomer guitar player?” Hammett said earlier this year. “I really like his style. It's really unique, and in terms of technique, it's amazing. It's the age old question, how relatable is it? It's good to listen to three or four times, but can you really relate?”
When asked by Rolling Stone if he’d seen Hammett’s response, Henson says, “I did! I got a Google alert for Polyphia, and I was like, ‘Oh, what’s this with Kirk Hammett?’ I click on it and I started reading and I’m just like, ‘Oh my God. This is a compliment and a diss at the same time from fucking Kirk Hammett!’”
The reaction from the band was mixed. While Henson saw the silver lining, Scott LePage – Henson’s guitar foil in Polyphia who has a rather strong bond with ’tallica – felt especially let down.
Henson continues, “Scott is a Metallica head. Scott’s father is the singer in Kill ‘Em All, which is a Metallica cover band. That’s what they do on the weekends. When Scott’s dad’s not at his job, he’s fucking doing a Metallica cover band. So Scott got sad.
“But I was happy because in an interview that Kirk Hammett was doing about Hammett activities and the world of Kirk Hammett, my name was brought up! So I’m happy about that and I appreciate you doing that. I appreciate that he even has thoughts about it.”
And Hammett certainly had a few things to say about Henson’s playing. Speaking to Rolling Stone’s Music Now podcast, he reflected, “Is he hitting on raw emotion? No, it's so complicated. It's a very distinct emotion that he's shooting for.
“Therefore, how accessible is it on a larger scale? It's only accessible to people who like that, or can understand that. It's a very small category of people. That's absolutely fine if he wants to reach that category of people.”
Still, Henson isn’t holding it against Hammett, and has even issued a public plea to have the two bands line-up together on the same bill.
“Kirk, if you are reading this one, thank you for the acknowledgement. You’re a fucking legend. Take us on tour, dude. Please. Seriously, man. Let’s talk about it over a beer, maybe.”
The ‘boomer bends’ conversation doesn’t seem to be going away, something made all the more frustrating for the fact Henson’s sentiments have been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted by guitar fans.
In 2021, Henson was forced to clarify his reflections, saying, “No-one said you couldn’t bend!”
More recently, Henson was revealed to be the guitar star who had been hand-picked by Hans Zimmer to work on the soundtrack for the recent F1 film – a secret project that Henson had discussed with Guitar World at NAMM this year.
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