ROBERT TRUJILLO On How He Landed METALLICA Gig
September 17, 2008RollingStone.com recently conducted an interview with METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo. An excerpt from the chat follows below.
RollingStone.com: You joined METALLICA in February, 2003. How much did you know about the dynamics within the band at the time?
Robert: They were in the middle of a bunch of transitional things. They were recording the album ["St. Anger"], still doing tracking and mixing, and also trying to find a new bass player. I received a phone call. I was in Tahiti on vacation. I checked my voice mail, and I had Lars and Kirk on there. Lars was in the background: "Join our band!" They were probably out on the town, having a few cocktails, calling all the bass players on their list.
RollingStone.com: Do you know how you got on that list?
Robert: I'm not 100 percent sure. I think it was a combination of things. One was I toured with METALLICA, with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. That's where I originally met everybody. And less than a year prior to me receiving the call, a mutual friend of Kirk's called and said, "Kirk and I are coming down with some friends. Can you show us some surf spots around L.A.?" I thought that was neat: that Kirk, the vampire I knew, the nocturnal man, was ready to explore daylight and surfing in Southern California. He was in an RV with three friends. We spent a weekend hitting different spots.
The whole thing, at least from what I understand, was they each had people they wanted to bring into the auditions. I became Kirk's guy. From my understanding, Lars wasn't aware of much that I had done. [In addition to playing with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, Trujillo toured and recorded with OZZY OSBOURNE and worked with ALICE IN CHAINS guitarist Jerry Cantrell.] I don't know where James' head was at.
Read the entire interview from RollingStone.com.
Comments Disclaimer And Information