The Metallica bassist talks about how he landed in the greatest metal band of all time. Robert Trujillo tells what the first days were like.
Robert Trujillobassist of Metallicashared memories of his first concerts with the band in a recent interview with Nikki Blakk from 107.7 The Bone. These first moments were during the May 2003 special performances at the fillmore of San Francisco, which coincided with the release of the album «St. Anger” and introduced Trujillo to fans before the tour.
«What I remember most about that time in 2003 was not knowing what the setlist was going to be each night. It was really kind of loose. And I don’t know if that was on purpose or we were just so overwhelmed, or Lars Ulrich He was so overwhelmed, he couldn’t tell me exactly what we were going to play. So he was learning songs like ‘Phantom Lord’ at the time. And they hadn’t played ‘Phantom Lord’ in a long time. “So there was all this energy around me and my head was swimming with the pressure of the show, the pressure of being the new bassist, but also the pressure of having to put together a song earlier in the afternoon of the day we were going to play it.” Trujillo explained.
Adaptation to Metallica
Trujillo went on to describe how he adapted to the demands of the group, learning to handle pressure and making sure he was prepared for any eventuality. «The songs of Metallica They’re challenging, but then, I think around that same time we were playing [en la legendaria] San Quentin prison. So there were a lot of things happening at the same time. And it was like, ‘Welcome to your new existence.’ You just have to learn, adapt and do the best you can, and that was the case at that show at the Fillmore. I hit the ground running, and when I caught up a couple years later, I was like, ‘I’m going to do everything I can to learn songs that we’re not even playing that aren’t even on the radar. I’m going to learn ‘Orion’. I’m going to learn ‘Dyers Eve’.’ It was just like, I don’t like being on the edge of my seat, having to learn songs all day long or something. So I found a way to catch up.”
What was Robert Trujillo’s audition with Metallica like?
Eight years ago, Robert spoke on the “WTF With Marc Maron” podcast about his 2003 audition to replace Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, as captured in the band’s 2004 documentary “Some Kind Of Monster.” He said: “It was a very surreal day for me. But when you get a job like that, it’s so… strange. Really, strange is the word. Because I remember going there. I’ve arrived late. “I was always late back then.”
He continued, “I’ll tell you a quick story about the audition. Basically, it was a two-day audition. The first day of the audition, I was there mostly as an observer. [El productor] Bob Rock was there. The bass [para el álbum ‘St. Anger’ de Metallica] it had already been recorded; Bob Rock recorded bass. So he was just hanging around. And Lars and James [Hetfield, guitarrista/vocalista de Metallica] and Kirk [Hammett, guitarrista de Metallica] They live in this kind of bubble. They just said, ‘Yeah, make yourself at home. Just relax.’ And I was there hanging around this big complex in the north of the Bay Area. And I was kind of lost, because no one was really fully communicating with me, and I was just there. And well. So they said ‘Come to the control’, and I was there. They were recording tracks. Eleven at night arrives, and Lars… We are in the parking lot. We were the last to leave. And Lars says, ‘Hey, man, let’s go grab a drink. Let’s go have a nightcap.’ So I said, ‘Okay.’ And we went to the first bar, had a couple of cocktails, went to the second bar, had a few more, went to the third bar. Then we ended up at his house having more cocktails. By that time, it was five in the morning. He couldn’t even drive to where he was staying; it was impossible. And even he said, ‘Here, stay the night in my guest room.’ So, at nine in the morning, four hours later, he was on the treadmill, this guy, and it was like he didn’t know me anymore. He was already sober. And he was on the treadmill. And I had a horrible headache. And then he says, ‘Okay. Come on. Let’s go to the studio.’ And I was behind him. He couldn’t even keep his eyes open. I arrived at the studio.”
He went on to say: “This was when [los miembros de Metallica] They were going through this kind of therapy, with this guy Phil Towle, who was… what do you call him? Kind of a motivator, which, at the time, I guess was good for the band, but I wasn’t used to that. Here I am with a tremendous headache. James just went through this whole situation where he, of course, is sober, and the last person he wants to see around his band is a drunk Mexican. That would be me. So I’m sitting at the table, and I have the worst headache, I’m completely hungover. And I was thinking, ‘Lars brought me into this, to see if he could keep up with him.’ It was a test. He’s a Viking, really. He was going to the bathroom. He was pouring water on my face, slapping me, thinking, ‘Hold on. Hold.’ Because he really wanted to say, ‘I can’t do this right now, guys. I don’t feel well. I really can’t do this.’”
Trujillo added: «I held on. I knew the technician, the bass technician, from the time when Suicidal Tendencies was on tour with Metallica, which would be in 1993 on the ‘Black Album’. So, Zach Harmon, who is still my bass tech. He didn’t have a bass, so I said, ‘Let’s get a bass. Let’s choose the amplifier settings.’ So I used that as my way out of that hangover situation.”
Although he was not in a position to perform at his usual level, the audition was remarkably successful. “We played ‘Battery,’ and I think that helped me not be nervous,” she recalled. “And that’s what you see in the movie, and everyone seems to think it was pretty good. But other than that, he was brain dead. If he could play, it was fine. But in communication with Hetfield, because he would come up to me and ask me questions, and I would give really stupid answers, because he literally wasn’t there at all.
He added: “When I watch ‘Some Kind Of Monster’, I see myself wearing this brown Armani t-shirt, which I would never own in my life. You know why? Because it’s not mine. It’s from Lars. “His wife at the time, Skylar, gave me that shirt, because the one she was wearing, that was probably pretty funky.”
