When Robert Trujillo walked into Metallica's audition room in 2003, he wasn't greeted by the usual conversation about a contract and terms. "When I walked in, everyone was clapping. It was incredible," he says of the moment he found out he had been chosen as the band's new bassist. Thus began the longest bass stint in Metallica's history.
Trujillo was born on October 23, 1964, in Santa Monica, California, and grew up in Culver City. In his home, music came from many directions. His mother listened to Motown, Marvin Gaye, James Brown and Sly and the Family Stone, while his father introduced him to the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and classical music. This mix would later become one of the most recognizable features of his playing.
From jazz to California punk
At 19, Trujillo enrolled in jazz school with the intention of becoming a session musician. "I really wanted to be a session musician, but I was still passionate about rock and metal," he said in an interview with Louder. Before that, he had been playing at parties and small stages, where he encountered the music of Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Rush, and “Led Zeppelin“.
In the late 80s, he joined Suicidal Tendencies. The group combined punk, thrash metal and hardcore, and Trujillo added funk, groove and an unusual approach to the bass to this formula. He also used a fretless bass - an instrument without metal frets on the neck, which allows for a smoother transition between tones.
In parallel with Suicidal Tendencies, Trujillo founded Infectious Grooves together with vocalist Mike Muir. The project gave even more space to his funk influences and experiments. In the song “You Can't Bring Me Down“ he used a fretless bass, and in “I Wasn't Meant to Feel This/Asleep at the Wheel“ performs a bass solo inspired by Jaco Pastorius - one of his most important musical references.
Before Metallica
In 1996, Trujillo became part of Ozzy Osbourne's band. He worked with him for about seven years, and during this period he also played with musicians such as Jerry Cantrell and Zakk Wylde. He himself defines the time with Ozzy as an important professional lesson, because it gave him the opportunity to play on the biggest rock stages and be part of large concert productions.
The invitation from Metallica comes at a time when the band is looking for a replacement for Jason Newsted. The auditions were filmed for the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, and Trujillo was cast in February 2003. He joined a line-up that already included James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett.
A unique voice in Metallica
In Metallica, Trujillo does not try to copy Cliff Burton or Jason Newsted. "None of us are trying to be Cliff. I'm not trying to be Jason. Everyone has their own identity and I'm just trying to do my best," he says.
He was involved in the creation of "Death Magnetic," "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct," and "72 Seasons." His co-writing credits include songs such as "The Day That Never Comes," "Cyanide," and "Screaming Suicide." In 2009, he won a Grammy with Metallica for "My Apocalypse," and in 2024, the band won Best Metal Performance for "72 Seasons."
More than two decades after joining Metallica, Robert Trujillo is no longer the "new bassist." He is the musician who connects Californian punk, funk, jazz and metal in one line - from his first experiments with fretless bass to the scenes where his bass sounds together with some of the most recognizable riffs in the history of heavy music.
Sources: loudersound.com, musicradar.com, guitarworld.com