Personalities

Robert Trujillo

~ Aritra Sengupta

Trujillo live at the "Rock Werchter 2007",
Belgium

When it comes to bass players, thrash metal giants Metallica have always had a kind of twisted fate. It’s true that they had to switch low end troopers quite often, but each bassist they have played with have contributed timeless stuff to their repertoire, right from the metal bass demigod Cliff Burton to the guy we are going to talk about, Mr. Robert Trujillo. The first thing you will notice about Robert is his huge size and a rather unique beard, in fact he is known amongst some particularly tongue-in-cheek Metallica fans as Robert GORILLO. Rob started off his career working as a session and live musician with the prince of darkness Ozzy Osbourne on his solo records. Right from the beginning, his unique and tasteful playing style was quite evident from the smooth melodic lines that flowed beneath clean piano arpeggios or those crazy ass bass riffs that propelled Zakk Wylde’s insane solos. Rob also contributed to Wylde’s brainchild, the metal project “Black label society”. While he was gigging around with all of these bands, Rob heard that Metallica was auditioning a replacement for their then bass player Jason Newsted. The year was 2003, Rob joined the trio of Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich on the bass guitars and he has never looked back ever since. His enigmatic and innovative playing style which involves both picking and finger-style on five string basses has helped Metallica’s sound to evolve in new directions. Rob has an amazing stage presence and that’s not just due to his huge size, he is a tremendous storehouse of energy, head-banging in unison with crazy fans as the band belts out their hits. His insane shredding and ‘on your face’ solos pumped up with a grungy distorted tone have become an integral feature of Metallica gigs. In fact his bass tone during the solo intros of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is reminiscent of Cliff Burton’s legendary bass guitar tone which made extensive use of overdrive and distortion. What most people are unaware of is that Rob knows his funk too; he is a brilliant slap style player as evident in his work with his side project “Infectious Grooves”, which clearly demonstrates his proficiency in slapping, popping and thumping the hell out of his bass. In fact in an interview with the bass player magazine, Rob was even asked if he would win a slap bass battle with funk bass playing’s matinee idol, RHCP’s Flea. Rob continues to impress fans worldwide, and most consider him as the ideal descendant to Metallica’s legendary lineup and legacy of lower range heroes. The youngest member in the thrash metal pioneer’s current line up, Robert “gorilla” is expected to keep the low end of the band’s sound soaring high in their upcoming albums and world tours.