RT: Oh, yeah. When I was preparing for my second audition, I dissected a lot of that stuff. When Suicidal toured with Metallica in the early nineties, I was listening to a lot of classic records like Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, but I've been so busy that I haven't busted out my Metallica in years. Listening to them again opened my eyes to Cliff's playing as well as Jason's. Both guys are tremendous bass players and tremendous performers.

EB: How are the new bass parts?

RT: Challenging. Metallica [producer] Bob Rock did a fine job of  playing bass on the album, and he got a big, fat, heavy tone. Bob is a totally different player than Jason and Cliff, but I have full respect for him. I think what he did was very tasty and heavy as shit.

EB: Do you feel ready for the technical challenges of this gig?

RT: Yes. It's a good time to do this because my skills are up, and I've learned so much over the years. With Metallica, there's obviously a shitload of speed and technique involved, and I'd say a lot of the training for that came from Suicidal Tendencies. I'm also able to learn a lot of material really fast. I have this psycho way of charting songs out I put together when I did Jerry Cantrell's album three years ago. All this helps, because the new music is especially challenging.

EB: You're charting out the new Metallica songs?

RT: We try to find time between interviews and photo sessions and three-hour meetings to work on the new songs, but usually, I have to learn the songs on the spot. The best way for me to do that is to chart them out. We're filming the rehearsals, and they don't want me to be the only one who doesn't know the shit. Because I write these charts, I can step up and take care of business.

EB: I'm assuming you'll be playing a lot more pick.

RT: Actually, I'm going back to my fingers for Metallica. It's different for me and it's different for them; it hasn't been done since Cliff Burton.

EB: Even for ferocious songs like Battery and Whiplash?

RT: The first time I auditioned, we did Whiplash, but I didn't really know it, so I used a pick. The second time, I used my fingers.

EB: How are you playing clear, clean notes at those tempos?

RT: I started using this three-finger tarantula technique in Suicidal and Infectious for a galloping sound. I alternate picking with my index and middle fingers. I'm also working on a different technique where I strike the strings with the pad of my fingertips and hit the upstroke on the back of the nail. I go back and forth between those two methods.

EB: You used a pick with Ozzy, so why change now?

RT: Playing with my fingers feels natural to me. With the appropriate finger technique and the right gear, I can do a lot. My fingers are strong from so many years of playing; not using a pick with Metallica is natural for me, but I could see it being a nightmare for somebody else. And the band is stoked. They saw that I could do it, so they started asking me to do it on all the songs. 

EB: Did you contribute any bass to the new album?

RT: Bob Rock had already finished the bass lines when I got the call. Bob has been a big part of the band's two-year journey in creating and recording this album, and it was important that he record the bass. I think that was something the band and Bob established way before they started looking for somebody.

EB: Tell me about the new music.

RT: It's brutal, it's heavy, it's thick, but it's also dynamic. There's a lot of speed involved, not just in the metal sense, but some of it has punk attitude. The rhythms and the groove factor are pretty different. The songs are long. It's hard, driving, and relentless.

EB: What do you think will surprise Metallica fans?

RT: I'm a fan, and I was blown away. It's almost like they picked up where ?And Justice For All left off.

EB: How does the new Metallica feel to you?

RT: These guys have really come together in the last couple years. They've been on a wild rollercoaster ride emotionally, and they've grown a lot. This band is feeling very collaborative and creative. For me to come in right now, when the music is heavy beyond imagination, is very groovy. This whole journey has been surreal and amazing. The first thing they told me was that this train is leaving, and they wanted me get on cause it's leaving and it's not gonna stop. They weren't kidding!  
 
 
 
 
 

Loud but True: Inside Trujillo's battery of bass gear 

Aside from his flirtation with vintage Fender and Danelectro 4-strings for Jerry Cantrell's Degradation Trip sessions, Robert Trujillo has been associated primarily with Tobias, Ernie Ball StingRay, and Fernandes 5-string basses on tours and in the studio with Infectious Grooves, Suicidal Tendencies, and Ozzy Osbourne. But he?s trying some new approaches.

       With Suicidal, I was originally using a Music Man before I switched to Tobias in the early days. The Tobiases carried me through Infectious Grooves, and with Ozzy I used a combination of Tobiases and custom-made Fernandes basses. With Metallica, I'm finding myself using everything from Music Man basses to MTDs, and the Fernandes basses are crushing! I recently pulled out the Music Man I played on the cover of Bass Player in 1994, and it sounded like a Mack truck. So now we're tweaking out other StingRays; I'll be using Fernandes basses, too. And the Tobiases? They've given me so many good years on the road and in the studio, so I'm retiring them.

      For Trujillo, Metallica's low tunings are a special challenge. Everything's tuned down a whole step on the E, A, D, and G strings, and sometimes even down to G# and A on the B-string. It's sub-sounding, and I'm using tighter B-strings now, so the low B is in full effect. And the Music Man and Fernandes basses sound good as long as we set them up the for low tunings. Trujillo strings all his basses with medium-light Dean Markley SR-2000 4-string sets. 046, .063, .080., and a .102 E-string and he reaches for an Ernie Ball 130 B string. Everything's connected by Monster Cables.

     Trujillo is using different amps as well. When performing with Ozzy, he used two SVT 3?s for tone, one SVT 4 for power, and a Hi-Watt 4x12 half-stack. Zach Harmon, Metallica's equipment manager and Trujillo's bass tech, Robert is now using three SVT-2 heads with  three Ampeg 8x10 Pro series cabinets and a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier head with two Mesa Boogie 4x12 cabs. Trujillo's effects include a Morley wah pedal, which he uses for everything from For Whom the Bell Tolls to newer material from St. Anger.

      Harmon also reveals that Trujillo is using Tech. 21 products for distortion, Tech. 21 Sansamp products for additional bass tone, and Boss effects pedals for chorus and flange. For this summer?s sanitarium tour, Harmon says he's putting a trimmed-down version of the studio? into Robert's rack, including multiple DIs one for Robert's clean sound, another for his full crunch tone and one for his blended signal. After 20 years in metal's frontline trenches, Robert says, We're experimenting with a whole new sound.