Robert Trujillo's Brief But Spectacular take on manifesting a dream

Transcript

Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.

Amna Nawaz: Robert Trujillo grew up in Santa Monica, California, where his passion for music set the stage for an extraordinary career. Today, he’s known as the bassist for Metallica, one of the biggest names in rock ‘n’ roll.

Tonight, he shares his Brief But Spectacular take on manifesting a dream.

Robert Trujillo, Musician: All of us young musicians in junior high and high school aspired to be rich and famous. And we looked up to our superheroes, which were Ozzy Osbourne.

I remember Rush was a huge influence of mine, Van Halen. Led Zeppelin, everybody wanted to be Led Zeppelin. So I wrote it in my yearbook. It was kind of a joke, but here I am. Not rich. I don’t know how famous I am, but I’m having a good time. And I think that’s what’s important.

When I grew up, I had a lot of friends that were hockey players. Believe it or not, they weren’t just skaters and surfers growing up in Southern California. You think that’s what it’s all about. And I used to go ice skating over at the Culver ice rink. And that’s where I kind of discovered music.

And you’re there skating and you’re trying to find a date. That’s what’s going on. You’re in junior high. And I’m hearing “Eruption” for the first time, that guitar solo, Eddie Van Halen. And I was like, wow, what is this? I pretty much knew I wanted to play music the moment I heard it.

I played in backyard parties. And we played covers. Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne were the main ingredient to what we did and what we covered. I ended up being an Ozzy’s band. And that happened because Ozzy sang on a song for a band I was in called the Infectious Grooves.

I have been able to work with all my heroes whether it’s Jerry Cantrell from Alice in Chains, Ozzy Osbourne, but then, of course, Metallica. The work ethic in Metallica is something that really did impress me from day one. These guys are getting together in the morning, probably around 11:00, which for most rock musicians is way too early, and not leaving the studio until 11:00 at night.

Songs are cultivated. The bass has its place. The rhythm section is important. It’s one of the things I love about being in Metallica is, the groove and the pulse seems to be a vital ingredient in this recipe.

One of the things that I feel blessed with is having a family that’s really creative-based, passionate about music. Maybe it drives the neighbors a little nuts because there’s music coming out of every window.

My son, he’s a composer. He actually is playing in Suicidal Tendencies right now. He tours with them. I had the great fortune of being able to get up on stage with him with Suicidal Tendencies recently. And that, as a dad, is pretty special. It’s very rewarding.

My name is Robert Trujillo, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on playing.