Desperate Times AI Music
Metallica Bassist Robert Trujillo recently recalled hanging out with Geddy Lee while taking part in the Rush bassist’s new project, reflecting on the sheer amazement he felt while getting to casually spend time with one of his heroes.
Robert is a man with an immense creative scope who is skilled in delivering funky grooves as well as heavy metal tunes. He has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Suicidal Tendencies, and has been a part of Metallica for over 20 years. Robert’s portfolio is diverse and influenced by music icons such as Jaco Pastorius, Geddy Lee and Motown legends.
Speaking of the latter, Rob appeared in the recent docuseries “Geddy Lee Asks: Are Bass Players Human Too?” alongside Nirvana’s Krist Novoselic, Primus’ Les Claypool, and The Smashing Pumpkins’ Melissa Auf Der Maur, but he tells WRIF’s Meltdown in a recent interview that hanging out with the Rush bassist was one of the highlights of the experience (transcription via Blabbermouth):
“It was a lot of fun. I got to hang with Geddy for two days solid… I’d met him before, but we were hanging out for 10 to 12 hours through the weekend. And we just kind of threw it all into two days. We had two beautiful days down in SoCal. And it’s basically a lifestyle hang. He wants to know, or wanted to know, what’s it like in the world, in the life of Robert Trujillo outside of bass?”
According to Robert, that included going down to Venice Beach, getting acquainted with the history of Robert’s neighborhood, meeting the people who live there, but also attending a gig Rob’s son Tye played in the area. He added:
“It was just so surreal that he was hanging at a local [gathering] — this is local-style, neighborhood we’re talking. We were talking neighborhood kids, neighborhood parents. I mean, it was all very, very localized. And he’s coming out there from Toronto.”
Reflecting on how much Rush inspired him in his youth, Robert added:
“I played in backyard party bands at age 16 and we played [Rush’s] ‘La Villa Strangiato’, we played ‘YYZ’, we played all those classic songs. The harder, the better back then. And we probably butchered them, but we would play these backyard parties and play Rush songs in the same way that we also played Ozzy songs and we played Black Sabbath songs and Van Halen and all these different bands.
“So you can imagine hanging out with one of your heroes and just trying to stay grounded. At the end of the day, everybody’s a human being and you always wanna treat people with respect and, again, stay grounded. But at the same time, you’re going, ‘Damn, that’s Geddy Lee.'”
