Metallica’s Trujillo Says His Son Refused an Opening Slot for Foo Fighters Because His Band ‘Didn’t Deserve’ It

“He was, like, ‘We don’t deserve to do this. We don’t have an album now, we’ve only got only four originals,’” the bassist says.

During an appearance on The Music Podcast, Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo talked about his son Tye – who filled in for Korn’s Fieldy back in 2017 – while also discussing the Big Four, the band’s upcoming Australian tour with Slipknot, and more.You can check out a part of the interview below (transcribed by UG).

Correct me if I’m wrong, your son at 12 years old – in 2017 – he toured with Korn, right?

“Correct, yes. My son Tye is a brilliant musician, he’s a bass player, but he writes a lot of riffs on guitar.

“He’s got a sort of a knack for writing great songs instrumentally, even with hip-hop and trip-hop stuff, he’s programming these and he’s very connected to his creativity, especially in music.

“He can throw some incredible thrash-metal riffs at you and at the same time, he’ll jump on upright bass and start playing some sling bass line – and he actually didn’t study upright bass. It’s really neat to see, but he’s also very humble.

“At 12, he sort of auditioned for that particular tour and really was amazing because he prepared all by himself – he did the research.

“I was on tour most of the time, I couldn’t help him. He did all that, he played a five-string for the tour, there’s a lot of slap technique – which is something he can do not as his main thing – but he’s got a great feel for it.

“My point is that he adapted to what was needed as a professional at the age of 12 – very focused – and not even realizing in his own mind that he was so young at the time.”

Now that he’s obviously nailed the audition, if you need a nod off from Metallica, Tye could just step in, right?

“Yeah. You know, the funny thing with him is that he’s not into that whole thing where it’s like riding on anyone’s coattail – he wants to do it all. Like, he had the opportunity with another band, his band was offered to open for Foo Fighters.

“They were mainly doing covers, but he was, like, ‘We don’t deserve to do this. We don’t have an album now, we’ve only got only four originals.’

“And I thought that was really amazing, at his age, for him to say that. Most kids would be, like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ But that particular band split up and his main focus was to step back and to work up an album of material and keep writing and recording original music, and also play backyard parties, house parties.”

Download Festival was just wrapped up in Australia. It featured Slayer on their final tour, as well as Anthrax. As far as the Big Four, is that it, is the big four finally coming to an end because of the Slayer wrapping things up?

“To be honest, I haven’t heard any conversations about the Big Four. We love Slayer, I love Slayer, and Anthrax is amazing and that was great what we did a few years back, but I haven’t heard any conversations about that.

“I mean, obviously, we’re still in the middle of our tour, and I’m not sure what they’re doing. I know Slayer’s definitely on their final tour. I’m not even sure Slayer’s up for that.

“It’s a weird question because it hasn’t been talked about or discussed because everybody is kinda in the middle of their stuff right now.

“I can say it was an incredible experience and we all had a blast, it was something that no one thought could be done and then it happened, it was a beautiful thing.”

When a big band like Metallica brings on this supporting act, sometimes they can be an emerging act or a band with a bit of buzz. Slipknot [with whom Metallica is set to tour Australia later this year] are one of the biggest bands in their own right, and they’ll be bringing out the brand new album. Who was the one to make the call to bring Slipknot on this tour?

Well, usually that decision – a lot of these decisions we make collectively. I don’t know, they’re friends, I think it’s great… You know, Corey actually rented my house in Venice Beach during recording – I think was the last album a few years back, not this one, but the one before that.

“So I have a fond place in my heart for him, he’s always been good to me, he’s been great to my family, so to have him on the bill with us is exciting to me.

“We haven’t played a show with Slipknot for a long time, so this is going to be cool, it’s going to be kind of like family vacation.