Rob Trujillo

 

 

Born Roberto Agustin Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz on the 23rd of October 1964, Rob Trujillo attained notoriety as a skilled bass player for the likes of such artists as Suicidal Tendencies, Ozzy Osbourne, Infectious Grooves, and Black Label Society before he was offered the chance to replace former Metallic bassist Jason Newsted in the year 2003. Trujillo’s audition and subsequent “signing on” with Metallica was captured in the documentary film Some Kind of Monster. Upon being offered the gig, Trujillo was given a one million dollar advance for joining the band.

Trujillo was born in Santa Monica, California, and grew up in the town of Culver City, where his dad taught at a local high school. It was in the year 1989 that Trujillo was asked to join the Californian punk band Suicidal Tendencies, replacing the band’s former bass player Bob Heathcote. Trujillo has been credited with adding a definitive strain of funk to the Suicidal Tendencies’ sound, as well as turning on Mike Muir, the band’s leader, to funk music in general. Eventually, Trujillo and Muir would form a side project, Infectious Grooves, to highlight their interest in funk.

In the latter half of the 1990s, Trujillo was asked to join Ozzy Osbourne’s band. He unwittingly became the subject of much controversy after he re-recorded the bass lines on Osbourne’s 1980s albums Diary of a Madman and Blizzard of Oz. This came about because the bassist on that album, Bob Daisley, threatened legal action after accusing Ozzy of not paying him proper royalties. The reason why the public complained is because there was no sticker put on the subsequent CDs that Trujillo played on to alert them that they were not buying an original recording.

Trujillo is known for playing a five string bass with his fingers, rather than a pick.