Quotes from Robert Trujillo

I play in Metallica, and I have fun in Metallica. I tell you, I am the luckiest man on the planet because we have a good time and we're happy. When we put on our guitars, we're teenagers again, and that's where the fun comes in.

Lars Ulrich is not a jazz drummer, but he grew up listening to jazz. Why? Because his father, Torben - an incredible tennis player - loved jazz. Jazz musicians used to stay at their house.

Any band that you have, any relationship in your life, is gonna come with moments of tension.

I'm always pulling and really feeding off of my inspirations. I think most musicians do.

It's really a rush and a thrill to feel you've been part of a body of music that's inspiring.

'Some Kind of Monster' is a challenge, and 'Through the Never' is an extension of that. Even the album we made with Lou Reed, it was a challenge.

Don't make music to make money, because that's not why you should be doing it. Have fun, be creative, and embrace the past.

We just like to make great songs and have fun, and if people want to nominate us for a Grammy and celebrate it, then we'll take it.

I believe in rock and roll and heavy music in general.

It's all about the experience and having a good time and connecting with the fans.

You can make an album, and people won't get it. Or won't connect with it. Or won't - whatever is going on in the universe at that time, it doesn't really register.

My father had a friend who actually had a hollow-body bass guitar and didn't work through an amp, but because it was hollow body, I could play it. So I kind of played on that for about a year, learning scales and all that. And here I am.

James Hetfield, I mean, the minute he plugs in his guitar and adjusts the tone knob, he comes up with the world's greatest riff.

With the fretless bass, you have a different tone and different sound, a different dynamic to the instrument, so you can really make it sing.

Back in the day, being a young, inspired bass player, I started to gravitate toward jazz fusion. I almost would have called myself an elitist. I got to the point where, for a little bit there, I was more interested in instrumental music.

'Mama I'm Coming Home' is one song that I think is incredible. One of his best songs ever written. Lemmy wrote the lyrics to that.

Jaco Pastorius gave the bass a new voice. I mean, he was very inspired by singers like Frank Sinatra. And in a lot of ways, maybe he wanted to be a singer himself.

There is a lot of energy between Lars and James, and sometimes that energy can erupt. I know that before I was in the band, Kirk was the guy who was often in the middle, and it was important at that time. And now I feel like sometimes I'm the guy that's in the middle between not just James and Lars, but even Kirk.

'Frayed Ends Of Sanity' off the 'Justice' album is a song that I really wanted to play with the band, and for years and years, I was always like, 'Let's play this song!' But I'll tell you something: I started working on that song almost from the very first time I joined the band.

I think Slayer is a funky band.

The cool thing about the smaller gigs - it's the intimacy. You really feel connected to the crowd.

I've played with the best drummers in rock, ranging from Josh Freese to Brooks Wackerman to even Dave Lombardo.

Sometimes artists die young, and we don't know exactly why. I think that, in life, you have these special individuals, whether it's Jimi Hendrix or Janis Joplin or Kurt Cobain. They're on this journey - they're on this earth to change things, to make things incredible - and then they're not with us anymore.

For me, the most important thing that I tell young people is to have fun.