Quotes from Robert Trujillo

We used to go to Palm Springs, ditch school when I was in eleventh grade, and go hang out poolside with our ghetto blaster and listen to Pat Metheny 'Offramp' and kind of trip out on a lot of his music.

As long as there is communication, everything can be solved.

I always say my role in Metallica is to support the song and to support my team, and whatever that means, I'm there for it.

With Metallica, it's hard. I tend to like it all, but the older stuff, when we get into the deeper cuts, it really excites me personally.

My first gig with Metallica was at San Quentin State Penitentiary.

It's very important to us, family, and the balance of family within the band is probably the most important. Metallica is important, but when you have your wife and your kids, and you need to maintain that and keep the peace, it's important to work around the schedule of the kids' schools.

What we're doing is special and unique in its own way but still keeping it heavy. For me as a listener, part of the journey I'm on with Metallica, there's just a certain edge that needs to be there.

One thing about being in Metallica is I've always felt challenged.

When Lars said, 'We want you to be in Metallica,' I was blown away.

In a lot of ways, Metallica is like a fusion band. It's not necessarily jazz or any of that, but the music is grooving.

Writing a Metallica song is a journey and a process, and it takes time, but that's what's special about it.

I always say, 'Hey, I'm in Metallica, but I wasn't on the Black Album.'

We absolutely cherish our kids. But the fact that we all have them - it's definitely created an additional bond. It's not just Metallica - it's our families. And we also have Metallica.

You just go out and do the best that you can. I think people feel that, and they embrace it, and it's a part of what makes Metallica special.

I think every Metallica album is unique in its own way.

There were a lot of different styles in the house - Motown, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, jazz - and my dad played flamenco guitar. Soon I realized that bass was what was really grooving me.

You listen to a Metallica song, and you listen to the drums, and they're not necessarily swinging, but the arrangements are different. Why is that? Because it's more in tune with jazz arrangements. It's very different. It's not a traditional rock and roll production, in terms of the drums.

I've been friends with Jaco Pastorius's son since 1996 - Johnny Pastorius, the eldest son. And I remember when I first met him, I said, 'Some day, you've gotta make a film about your father,' because his influence is so broad.

The great thing about Metallica's music and the lyrics, it's always going to be hopefully a motivating experience.

Sabbath is always some of the best music ever. And the reason is because it grooves. It's funky. It's heavy. It's got lots of great changes, twists, and turns.

To have the opportunity to bring 'Tallica Parking Lot' to life through images was really special. And also to have a lot of my heroes and my friends in the film was really, really special. People like Lemmy from Motorhead.

I feel that music is such an inspirational form of energy, as baseball is. And especially with Metallica, believe it or not, our shows are very physical. Sports is a very physical thing, too.

You want your fanbase and new fans too, to embrace the music, the new music.

The first album I ever bought was Santana's 'Abraxas.' Obviously, I was a huge fan of Carlos because he had the unique guitar sound, and he had incorporated a lot of the percussion and really, really fun rhythmic bass lines in there, too.