The phrase ‘rock royalty’ is bandied around a lot these days, but it’s fair to say a group which has sold more than 100 million albums deserves a certain amount of respect. But Metallica’s reputation doesn’t matter to the camels of Abu Dhabi. On the band’s last visit to the nation’s capital in 2011, guitarist Kirk Hammett was firmly put in his place by one of our ships of the desert.
‘On our last trip we went into the desert on camels,’ says the band’s bass player Robert Trujillo. ‘Kirk’s threw him off and he went flying into the sand. We had a great time, we went out to the sand dunes and drove around in these crazy buggies.’
Just a year and a half after they last performed on Yas at the Du Arena, James Hetfield, Kirk, Lars Ulrich and Robert are back to rock the city again on April 19. It’s a gig the band is relishing, Robert tells TOAD.
‘The crowd was pretty diverse with a lot of different types of people,’ he says. ‘To discover a fanbase so passionate over there was incredible. It’s one of those things; you don’t realise how far the music reaches and that’s why we’re back. Being able to go to Abu Dhabi to play a one-off show is pretty exciting. You get to travel to really fun, interesting places in this job and we had a great time. It’s always an incredible experience when you can go into new territories and new cultures, and embrace the local music and food; it’s very, very cool.’
Robert’s visit to Abu Dhabi is a business trip in more ways than one. Not only will he be smashing out hits such as ‘Enter Sandman’ and ‘Master Of Puppets’, he’ll be getting involved with the fashion industry. ‘A lot of times when we’re on tour we’ll bring our families with us,’ he says. ‘My wife is coming this time, she’s into fashion and design and she’s got some meetings set up. I’ll be going on some of those, I bet.’
Fans who are heading to the Du Arena won’t get to hear any new tracks just yet, but Robert hints they might include a few old ones they’ve never performed before. ‘We’ve learned more material this time round that has been never played,’ he says. ‘We’ll be able to break out new jams and we’ve worked up a couple of the instrumentals like ‘Orion’.’
There’s much anticipation regarding a follow-up to 2008’s Death Magnetic, an album which captured the spirit of the band’s early music, although the legions of loyal fans are going to have to wait just that little bit longer. ‘We’ve started to tap into some new ideas the past couple of months. We’ve been getting together on a regular basis, we’re nurturing many riffs, but we’re a long way away. This process takes a while,’ smiles Robert. ‘Our problem is we often have too many ideas, it’s a good problem to have. [James] Hetfield has about 1,000 riffs just by himself. I’m very excited because I feel like what we have growing right now is a step further: it feels like Death Magnetic was the launch pad and this will take it to another level. It won’t come out this year, but we’ll continue with the writing process.’
Robert, of course, is a relative newcomer to the band. Previously in thrash group Suicidal Tendencies and funk metal outfit Infectious Grooves, he took the place of former bass player Jason Newsted at the start of 2003. His initiation was a unique one: he became part of a documentary, Some Kind of Monster, which the group were filming at the time and even his audition was part of the film. The no-holds-barred look at life in one of the biggest rock acts on the planet meant Robert quickly realised life in Metallica wasn’t going to be an easy ride. ‘I was told as I was driving to my audition there’d be a film crew and did I mind. I had experience of that with The Osbournes TV show so I just rolled with it. It was a whirlwind. It was like being thrown into a washing machine. I had 22 years of back catalogue to learn as well as the St Anger songs. There were a lot of challenges. My first gig was at San Quentin [state prison]. It was frightening. I felt like I was in the way. There were people with shotguns all around us. But you just throw yourself in the water. Lars said to me, “jump on the train as it’s taking off quick”.’
It’s not the first time Robert’s jumped on the fast train: he also worked with notorious hellraiser Ozzy Osbourne between 2001 and 2002. ‘It was a great time. I’d played Black Sabbath songs since I was 16. The second show I did with him, magic filled the arena. We played super tight. We were playing ‘Iron Man’ and I felt giddy – I was performing with my hero,’ he smiles. Although working with one of rock’s greatest legends wasn’t always easy. ‘It could be a challenge. Sometimes he’d not show up for a writing session. He wasn’t in a good way, although he was good at hiding it. But my goals were to tour and write with Ozzy.’
Ten years later and Robert is now an established member of Metallica. ‘I feel blessed. You can never take things for granted. It’s not a walk in the park, you’ve got to put in your time,’ adds Robert, who says he has many highlights from his time in the band. ‘During the recording of Death Magnetic, we learned all of Master of Puppets top to bottom. And then we did an anniversary tour for it in Europe: that was special because it’s one of my favourite albums of all time. A lot of that stuff hadn’t been performed in years. ‘Orion’ had never been performed. The 30th anniversary show at Fillmore [California, USA] was special as well. We’ve also jammed with Lemmy from Motörhead, that was really special.’
Metallica also starred in an episode of The Simpsons, another special moment for animation-enthusiast Robert. ‘It was fun, we were just playing, we didn’t get to speak, it was very different. I love animation so that was the coolest thing for me. I studied animation at UCLA 20 years ago. My dream would be to do a feature film, compose it and animate it.’
For now, though, his focus is on touring with the group, but he’s still got time for a bit of downtime with bandmate Kirk. ‘I love surfing, so I go whenever I get a chance. Kirk and I were on a surfing expedition in Australia recently. We’ve got a lot of friends there who take us out, some of them are ex-pros. That’s my hobby at home. I have my moments when I do something special and other times I’ll just eat it. I’m inconsistent, let’s say that’
One thing that isn’t inconsistent any more is Metallica, and Robert thinks the crowd in Abu Dhabi can expect to see a different band to the one he joined all those years ago. ‘We are much more focused. We are ten years older now, so we need to be physically ready and take care of ourselves.’ And the good news for metal fans in the capital? He doesn’t think it’ll be the metaller’s last visit. ‘[Now] we can go back more and more and we’ll probably be back on the next tour for the new album.’
We’ll hold you to that, Robert.
Metallica play the Du Arena on April 19, general admission ticket prices are Dhs295, www.thinkflash.ae (800 FLASH (35274)).
