How Lars Ulrich’s late-night drinks almost cost Robert Trujillo his Metallica audition

Robert Trujillo is Metallica's current bassist who has been an important part of the metal band since he joined in 2003. He replaced Metallica's longtime bassist Jason Newsted to become the fourth person to take on the role.

However, his audition for the band was almost in jeopardy after a late-night drinking session with Danish musician and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.

Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo reveals the story behind his audition

Robert Trujillo has been Metallica's trusted bassist for more than two decades. In the Beneath the Bassline documentary, he recalled the night before his two-day audition for the band back in 2003.

"It was a two-day audition, but the first day was more fly-on-the-wall. Bob Rock had already recorded bass guitar and he was also producing St Anger, so I’m just there at the studio watching guitar tracks go down", he began.

Talking about the moment things could have taken a bad turn, Robert said, "The evening rolls around and Lars [Ulrich] says, 'Hey, let’s go get a drink.' I could hold my own with a few beers, but we end up drinking until 5 in the morning. I wake up with the worst hangover of my life, and now I’ve got to play with Metallica."

The Metallica bassist added, "James is sober. He’s gone through rehab. So I decided I would connect with my bass tech and decide what bass I was going to use, and what amp. What I was really trying to do was get away from Hetfield because I didn’t want him to smell the alcohol on me. Lars was probably just testing me to see how much I could handle, but I just felt like a loser."

Things turned out well for Robert, despite the temporary scare and chaos and he was announced as the official bassist of the metal band three months after the auditions.

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