METALLICA Bassist: There Is A Certain Quality To 'Death Magnetic' That We Are Really Proud Of

Matthew Priest of What's On magazine recently conducted an interview with METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

What's On: METALLICA have been going for more than 30 years. Where does the motivation come from?

Trujillo: As clichéd as it sounds. It's the music — or maybe just music in general. When we're back home and we strap on the guitars, it just works. At the moment, we're in the middle of writing a new album and, if anything, the problem is that we write too many riffs. That proves that there is a lot of music still in us.

What's On: What do you guys do when you're not rocking?

Trujillo: We're all pretty different. Kirk [Hammett, guitar] and I love to get our surf on. We love going to new places, finding where the local waves are and go and surf them. Lars [Ulrich, drums] loves to do a bit of scuba diving, while James [Hetfield, guitar/vocals] is bit more cultured; he prefers to take in the city a bit more and get a feel of the surroundings and the vibe of places like South Africa or Japan.

What's On: How's the new album coming along?

Trujillo: Well, we can't really say much, because it's still being written, but we've been listening to our last album, "Death Magnetic", a lot, which is inspiring the arrangements we are currently writing. There is a certain quality to that album that we are really proud of and we want to maintain a certain standard. Is the new album going to sound like "Death Magnetic"? Probably not, but there will still be those signature METALLICA grooves and thrash elemenls.

What's On: [Is] the secret to your longevity adapting?

Trujillo: Yeah, it is. We've had to change our lifestyles to adapt to getting older. We still want to have the energy to perform as we did, 'cause the last thing we're going to give you is a half-assed METALLICA show – that's just not going to happen. The other day, I was surfing in Australia with around 30 local guys and there was one guy who was around 60. I looked at him and thought that's kind of cool that this old guy is surfing. But then I realized that I was the second oldest guy out there! There I was, nearly 50 years old, surfing with these kids, playing at these rock shows. I have a lot to be thankful for. Life is pretty good.

Read the entire interview from What's On magazine.