Metallica’s Robert Trujillo recently appeared in an interview with Revolver and recalled when he was choked by one of Alex Van Halen‘s friends in Los Angeles.
Rob Trujillo started playing in party bands in his younger years without knowing that he would have the opportunity to play with some of the names he admired in the future. After gaining prominence in Suicidal Tendencies over the years, he got the chance to work with Ozzy Osbourne, one of the rockers whose songs he played in the past.
His music career evolved to a completely different point after Metallica hired him to the band as a permanent bassist in the 2000s. However, before all these happened in his career, Trujillo was just like one of his fans, and the opportunity to meet the names he described as idols was unusual for him during his earlier years.
As the bassist revealed in a recent interview, he met Alex Van Halen during the peak of his career in the ’80s, on the beach of Santa Monica on an ordinary day. He stated that when he got close to the drummer to say he was a big fan, one of his friends choked him, worrying that Trujillo would harm Halen. Alex intervened and said they loved their fans. Trujillo noted that L.A. was like a turning point for himself, and encountering Randy Rhoads was also a unique memory for him.
Rob Trujillo said the following, talking about how amazing his encounters with other musicians were:
“Yeah, that’s the kind of stuff that happens in Los Angeles. Like, you’ll run into your heroes at the oddest place. I’ve seen Alex Van Halen at the supermarket. I remember being at a teenage club back in the day, and he was driving with his friends on Santa Monica Boulevard by the beach. And I went over to him, and I was like, ‘Hey, you know, I’m a really big fan.’
And one of his friends got me into like a choke hold because he thought I was gonna attack him. Alex was cool. He was like, ‘Hey, Nah, it’s cool, man. He’s cool. He’s cool. We love our fans.’ This would’ve been like back in ’82 or ’83. So, you know, that kind of stuff happens in L.A. And running into Randy was definitely a highlight moment for me. It was brief, but it was powerful.”
As Metallica’s longest-serving bass player, Robert Trujillo was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2009. Although he initially did not expect to be a part of the band, now he continues to work hard with his bandmates to make himself and the fans happy.
