Robert Trujillo Thinks Zakk Wylde Can Be a Little High-Strung Sometimes

Creative people can be volatile by nature, and squeezing a bunch of them together into a band can often produce combustible results. Bass player Robert Trujillo, who served time with Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne before settling into his current gig with Metallica, decided early on that he'd play the peacekeeper role that's crucial to keeping any group together over the long haul.

In a conversation with IndiePower (which you can watch above), Trujillo credited his non-confrontational style to lessons learned while growing up with this father, and noted that it's come in handy repeatedly over his years in the rock 'n' roll trenches.

"In my band situations, I was always very careful how not to cross certain members," he said. "Because band members can fly off the handle, especially in the situation that some of them were in, whether it was drug issues, drinking, whatever it was. There was a lot of stuff going down, and you had to be cool."

Trujillo specifically namechecked guitarist Zakk Wylde, with whom he served in Osbourne's band before chipping in for some work with Wylde's band Black Label Society. "I mean, someone like Zakk, he would snap," he continued. "He would kind of switch right in front of your eyes. So you always had to be careful with these people."

It definitely didn't hurt that Trujillo avoided succumbing to substance abuse. "I was fortunate to not get wrapped up too hard in anything that was too dangerous. Because it was all out there," he pointed out. "In the late '80s and in the '90s, it was all happening. And, for some reason -- maybe it was my mom or something -- but I was able to kind of power my way through it, but still enjoy the music and the positive side of being creative with a lot of these wonderful musicians."

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