I Before E

ib4e and Robert Trujillo · May 5 to 8, 2022

One of my regrets, if I were to have any, is I didn’t tell Robert Trujillo what he meant to me.

I’ve had the absurd privilege to meet three of the bass players who had the most influence on me, and I handled each of them very differently.

When I met Rob Wasserman, he was playing with Lou’s band, and I wasn’t - yet. I ran into him backstage before a show at St. Ann’s warehouse and just blurted out “Rob Wasserman!” I’m your biggest fan! This was probably an exaggeration, but directionally correct. Rob actually released an album of solo upright bass in a time where it was like “who even does that?.” When I approached him so enthusiastically Rob just chuckled and looked vaguely uncomfortable, then after a brief exchange, as I turned away he repeated “your biggest fan …” in a slightly chiding but appreciative manner. Rob was like that. And he was such a big awkward lunk, soft spoken and shy, it didn’t feel fraught to throw some enthusiasm his way. [shower him with enthusiasm]

Much later, I met John Paul Jones at the Kyma Symposium in Busan, Korea. We ended up hitting it off and chatting a bunch over the course of several days. He told me cool stories about Led Zeppelin and I managed to convey how important he was to me. I told him about learning bass and frustratedly replaying “Communication Breakdown” over and over and over because I couldn’t get that descending lick. It’s fair to say no bass player had more influence me than JPJ, he was the one I learned from, and his lyrical style moving underneath structured guitar informed and shaped me to this day.

When I met Robert Trujillo, I was in a bit of a different spot. I had been working with Lou for a while and this record with Metallica had me tied in knots. Much like Zeppelin, Metallica had shaped me permanently. I was just the right age when And Justice For All came out. And along with Master of Puppets, I think it is widely agreed Metallica fully defined an art form. Those records are a pinnacle of innovative accomplishment.

All of that was done before they became arguably the largest touring band in history, and before Trujillo joined.

But as a bass player it wasn’t Cliff Burton who I emulated. It was Robert Trujillo, with Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves, who introduced me to the concept of slap bass in metal, and I was sold. This flashy driving bass style - shout out to Flea and Les Claypool - was firewater in my veins. I had for whatever reason chosen an instrument which played a supporting role, and these guys showed me it could sing.

So, when I met Robert Trujillo I of course … mentioned none of this. Man, I was wound tight during those recordings. It had become a pattern at that point. I don’t have a picture with Yoko Ono, with Peter Gabriel … I don’t have a picture with anyone from my time playing with Lou, because I was always trying so hard to seem cool, to seem like equals with these people. These giants.

I think I believed if I didn’t act like these were once in a lifetime moments, they wouldn’t be. This is just normal for me going forward.

I’m a giant too! I desperately claimed.

On the first day of the Metallica recording all the guys were sitting around the breakfast table and Lou says to them “this is Sarth, he is your biggest fan.” No mention that I composed this music with him, not introducing me as a collaborator. The person I am now would take that as necessary ribbing. It was strange that I was there. Lars gave me shit too. But nothing I couldn’t handle, and that’s how guys denature that elephant in the room. But at the time it felt like I was deep, deep underwater, and if I thrashed about I would certainly drown.

So I went what I call ‘full Brooklyn’ … put up all my armor and chutzpah and tried to collaborate with these men as equals … best I could.

We proceeded to walk into the studio and the very first song we recorded was ‘Cheat on Me.” Yeah. The only one where the whole thing is built around a riff that I start by playing all by myself on the Moog. With everyone staring at me. Lou Reed and Metallica. Minute one of the first day of the recording.

At the time I didn’t have the ability to raise and lower the drawbridge on command.

Which led to the ridiculous scenario where much later I’m riding in a car to go see U2 with Rob, and he’s being the friendliest dude ever. So encouraging. And he’s playing me old unreleased Infectious Grooves stuff and other cool things and I say nothing about how much it means to me. He references maybe we could jam sometime and I make reserved interest noises. I mean, this was a ride where we got stuck in traffic and had to pull over on the side of the highway and take a piss. Typical bonding stuff. He also offered to teach me how to surf.

The only walls here were put up by me.

In retrospect it makes me laugh. I don’t know who I was trying to convince. I was delighted to be there, overjoyed and basically shell shocked to be working with these people, and gave it my absolute best. That’s all I needed to do or be, and I acquitted myself with honor. And they were all welcoming, friendly, and supportive. So what exactly was the issue here?

Anyway, this song, ib4e, would never have existed if Robert Trujillo hadn’t existed. I’m not putting my playing in the same league as his, but rather identifying it as a bit of an homage. Shout out also to the Turtle Island String Quartet. Some technical notes: in the third break I do disrupt the momentum somewhat but I swear I had a purpose. The triplets might reference Marcus Miller’s assertion that any bass player who uses triplets when they shouldn’t gets a beat down. And the end of the break uses a technique called ‘tihai’… I was studying tabla at the time with Misha Masud, and this is a way a table player would signal their solo is over. You play a repeating phrase of 5 beats, 1 beat rest, 5 beats, one beat rest, 5 beats, which means that fifth beat land on the downbeat of the next measure which is the end of your solo.

Rob: it was great to meet you, great to work with you, and thanks for the inspiration when I was just learning to slap and pop.

— Sarth