bassist Eric Avery has reflected on the time he auditioned to join . Avery, 59, tried to join the heavy metal superstars in 2003, following the exit of longtime bass player Jason Newsted in 2001. He was ultimately unsuccessful, with the role going to Robert Trujillo, who still mans the low end in the band to this day.
However, in , Avery suggests he never thought he’d get the job. “I was basically looking for a story to tell the grandkids,” he says. He adds that his biggest champion was fellow famed alt-rock bass player Flea, from the .
“It was Flea who first planted the idea that I might actually get the gig. I was talking to him a few days before I went to audition, and he was like, ‘Well, why wouldn’t you get the gig?’ I said, ‘I'm not that guy. I’m not Metallica’s new bass player.
’ “Flea was like, ‘Why not? They write rad music, and you're a great bassist.’ Up to then, I hadn’t really even considered it. I was just looking at it as a chance to go play with Metallica for an afternoon.
” Moving on to the audition itself, Avery says he was shocked by how grassroots and garage rock the atmosphere was. “They flew me up and gave me the red-carpet treatment, which was really charming. When we started playing, I was shocked that it was just guys with amps facing each other as if we were in a garage.
It was like hearing Metallica as if they were playing in their garage and we were all 20. We played through , and . It was a lot of fun.
” Footage of.