In 2001, Metallica began their search for a replacement for bassist Jason Newsted, who had quit the band at the start of sessions for the album that would become St Anger.
Over the ensuing months, the band auditioned a series of replacements. The job would eventually go to Rob Trujillo, though not before they tried out Les Claypool of Primus, Corrosion Of Conformity’s Pepper Keenan and ex-Jane’s Addiction man Eric Avery, among others (a process captured in the 2004 documentary Some Kind Of Monster).
One musician who also tried out was Scott Reeder, former bassist with stoner rock trailblazers Kyuss. Speaking to Metal Hammer in 2022, Reeder looked back on the process of auditioning for Metallica – and how it felt to miss out on becoming a member of the world’s biggest metal band.
“At some point after Jason was out, Lars [Ulrich] was hanging out with my old [Kyuss] bandmate, Josh Homme, and asked him who he thought should be the new bassist for Metallica,” Reeder recalled. “Josh pointed him my way.”
Kyuss had supported Metallica in 1993, so they were famiiiar with Reeder’s style. He was working outside on his ranch when he got a phone call from Lars.
“My wife brought the phone out and thought it was a prank call from Maynard from Tool! Nope – it was actually Lars!” laughed Reeder.
A couple of weeks later, Metallica flew the bassist up to their San Francisco HQ, where they were working on St Anger.
“We sat around a table and talked for a while, and finally James said, ‘Well, let’s fuckin’ play!’” recalled Reeder. “They had me call ’em out – we did Fuel, Creeping Death, Master Of Puppets, Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven, Fade To Black…”
Reeder happened to be in town for in the run-up to Christmas, and he was invited to the band’s Christmas Party (“They took over a bowling alley and raged!”). But the following day, the band returned to work on St Anger overdubs.
“There was a certain song for which James [Hetfield] asked us all for lyrical input,” said Reeder. “Everyone wandered off and scribbled down whatever lines or phrases came to mind. After a while we got together and presented it all to James. He gathered his thoughts, and cut his vocals right next to me on the couch in the control room! That was pretty crazy.”
It would be a few weeks after that memorable audition that Reeder heard whether he’d got the job or not.
“The three guys called me together to let me off the hook,” he remembered. ‘They hadn’t made their final decision yet – I suspect that they were clear that Rob [Trujillo, the man who finally got the job] was their frontrunner.
“Around a half hour after that call, I got a call from James, just making sure I was alright. I told him I was stoked to have even been considered! I said, ‘This was like the Metal Olympics or something, and I got the silver medal – it’s all good!’”
Reeder briefly had a ringside seat for the making of the most controversial album of Metallica’s career, and got to hear some of it while he was in San Francisco.
“They played me some of it when I was up there,” he said. “I thought Lars was pulling my leg about the snare sound for a minute, but he was pretty excited about it; if there’s one thing I learned from my time in Kyuss, it’s that there are no rules!”
While Reeder acknowledge that it was “the one [Metallica] album that I don’t own”, he clearly bore no grudge at not getting the gig, and had nothing but praise for the man who eventually did.
“He brought some fierce, old-school energy and well-rounded chops for days,” he said of Rob Trujillo. “I have huge respect for that guy, and it took some balls to take that gig and make it his own.”
