All language subtitles for Geddy Lee Asks Ep 02 Robert Trujillo - English Subtitles

- Hey!

- Olé!
(Rob chuckles)

- We don't need no stinking
guitar players.
- We don't.

(theme song)

(Geddy): I'm Geddy Lee.

Bass player in the band Rush
for almost five decades.

But also, a bird photographer,

a wine collector, baseball
aficionado, you know, a nerd!

Which got me wondering whether
my fellow bass folk are more

than just the shadowy figures

we see skulking
around the stage.

I wanna know,
"Are Bass Players Human Too?"

(goat bleating)

(heavy metal music)

Topanga Canyon, California.

Where the mountains
meet the sea.

A bohemian paradise nestled
between Los Angeles and Malibu.

For decades, artists
of every stripe have lived here,

Is that something
a TV host would say?

Beats me.
I'm just a rookie.

(director): And action!

(hands clapping)

(Geddy): I'm here to meet
Robert Trujillo,

bass player for Metallica.

I've met Rob before
in a musical context,

but I'm eager to hang with him
on a more human level.

- What's going on, man?

How you doin'?
(Geddy): You could call it
a bass players' play date.

Great to see you, man.
- Great to see you.

How you feeling today?
- I'm good.

- Good day? Yeah.
- I'm great. I'm awesome.

Look at this place.
- Yeah.

- It just blows
my mind on entry.

Rob's wild Spanish-style home
is really something to see.

- We're actually gonna go
through the kitchen.

- How did this rocker land
in such a magical place?

(crowd cheering)

- On the bass guitar,
my friend, Roberto!

(Geddy): Rob grew up a few miles
away in Santa Monica.

As a kid, he was an avid
skateboarder and surfer,

and he still is.

In the 80s, you may have
seen him in the crossover

thrash band Suicidal Tendencies.

- Mr. Robert Trujillo!

(Geddy): And he spent much of
the 90s playing bass with Ozzy!

(* For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Metallica)

But in the early 2000s,
he landed metal's
most coveted gig.

- We want you to be
a real member of this band,

not just a hired hand.
- Right. Right, absolutely.

- And um...
(Rob): Oh, wow.

- ...we'd like to offer you,
just to show you how serious
we are about this,

offer you $1,000,000.

(Geddy): Talk about
a life-changing moment.

For the past 20 years,
he's been travelling the world

with Metallica, metal's
all-time monster band.

(Robert beatboxing)

On stage, he's a beast.

(James shouts indistinctly)

(Geddy): But is he human, too?

(birds chirping)

- We've got pineapples, piña.

And bananas.
You know, crystals.

Chloé loves crystals,
so you're gonna see a lot of
crystals in the house.

(Geddy): Rob lives in
this wonderland

with his wife, Chloé.

Why, thank you very much.

Keep talking, keep talking.
(Chloé): Yeah!

(Geddy): His daughter Lola,
and his son, Ty,

a monster bassist
in his own right.

- Awesome.
- There ya go.

- There ya go. Thank you.
- My pleasure.

- Stoked!

(Geddy): Let's see
the rest of the house.

First up on our play date is
the tour of their home.

It's kinda like MTV Cribs,
but for bass players.

That's really
a feast for the eyes.

- Yeah.

This is our library.

Um, of course, there's an amp
in almost every room

and at least three basses.

We've got five strings,

we've got the Music Man
Saber bass.

And the good old
T-Bird right here.

(Geddy): Mm-hmm.

- We're entering what
I call the great room.

We've got an upright bass here.
(bass plucks)

So, this area, this is, uh,
temporary right now.

During the pandemic,
this was my zone

where I was able to unleash
new grooves, new song ideas.

A lot of the new Metallica
stuff that we were working on,

that happened here. You've got
the surf report right here.

(laughs)

Not the Pro Tools session
right now.

- It looks like
a Pro Tools session.
- You know? Yeah.

- Different kind of waves.

Your first introduction
to bass,

what was the song,
what was the sound?

What made you wanna be
a bass player?

- Let's go way back
to hearing Motown bass lines,

James Brown songs.
- Mm-hmm.

- All of that bass somehow
resonated with me.

I felt that.

And then, my first concert
was The Isley Brothers,

an amazing funk rock band.

And I remember everybody
being on their feet

and they were all
rocking out and dancing.

And what I did take
from that was

hey, this music is really
driven by the rhythm section,

the drums and the bass.
It was all about the groove.

And that was the first time
that I realized that

that's what I wanted to do.

- Now, do you find
every time you pick up

a different instrument,
it makes you play a tiny,
little bit differently?

- Absolutely, yeah.

- And might inspire a different
kind of creative spark?

- This eight string is great
'cause of the chordal movements.

It's a writing machine,
you know.

You can... yeah.

(plucking)

It's like having your guitar
player and a bass player

in the palm of your hands.

- Yeah, yeah.

(**)

(waves crashing)

(calm ethereal music)

(Geddy): Yup, from sound waves
to real waves,

Rob is taking me
to the beaches of Malibu

to share another one
of his lifelong passions.

Although, I've got to admit,

I'm kinda more into
the birdwatching.

I'm a 69-year-old Jewish man
from Canada.

(chuckles)
So, uh, I know nothing
about surfing.

- Okay.
- When you've finished a tour,

how many times a week
will you come down here?

- If the waves are good,
as much as possible.

The minute I see the Pacific
Ocean, it's already healing.

(surf rock music)

Conditioning is important
in what we do, you know.

- Absolutely.
- The shows are long.

- Yeah.
- So, it is a workout

and there's a lot of cardio
involved,

and rotating mic positions.

And surfing's obviously
great for your cardio
and your exercise,

but it's also therapeutic,
you know?

You can work out
your problems in the ocean.

It's also something that
when you're on tour,

it's a great way to kinda
experience the world.

Kirk and I, like, we've surfed
all over the world,

Australia or New Zealand,
Hawaii.

And of course, Kirk and I
actually created this friendship

and this bond before
we were even playing
in Metallica together.

- Oh, really?
- He surfed, I surfed,

and I think that helped
get the audition too,

was because of him, as a surfer.
(Geddy laughs)

So, thank you, surfing.

(wave rushes)

- And so, you know, when...
(laughs)

I just saw somebody
go under there.

- Right, right, right.

(playful music)
- So, obviously,

this is a death-defying sport,
in many ways.

- Oh, this is...
- The digits, man.
You gotta protect the digits.

- Yeah, man.
(Geddy laughs)

There's obviously that risk.
But with surfing,

you just kinda gotta go

with your instincts
and your abilities.

And you take your beatings
and you accept it.

(graceful orchestral music)

(Rob): Oh!

- That's awesome.
- Feels good, right?

- That's awesome.

Little Pacific on my feet.
- There you go.

(Geddy): All right, all right,
Rob's convinced me.

This city boy from
the Great White North

needs to give surfing a go.

(surf rock music)

Hey, this ain't as tough
as it looks.

I'm already getting
the hang of it.

Don't snake me, Rob!

- Geddy, you're such a Barney!

- Whoo!

(Geddy): Now, this ride
is more my style.

- Veer right, veer right.

(Geddy): This is Dogtown,
AKA Venice Beach,

Rob's stomping grounds
for much of his life.

(Rob): Cop, cop, cop.

Ooh!

(Geddy): We're headed
to the offices of "Juice,"

a skate and surf magazine that

has featured Rob's love
for boarding.

Here, we meet Dan Levy,

central figure of Dogtown's
legendary skate culture.

- Wow, this is
a whole new thing!

Between two bass players.
- Between two bass players.

Dan, can you give us
a brief history

in the culture of skating?

(Dan): Where we are right now is
just north Venice,

like right where Santa Monica
kind of starts.

So, back in the day,
there was a very famous pier

called the POP Pier, which was
Pacific Ocean Park Pier.

(heavy metal music)

That's where like, Tony Alva
and Jay Adams

and the Zephyr Team were formed.

And then, surf-skate style
and aggression was born.

You hear about the attitude
and punk rock.

Performance-based atmosphere
was all born right here.

Not to mention
the graffiti culture,

the photography, everything,
it's all here.

Like, it's like a bohemian
beach side of creativity.

(Rob): I grew up here.

As a little kid, this boardwalk
here and the energy of it,

it was very exciting
and it was a little bit scary.

You would see the Manson family

walking down the boardwalk
back in the 70s.

The Hare Krishna community
was very strong.

I mean, I loved the percussion
and everything,

but that was like,
wow, this is intense!

- First thing that drew me when
I walked in the room was this.

- This was the first skate
photo ever shot

at the Venice Park before
it was done being built.

This is Jesse Martinez who,

for Dogtown culture, is probably
one of the epitomes of it.

And this is about
6 in the morning.

I don't know, you're lucky if
you get one iconic song maybe,

or one iconic photo,
and this one, to me, is that.

And it's in focus, which is
a bonus for me, so I'm psyched.
(Rob): There you go.

(* For Whom the Bell Tolls *
by Metallica)

(Geddy): It was local skaters
that led the initiative

to build the Venice Skate Park.

It's a vital community hub

where local kids practise
their grinds, rails, and fakies,

whatever the hell those are.

I'd step on that thing

and I'd go flying
in a heartbeat.
- Same here.

Yeah.
- But you,

you do that.
- I don't ride these bowls.

Hell no.

That'd be my death wish.

- Oh, is that what
you call grinding?

- Yeah. Yeah, that's grinding.

He's the best at that.
(crowd cheers)

- He's really good.
- He switched his feet around.

- Yeah, yeah.
- He just spun his feet around.

- Yeah.
- That's insane.

(Rob): Like, watch this.

He works the whole park.

- You're amazing.
- Yeah.
- Thanks!

- Incredible.

(**)

- Oh!

- Skating kinda teaches you
humility.

- Yeah. Oh, yeah.
- Because you're gonna fall.

- Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
- And you just gotta get
back up again.

- Yeah.

Keep trying, right?

(Geddy): Oh, yeah! Right on!

(Rob): Yeah, bring it!

Bring it over here! Come on,
over here! Yeah, yeah!

- That was major, dude! Major!

(birds chirping)

(Geddy): After being wowed
by the skaters,

it's back to Casa Trujillo,

where Robert shares
the twisted tale of what

I consider to be one of the most

important instruments
on the planet.

We're sitting in
the presence of the bass.

- The Bass of Doom.
- The Bass of Doom.

Jaco Pastorius.

(* Portrait of Tracy
by Jaco Pastorius)

Jaco Pastorius, who was
the Jimi Hendrix of bass,

a unique and remarkable player

that elevated jazz bass,
funk bass,

into a whole different area.

- I saw Jaco play three times

and I've known the Pastorius
family for many, many years.

Jaco had that long hair
and he reminded me of

all the skateboarder,
surfers that I grew up with
in the neighbourhood.

- And not only was his playing
pyrotechnic,

but he had a sound
that was haunting.

Part of that beautiful tone was
down to the instrument itself,

a 1962 Fender Jazz Bass

which, according to legend,

Jaco modified by removing all of
the frets with a butter knife.

- The instrument itself has
its own personality

and its own existence.
It's been through a lot.

There's a lot of drama that's
followed this thing around.

Some people have even said,
"That bass is haunted,"
you know.

- You see old pictures
of this bass.

- You know, it doesn't
look like this.

- Right. -
It got damaged at one point

in the middle 80s.
- Yeah.

- And Jaco wanted a new
laminate put on the front.

- He did. He wanted a new,
fresh look, front and back.

But the neck is the same.
The neck is...

you can see it's been
in traction, you know.

You've got a...
- Yeah, it's damaged.

- ...a lot of damage here.

But the feel is just...
- It's just...

(bass guitar sings deeply)

- You can just do that. It's...

and it's already singing.

- There you go.

(* Portrait of Tracy
resumes)

(crowd cheers and claps)

- Nicely done.
- Chords like that.

- Yeah, yeah.
- I mean,

who does that? Who does...?

(bass sings deeply)

It's got the personality

and can only sound like that
on this instrument, you know.

It just speaks.

(**)

(Geddy): Jaco lost
the bass in 1986

and tragically died
a year later.

Rob helped the family
produce a film on Jaco's life,

and it was around that time

that the bass mysteriously
resurfaced.

(Rob): A collector had it.

The family had no idea that

the bass was even out there,
you know.

It'd been missing
for so many years.

So, there was a legal dispute

and I basically
sponsored the money

as it was very important that

the instrument gets back
to the family

and the family circle.

- His life was not
a straight line.

It was up and down
and there was some...

- Yeah.
- ...tragic moments.

- Yeah.
- And so, to see the bass back

into the family hands,
thanks to you,

I think is what I would call
a mitzvah.

You know, you've done
a good thing for the universe.

- I'm gonna hand this
over to the man.

- I'm not gonna play
any Jaco parts 'cause I can't.

(bass guitar sings deeply)

It's just a privilege
to hold this instrument.
- Yeah, it is.

(**)

(Geddy): My visit has been
such a blast

learning about
surf and skate culture

and noodling on one of
the world's great basses.

I'm not sure what
could top that.

(Rob): Hola!
(Lala): Hi.

(Rob speaking Spanish)

(Geddy): Oh, yeah, LA tacos.

They make everything better.

Lala's Kitchen.
(Rob): Yeah, Lala's Kitchen.

Local style.
- Love it.

(Lala and Rob speaking Spanish)

(Geddy): Put my stuff on.
(Rob): Your salsa.

This is deadly right here.

Cilantro, savoyas.

(Geddy): It's Saturday night
in Santa Monica.

Rob's son, Ty, has
a band of his own called OTTTO,

which has really
piqued my curiosity.

So, Ty's band is a three piece.
(Rob): They are.

Oh, yeah.
- And how would you describe
their sound?

- They've got great melodies,

heavy riffs, cool bass lines.

A lot of energy up there.

I get tired just looking at 'em.
- Right on.

- That really sucks ya
into the pit.

I mean, it's like, first song,
you know, you're...

you're 10 seconds in
and it's like, wah! Psh!

(laughs)
You can't help yourself.

So, there's a lot of fun music,
you know.

A lot of great bands.

This is local style.
This is how we do it.

- Yeah, but this feels
like community.
- Yeah.

- One thing I've really been
impressed with today is

that everywhere we went,

there was a different sense
of community.

- Mm-hmm.
- The surfing community,
the skater community.

- Mm-hmm.
- And now, this feels like

a family community gig.

All supporting
the next generation.

That's a tribute to you
and the life that you lead.

- Well...
- Very human life you lead.

- Thank you. I believe
in helping the youth,

as much as possible.

If they have a passion
for music,

for writing, acting, art,
whatever it is, you know,

creativity, us, as adults,

should help the young
generation cultivate that.

- Well, you're giving them
tools to have a creative
and happy life.

- We're doing the best we can.
- I'll say cheers with
this taco to them, man.

- Cheers with that taco.
- Yeah.

(indistinct shouting
in background)

Is that them?
- That's them.

- All right, do we gotta go.

- Yeah, let's do this.

I'm gonna go jam out.
I'll be right back!

(energetic heavy metal
music playing)

(crowd cheers)

(Geddy): What an eye-opening
trip it's been

for this Canadian snowbird.

Whether he's surfing the waves

or riding down the boardwalk,

Rob is equally at home
in all these worlds.

He's involved. He's supportive.

And that's the epitome
of a caring human.

(crowd cheers)

- Oh, he's got some
shades?? too, right?

- Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah!

Subtitling: difuze