Korn’s Fieldy Talks How He Feels About Being Replaced By 12-Year-Old Son of Metallica’s Rob Trujillo & What His Bandmates Said About Tye

“He didn’t even hit puberty yet,” the bassist commented.

During an appearance on Offstage With DWP, Korn bassist Fieldy talked about Tye Trujillo filling in for him in the band for a string of live shows in 2017.

Tye is the son of Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo. At the time, he was 12 years old.

You can check out the latest Korn record “The Nothing” here via Amazon.

Fieldy said about Tye (transcribed by UG):

“I’ve been following him for a while, actually, and he filled in for me when he was 12 years old. He has posted a video recently, and his dad plays these little pads, and pit bulls running around…

“It’s Tye Trujillo and his dad from Metallica. And Tye is playing – and now he’s a little older.

“When he jumped in, he was 12 – he didn’t even hit puberty yet. Now he has hit puberty, he looks like a little man – when he plays his bass he just lays back on the couch and plays it.

“And I go, ‘Look how good this dude is.’ But not only good, but he also has the attitude, he has the movement, he has the comfortableness, he has what it takes of all the combination to become a rock star.

“In my opinion, that kid is effortless. He’s a born bass player rock star.”

And for those who don’t know, he’s the one who replaced you for a handful of your gigs for Korn, in 2017 or something?

“Yeah, he was 12 at the time too. It was just crazy because he was so young.

“But now, even if I had to have another replacement – anything can happen these days. We’re 50; someone can get sick, and we don’t cancel anything, we don’t call into work, we crawl into work!

“If someone is filling in for somebody, it’s serious. Recently, we were talking about something I was about to miss, and I didn’t have to miss it, but who was gonna fill in – and they go, ‘Tye was just a novelty.’

“That’s why I’m always keeping the guys up to date and go, ‘If I’m ever to miss a gig – he’s older now. He looks like a little man now, so it’s not like a little gag anymore. He’s actually a dope little rock star that has a full package deal of everything it takes.’

“He’s definitely one of my favorites that I’ve seen in a young that has a whole-package deal. You can’t just sit there and shred and be a shredding bass player. It takes a little more than that.”

Yeah, it’s him, and Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. That’s another baller too.

“Oh, yeah!”

Rob previously told KFMX about his son’s involvement with Korn (transcribed by UG):

“I’m blown away, he did it all on his own!

“We ran into Jonathan [Davis, vocals] and Fieldy on our way to Minneapolis to play a Metallica show. Fieldy was like, ‘Wow, I’m a fan of your son’s work, I follow him on Instagram!’

“They met for the first time, he pulled me aside and said, ‘Hey, I can’t do these shows in South America. I’m seriously thinking it would be cool to check out your son. Maybe he’d be into going.’

“I didn’t really believe him, but he sent the setlist, and then a few months went by and he contacted me again.

“I asked Tye and said, ‘If you wanna do this, you can try out.’ I looked into my schedule, and [the Korn dates were] the month which I was actually off, which is crazy, ’cause we’re touring now.

“I was like, ‘Whoa! OK, maybe this is meant to be.’

“What impressed me about him was – he was playing a five-string for those gigs, he doesn’t normally play a five-string.

“He was also doing a lot of slap technique, which is another thing he can do but it’s not his main thing.

“He really transformed into another type of player to play this gig.

“I told him, ‘You’ll be hired as a professional. You gotta stay on your game.’ And he did; every day, he practiced the set.

“But it’s always uncharted territory with a 12-year-old! It’s like, what’s gonna happen when we go down to South America? You get nervous, is he gonna freeze up – hit a bad note and all of a sudden not wanna play?

“If he gets sick – oh my god, that’s really the worst thing! ‘Cause, it happens.

“But he powered through on all aspects. His performance, physically, was incredible! I couldn’t believe… ’cause they’re a physical band, a lot of headbanging, and this kid was just on fire!

“He took it to another level by the end of those two weeks.

“He was playing with [Korn drummer] Ray Luzier – he was always one of the top guys. Tye was very blessed and honored.

“He’s got other things coming up too now, that are gonna be pretty incredible. So his door is starting to open.

“We’re all happy for him, he’s doing his thing and he’s doing it on his own. I’m there when I can be to help, I talked to him last night.

“The beauty of it is – he picked up the instrument on his own. He’s really motivated and really focusing on songwriting right now.”

Check out the latest Korn record “The Nothing” here via Amazon.As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.