“My wife brought the phone out and thought it was a prank call from Maynard from Tool! Nope – it was actually Lars!”: This is what it’s like to audition for Metallica –and not get the job

Metallica and Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder posing for photographs.

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).