Les Claypool recently looked back on disastrous audition with Metallica, and his brief, meaningful meeting with the late great Cliff Burton.
Les Claypool’s metal-moment: the audition that didn’t stick
Speaking with Rick Beato, Claypool recalled that in 1986 he’d competed in a “battle of the bands” in the San Francisco area, pitting his band Primus and Faith No More against each other. They lost, but Cliff Burton happened to be in the audience. Burton approached Claypool after the show and said he enjoyed his playing, calling him “a super nice guy.”
Months later, Claypool’s old friend Kirk Hammett phoned him and invited him to audition for Metallica. Claypool says he was unprepared for the metal scene, familiar only with his own “weirdo” world of San Francisco’s more experimental band scene. He scrambled to learn tracks from Metallica’s Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets.
“It was the first and only time I met Cliff, and he was very complimentary, a super nice guy, and he enjoyed my playing. And then a couple of months later, he was gone.”
“So I get the phone call from Kirk. And I didn’t know shit about the metal scene. We were more a part of this whole world beat scene that was going on in San Francisco with The Looters and Big City and Freaky Executives, which is where Jay Lane came from.”
“And plus, we were just these weirdo guys. Nobody knew who to put us with. But I had ‘Ride the Lightning,’ because Kirk was an old high school buddy, and he gave me one of his albums, and I used to listen to it before I’d go to work every day as a carpenter, when I’m in the shower, cranking them, getting me going.”
“But I didn’t know much about the scene, much about their music. So I had to learn ‘Ride the Lightning.’ You know, some of the stuff off of ‘Ride the Lightning’ and ‘Master of Puppets.'”
On the audition day he turned up feeling underdressed and out of place: mismatched tennis shoes, baggy chinos, a newsboy cap, his driftwood-looking bass in hand, walking into a hallway where the set-up already made him nervous. He jammed with the band using Cliff’s rig. During the jam, Hammett kept telling him, “You’re too loud. You’re too loud.”
Then came the clincher: a try-out on For Whom the Bell Tolls. Claypool says he waited for a bass intro that he thought was his, only to realise that it was Cliff’s bass part and that he’d mis-read his role. When James Hetfield stepped in and played the intro himself, Claypool knew he’d blown his shot.
“And as I’m learning, I was like, ‘Holy shit! This is pretty amazing stuff,’ because it was very intricate compared to all the stuff we had been doing at the time, which was more like Public Image Ltd type stuff. But I had no idea how popular they were.”
“And I went to do the audition, and I’m wearing, like, two different colored tennis shoes, some baggy Chino pants, and I had a newsboy cap on and a half a mohawk. And I come walking in with my bass that looks like a hunk of driftwood. And I had to go down this hallway. And they’re like, ‘Okay, so don’t be nervous around the guys.'”
“And I’m just like, ‘Well, I wasn’t nervous until you made me nervous with the setting up for the meeting,’ because, like I said, I didn’t realize how big they were. And then I meet everybody, and we start jamming, and I’m playing through Cliff’s rig, actually. And I just remember, we’re playing, and Kirk’s looking over at me, and he’s going, ‘You’re too loud. You’re too loud,’ so I had to turn down. I’m like, ‘Okay.'”
“And then we did the clincher. It’s like, ‘Okay, let’s do ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay.’ I’m standing there, and I’m waiting for the intro. I’m waiting to be able to go [imitates bass part]. I thought that was my part. I didn’t know that [bass intro] was bass. And so James just kind of looks at me and shakes his head and plays the part, and we played it, and I didn’t get the gig.”
While the audition didn’t work out, Claypool says the experience gave him a vivid view of the level of craftsmanship in Metallica’s music and a story he still finds astonishing in hindsight.
“But I was very excited by the notion of, ‘Wow, if I get this gig, I can quit my carpentry job and I get to go to Japan,’ because I think that was one of the first things they were doing – heading to Japan. But it was not to be.”
While speaking to Alternative NationMegadeth’s David Ellefson said he recorded a song for the new Metallica tribute album No Life ’til Leather: A Tribute to Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All, released by Silver Lining Music. He was asked to play “(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth” as a way to honor Cliff Burton. Ellefson said the song is special and usually left alone, like Eddie Van Halen’s “Eruption,” because it’s too iconic to touch. That’s why he felt proud and thankful to be chosen to record it.
He also said that Cliff was a little older and that Metallica started before Megadeth, but both bands grew up in the same music scene. Ellefson called Megadeth the “younger brother” of Metallica and said doing the tribute felt like being part of a family paying respect to their fallen friend.
Silver Lining Music has this new Metallica tribute record coming out, called No Life ’til Leather: A Tribute to Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All, where I recorded an homage to Cliff Burton. They asked me to record “(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth,” which is, to me, a coveted piece of material that, up until I recorded it, in my opinion, it was pretty much “off limits.” It’s just not something you go to, y’know? Like, nobody goes and re-records “Eruption” by Eddie Van Halen and puts it on an album. It’s forbidden, it’s sacred, hallowed ground. So, I’m really honored that they asked me to do it. For me, it’s an esteemed brotherhood to our fallen hero, Cliff Burton.
Because Cliff was a little older than me. Obviously, Metallica was established a couple years ahead of Megadeth, but at the same time, we kind of grew up together. [Megadeth] were the younger brother of Metallica. [Laughs] Yet, we’re all a branch off the family tree to a certain degree. So, I was very honored that they that they asked me to do that.
While speaking to 107.7 The Bone, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said that Metallica’s main goal has always been about community and connection, not being above anyone else.
He explained that the band members are still fans at heart when he looks at people in the front row, he sees himself. Ulrich said that Metallica’s real aim is to erase the barrier between the band and the audience so everyone can share the same experience together.
“I guess the first thought that comes to mind is because we are fans… that will always be part of who we are. When I see these guys out in the front row, that was me and still is me,” Ulrich said. “Ultimately, if there’s anything Metallica strives for, it’s to break down that barricade between a band and an audience and have us all share an experience together.”
