Tye Trujillo, the 12-year-old son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo, took the stage for the first time with Korn the Monday night (April 17) in Bogota, Colombia, and now his father has revealed the backstory of how his pint-sized offspring ended up following in his footsteps and picking up the same instrument.

“I never forced him on music," Trujillo tells Brazil's GloboPlay. "I always felt that if he wanted to embrace an instrument, great; I’d try to help him with it. So initially, at first, it was drums. And then around that same time, when he was one, he had a little plastic guitar, and he would play it all the time, just strumming it — always strumming it everywhere, to the point where the plastic was worn down."

“It’s a beautiful thing, ’cause he’s still a 12-year-old," he continues, "And he still acts wild and crazy, as a twelve-year-old should, but when it comes to music, he’s very focused. And with Korn, it’s funny, because I haven’t shown him anything at all for the Korn stuff — I’ve been too busy and I’ve been out of town a lot — and he’s taking this opportunity very serious.”

Tye Trujillo is stepping in for Korn's Fieldy for the six South American dates of the band's tour, as the bass player was unable to make the jaunt. The remaining dates include Curitiba and Porto Alegre both in Brazil, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Santiago, Chile and Lima, Peru. Fieldy is slated to rejoin Korn at Carolina Rebellion on the Charlotte Motor Speedway where they will be headlining the second day of the three-day festival. To see all of Korn's dates, click here.

“We are bummed Fieldy can’t join us on this run but excited to do a few gigs with a young player like Tye,” Korn said in a statement before the South American run. “We look forward to welcoming our brother Fieldy back when we return to the States in May.”

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