Rock music has long centered around youth but metal band Korn is going to a new extreme -- the 12-year-old son of Metallica's bassist is joining them on tour.

Korn said that Tye Trujillo, a bassist like his father Robert Trujillo, will play with the band on Latin American dates this month.

The preteen will fill in for Korn's 47-year-old bassist Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu. The band said Arvizu could not travel due to "unforeseen circumstances" but would return for US shows next month.

"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 weekend Facebook post.

Tye Trujillo is no stranger to the stage. With flowing hair that flies as he bangs his head, he has been playing since the tender age of eight in The Helmets, a heavy metal band of children in northern California.

The elder Trujillo joined his son as a guest when The Helmets last year rocked the BottleRock Festival in California's wine-growing Napa County.

Korn, a leading force in the 1990s alternative-oriented nu metal movement, is known for incorporating hip-hop elements and for frontman Jonathan Davis' lyricism of despair.

Korn kicks off its Latin America tour on April 17 in Bogota and will play three dates in Brazil as well as one show each in Buenos Aires, Santiago and Lima.

Robert Trujillo is the newest member of Metallica. He joined the metal legends in 2003 after a career that included playing with thrash metal group Suicidal Tendencies.

source: AFP