Enter Night_ A Biography of Metallica - Mick Wall [43]
But while not even Ron McGovney would argue he was anything other than at best workmanlike on the bass – as he says, ‘James would show me what to play’ – musical chops were only part of the reason why the others originally began plotting to replace him with Cliff Burton. Behind the scenes, things had steadily been going from bad to worse. ‘It was difficult for me to have to be in the middle between my parents, who owned the house we were living in, and the band members,’ he says. ‘Of course there was drinking and girls among other things at the house and my parents didn’t like it. I had to be the bad guy many times. We used my father’s truck to haul us and our equipment, and that was another difficulty I had to deal with. It was like trying to be a road manager and the Metallica bass player at the same time. Yes, I did have an attitude because I didn’t think all of that should be my sole responsibility.’ Then there were his ongoing personality clashes with Dave: ‘Dave Mustaine didn’t like me at all. He started stealing things from me and even arranged to have my bass stolen at one of our gigs. He poured a beer into the pickups of my other bass and I got an electric shock. I became more upset about the way things were going and the attitude showed even more.’
It wasn’t just Mustaine’s antics that were starting to get Ron down. As he revealed in an interview with Bob Nalbandian’s Shockwaves website in 1996, he and Lars also ‘butted heads’ during this period. ‘I hate when people show up late and use you all the time and that’s just what Lars did. I would have to drive all the way down to Newport Beach to pick him up.’ In the end Ron grew so tired of the situation he told Lars he would have to arrange his own transport. Then there was the general attitude of the others towards him. Using his Visa card to pay for everything while the others frittered away what little cash they had on partying ate away at him until he could stand it no longer and he became the misery of the band. ‘They couldn’t understand why I was mad. They said, “Well, you’re getting the cheque after the gig,” and we were only getting paid a hundred dollars per gig at the most, which [in San Francisco] didn’t even cover the hotel room. Plus we drank a couple hundred dollars’ worth of alcohol. I always said to them, “If I’m a part of this band, why is it up to me to pay for everything while you guys get the free ride?”’ Ron suggested they get a manager to help shoulder the financial burden, but the others just laughed at him, told him to lighten up. ‘Dave, at the time, was an asshole, and Lars only cared about himself. But what really hurt me was James, because he was my friend and he was siding with them and I suddenly became the outcast in the band.’ Speaking now, Ron has a cooler perspective but the hurt is clearly still there buried not so deep inside. ‘I suppose they all became tired of me and they started looking elsewhere for a bass player. When they saw Cliff perform with his band Trauma, I guess they decided that he was the one. I saw the writing on the wall and I knew that my days were numbered when we played in San Francisco in November of 1982. Cliff was there hanging out with the guys while I was loading equipment. When we got back to