When Cliff Burton was killed in a tragic accident, Metallica recruited Jason Newsted as quickly as they could, and got back on the road.
Metallica was determined not to let the loss of Burton slow them down, and while Cliff could never truly be replaced, Newsted was a great bass player who gave the band his all since he came aboard in 1986.
When Newsted finally quit Metallica in early 2001 after 14 years of service, it was surprising that he didn’t come up with another great band right away. Where Metallica’s sound went through a lot of changes, Jason was still a hardcore metal loyalist, and you figured once he was in charge of his own group he’d come up with something pretty heavy. Instead, he played bass in Ozzy’s band for a little bit, helped resurrect the underground metal legends Voi Vod, and was part of a rock reality show that he bailed on early, then he basically disappeared.
Well finally Jason is finally back with a band called, you guessed it, Newsted, and he’s got a new EP available on iTunes called Metal. You can now advance order the EP, which is exclusively available on iTunes, and it will officially be out in the world on January 8, 2013. There’s four songs on the EP: Soldierhead, Godsnake, King of the Underdogs, and Skyscraper.
As Newsted told the site Metalshrine, “It is old school…that’s why I named it [Metal], because of the other music I’ve played over time. All the diversity of the players, I don’t wanna make any confusion and I don’t want anybody to not know what’s happening. This is Newsted and it’s me and this is metal.”
When asked if he’d be open to rejoining Metallica again if the opportunity came up, Newsted tentatively said, “It kinda depends on the circumstance. If they were cool and they were bros. Actually, here’s the word, if they were ‘brofessional’ about it and if they came as my brothers…if it was like that again and the money was crazy, then I would consider it.”
Newsted added it would have to be specifically for something like filling in for their current bassist if he couldn’t make a tour. “It would be only for that thing and it would have to be these 30 shows in these 45 days for this squillion dollars, most likely I would come and crush every f*cker in my sight. But it has to be that.”
Hearing samples of the Newsted tunes on YouTube, the songs aren’t bad. The guitars could sure be a lot crunchier, but the vocals are cool (reminiscent of Chuck Billy from Testament), and the songs themselves are structured well. While these tunes are not as epic as Metallica at their best, Jason’s new band definitely has a lot of potential, and should grow into something nice down the road. So welcome back Jason, we definitely missed you.
