In a new interview with Knotfest, former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted talked about the rumors of joining MEGADETH after the band fired David Ellefson.
“That was good, wasn’t that kind of interesting for a minute? God, dude, what the f*ck? Jesus Christ. What a flip of the thing. But we won’t go into the backstory of it, just that little talk about that — I don’t know if I would ever do something like that, it’s just not in my purview anymore.
“I’m so busy with other music and play all the time with other kinds of people,” he continued. “I like playing the heavy stuff every now and then, now and again…
“But I really enjoy the composition now, different instruments and dimensions to the songs, and three or four voices going, and female background vocal and cool s**t! Music!
“That’s way more what I’m after now. Tonight I’m going to go play with this eight-piece band here that I just started my network up in my new home here in New York.
“Yeah, I’m excited to throw it, I’ve got ten songs that I’ve given that I’m gonna run them through tonight and see what they’re made of. But it’s cool s**t, man. Johnny Cash, ‘Ring of Fire,’ and they got a horn section. I’m going to get some s**t going, so that’s where I’m at. And if Andreas [Kisser, SEPULTURA guitarist] calls and says, ‘Come on fill out half an hour SEPULTURA with me and somewhere,’ I’m there!
“This thing came out in a Florida interview, I think it was an art exhibit interview actually, and there’s something about my shoulder surgeries, and I said, ‘I can’t play METALLICA songs anymore.’ And people started running with this thing, and I’m like, ‘Are you sure that you listened to what I said? Are you sure that you heard the words that I said?’ Somebody just ran with this part and they made up this big goddamn thing. But just I want everybody to realize that whoever asked me to come and play bass. and if it was for real, then I would be there to play bass.
“And if it was METALLICA asking me whether I’d play, for that many songs, that faster or that slower, or whatever, then I would go and do it. There’s not a thing where I can’t do that, I was saying it like I’m probably not going to go on tour and do two-and-a-half hours every night with a band anymore. That’s not just something I’m probably going to do. It’s not that I can’t do it, I’ve already done that a bunch of times. Something’s that’s important for everybody to know — the camaraderie of METALLICA, the band that made the Black Album because this has come up these last few weeks and our togetherness on it…
“It’s something I’m really happy about. I’ve always tried to stay on the high road and always speak, ‘We’re going to wrap it up, baby’ pridefully of this band, and my experience with these guys and opportunities that they afforded me, and still do to this day. We did something very special, and things that happened, and the planets that aligned that we’ve explained here pretty good why it happened the way it happened, but it couldn’t have a lot of hard work, and everybody worked really hard for what we have now, and continue to receive.
“It’s not for everyone, that’s why there’s only a handful of bands that can do it. If you think about the positive influence that this album and this band that made this album has had on so many millions of listeners, and I’m not sure which one’s more important but — and players. So millions of people pick up a guitar or a bass, or the drums because of this record. Now, the other albums too but this record, this is the one that the guitar store was ready to say, ‘No ‘Stairway,’‘ now it says, ‘No ‘Sandman.’‘ That’s how it is now. What that represents metaphorically is huge but it’s real. How many kids picked up the guitar? Like we did when we heard a JUDAS PRIEST record and ‘Breaking the Law!’ Because it was learnable.
“And by the way, the same notes as ‘Sandman,’ and ‘Smoke on the Water’ is the same too. So just something about those notes that catch everybody and everybody wants to learn them, and they’re so learnable, and inspires people to want to play a little bit, and feel the music flow through them. So that’s my point about this babbling is that once you do feel the music flowing through you, whether it’s as a listener really f*cking loud and sing along with everybody in the crowd, and being a part of something huge like that, or actually playing the music, and getting through ‘Sandman’ at your sixth-grade talent contest. How many thousands of kids learned as their first riff? It’s an amazing thing that happened. How could we have ever planned it or anything like that?
“But that victory within all of that, and how it influenced so many people and will continue because the people they influence this stuff, which is like a pivotal cultural thing from a heavy metal band, a true throwing-down heavy metal band. They can get still go as heavy as anybody, we kind of set the standard for that sh*t. That’s the greatest part of the success. You can measure all the things by the dollars and the thing that the world measures it by.”
