JASON NEWSTED On Split With METALLICA: 'I Didn't Feel Like The Respect Was Shown'

December 31, 2002

Former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted has told MTV.com that it was primarily the band's tight control over his outside projects that caused him to leave the group in January 2001

"They have to recognize the four beings that make up this one great entity, and it wasn't like that," he said. "I didn't feel like the respect was shown. I keep chasing music all the time and they kept saying, 'Don't do that! You can't do that!' [But] that's how I live. You do whatever you do, you race cars and you raise children. That's how you live. ... I don't stop you from raising your kids or say that's wrong. Don't stop me from raising my music or doing my music."

METALLICA wouldn't let Newsted go public with his side projects, but now he's got his own label and he's unleashing nearly every note he's put to tape since 1994.

"Over the next few years we're gonna release [everything]," promised Newsted, who's recorded material with members of SEPULTURA, FAITH NO MORE and the MELVINS. "We have maybe 10 or 12 [projects] in the can for people to hear. About every couple of months we'll bring it out. It's a lot of things [that] were done up to the point where I left METALLICA."

Newsted said he's going to release the projects in chronological order, a process he's already begun with a split EP featuring IR8 and SEXOTURICA. The latter — Newsted, EXODUS drummer Tom Hunting and SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser — came together in 1995. The three IR8 tracks — featuring Newsted, Hunting and STRAPPING YOUNG LAD singer/guitarist Devin Townsend — were recorded in 1994.

"I have learned more about the business in the last 18 months than I ever did in 14 years in METALLICA," Newsted said of being the Chophouse Records honcho. "When you're in METALLICA, you've got a bunch of people working for you and you're protected as the artist. ... [It's] not just being the bass player anymore and showing up for the photos. It's like a whole damn thing — bass player, photos, songwriting, producing and record company, seeing it all the way through from start to finish."

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).