James allegedly interfered in Jason's parallel career
In an interview with ScuzzTV, bassist Jason Newsted shared a previously untold story explaining why he left Metallica in 2001. The bassist explained that his departure was related to one of his side projects at the time, Echobrain.
Newsted begins the story hesitantly, explaining that he had never told it before: “I’ve never told the story, I’m not even sure I should tell it now, actually.”
The bassist then continued:
“Metallica’s management was very interested in Echobrain. They wanted to help me with it, they wanted me to pursue Echobrain alongside Metallica. They thought the vocalist was good, and that it wouldn’t affect Metallica, because it was a very different thing. And I was in Metallica, which meant it already had a pedigree from the start.”
Read the interview with Newsted on Wikimetal
“So they were very convincing: ‘It’s a great record, we’ve been listening to it nonstop in the office. I’ve only been listening to it, it’s fantastic. The guy has a sensational voice. Let’s do something about it.’ That’s what they told me, and then James [Hetfield] heard about it and wasn’t happy. He got so angry that he interfered because it could somehow affect Metallica, from his point of view, because now the managers were interested in something I was doing that had nothing to do with him.”
“I have no idea what he was thinking, other than that he was trying to protect what was valuable to him, as he always does. He protects so much that he suffocates, squeezes too much, as he himself says. That's what I was going through. The people who had helped me for 15 years with my career, who helped Metallica, who took care of my money, who looked after everything, told me: 'Your new project is fantastic, we'd like to help you with it.' James found out about it, the manager called me a few days later and said, 'Sorry. We won't be able to help you with Echobrain.'”
Jason Newsted and Dave Mustaine play Metallica
To watch the full interview (without subtitles), check below:
