Jason Newsted talked about the origins of his problems with his former Metallica bandmates in a recent interview with Metal Hammer. These problems eventually led to Newsted quitting the band and the seeds were sown when he did a collab with Devin Townsend.
Metallica wasn’t too keen on letting bandmates work on side projects. It’s different now though, as James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich seem much more open to the idea. Kirk Hammett released his debut solo EP “Portals” recently, and his bandmates encouraged his work.
Unfortunately for Newsted though, twenty years ago Metallica wasn’t as open-minded as he would have hoped. Newsted pursued several side projects, which led to a number of disagreements within the band. Hetfield once even said that doing side projects while being in a band is like cheating on your wife in a way.
Newsted revealed that after he invited Devin Townsend for a collab, problems started brewing. He had just established the Chophouse in ’92 and had all the gear by ’94. Devin was only 22 at that time and Newsted described him as a maniac. Devin would work on only an hour and a half of sleep a day for a whole week and still do great.
Newsted was later confronted by Lars Ulrich over the matter. Ulrich told him that he can’t just do collaborations when he is a member of Metallica now. Newsted said that he didn’t know about the politics, all he was doing was just sharing some metal with his friends. He broke down that day in front of Lars and James, and apologized to them, assuring them it won’t happen again.
