Earlier this month, former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted revealed during an appearance on Dean Delray’s podcast “Let There Be Talk” that he had been diagnosed with throat cancer in May 2025, but thankfully was recently given the all clear.
Now, in a new interview on Bill Burr’s “Monday Morning” podcast, Newsted reflected on his cancer battle and the treatment he underwent.
“About a couple of days from now, two days from now will be one year [since I underwent a procedure for] throat cancer. 62 years old, last year in May,” he said (via Blabbermouth). “So they go in there, they cut that open. They took out all my lymph nodes out of here. They go in this way with this thing called a TORS surgery, where it’s trans[oral] robotic laser surgery, and they go inside there and cut a bunch of stuff out of the back of my head. They found it early. We got all of it. I’m good now, but it took a year [to get through all the treatment].”
He continued: “I didn’t [publicly] share [my cancer diagnosis] until this week. So I’m telling people now… But the deal is kind of one of the reasons that I’m coming back [to touring]. I [slowed down] for a while. I did that through my 40s and 50s. And now this thing put me in check more than anything ever has. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to not breathing.
“And so now the most alive that I can feel, just as you do with your kids, or on the stage, or playing drums, or whatever it is, when I feel the most alive is when I’m playing really loud and screaming and sweating and exchanging with the people. So I’m going back out.”
Newsted recently announced his first-ever North American headline tour with his group The Chophouse Band, set to kick off this summer.
“I have to do it so I can prove to myself that I can, but also to correct this sh*t, because I need to feel super alive because I felt pretty close to dead,” he added. “And I want to get back these joys that were removed from me by that f*cking thing. It took away my taste buds. It took away my… This is all still numb. It’s f*cking crazy, dude. And so now I appreciate every f*cking minute. We both know tomorrow’s not guaranteed to nobody, but this is kind of a different kind of awareness now, different kind of reflection took place this last year and really put in check like never before.
“So I’m back to my touring weight. I lost a bunch, of course, as we went along, but I’m back to my touring weight. I’m back to my thing. I got a bunch of new songs. I got a killer band. I’m trying to feel as alive as possible. So that’s where I’m at with that.”
