Jason Newsted, the former Metallica bassist has revealed that he is unhappy with his comments about Alex Van Halen’s plans for a Van Halen tribute tour being published in a newspaper. Newsted was so angry that he even went as far as to say that he’s considering quitting giving interviews altogether.
When Newsted’s quotes were published, it was carried extensively by music news outlets, including this publication. Ex-frontman David Lee Roth and guitarist Joe Satriani also corroborated the news, confirming that talks about a tribute tour did take place. Satriani was also shocked that Newstead had made such information available to the public even though nothing is finalized yet.
Newsted, now outraged, spoke with 98.7 The Gater and expressed his unhappiness with The Palm Beach Post publishing quotes about the Van Halen reunion tribute tour. Newsted revealed that he only agreed to do the interview in the interest of highlighting a benefit concert in aid of kids’ arts charity.
The guitarist spoke about the charity further and stated the reason for doing the interview. “I agreed to do that interview to forward the information about the Goldner Conservatory at the Maltz Theatre that’s gonna have classes for kids[…] I talked two seconds about that [the Van Halen tribute tour] and that’s what they chose to go for.”
Newsted questioned why he was asked about something that has already been asked to him “700 times” already before. Everybody knows about my past, let’s please talk about what’s coming and not what has already happened, he said.
“That really rubbed me wrong,. I don’t know what interviews I’ll do again. I’m not sure if I’ll say yes to anything,” he asserted.
