Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted recently joined an interview with Louder Sound. The rocker remembered his early days with the band and told the story of how Lars Ulrich warned him about a rule.
Cliff Burton passed away in 1986 in a tragic bus accident and saddened the fans worldwide. His band decided to continue performing and hired a new bassist, Jason Newsted, to replace Burton. However, his sudden joining of the band brought some tension as the musician wasn’t familiar with the band’s rules.
Newsted stayed with Metallica until 2001 and was a contributor at the release of their iconic album ‘Metalica,’ otherwise known as ‘The Black Album.’ However, Newsted had jammed with other musicians during his time with the band, a violation for Metallica.
According to Lars, once you join Metallica, you cannot venture off and play with other people and send around tapes. Hence, the band warned him not to do that, and he apologized for not being aware.
Newsted told Louder Sound about Metallica’s warning:
“Lars said, ‘You gotta come up to the house.’ I didn’t really know what it was for, so I took my bass and went up there, ‘What’s up, guys?’ ‘Dude, you know you’re in Metallica now, don’t you? You can’t just be making music and sending out tapes to whatever f*cker with whichever f*cker. You do understand that, right?’ ‘Oh!’
I didn’t realize it at all! I didn’t know about politics; I was just sharing some metal with my friends! I pretty much broke down on that day in front of Lars and James. I was like, ‘I’m sorry, it won’t happen again!’ And that was the first time.”
In 2022, Metallica members seem to change their minds because their long-time guitarist Kirk Hammett recently released his first solo EP. He also highlighted that the entire band, especially Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, gave him their full support in creating solo work.
