Jason Newsted Says James Hetfield Prevented Metallica’s Managers from Working with Echobrain, Told Newsted, “Other Arrangements Can Be Made.”
Details surrounding Jason Newsted’s departure from Metallica have always been a little vague — we know that James Hetfield wasn’t down with Jason Newsted doing other projects (even Hetfield has said as much)… but we didn’t know any real specifics beyond that.
Well, we do now! In a new interview with Scuzz, Newsted reveals new details surrounding his departure from the band.
Specifcally, Newsted says that Metallica’s managers — Cliff Burnstein and the folks at Q-Prime — thought Echobrain were amazing, and wanted to work with the band, and didn’t see any reason Newsted couldn’t be in both groups. (He also says Kirk Hammett called Echobrain’s self-titled debut “a diamond,” and that Lars Ulrich’s then-girlfriend loved it so much she made the drummer sick of hearing it.) But after investing a significant amount of time and money into Echobrain, Newsted got a call rescinding their offer to manage the band — because James Hetfield didn’t want them to.
Things came to a head, apparently, while filming a retrospective for The Black Album. Newsted gave copies of the Echobrain album to all who were present, at which point Hetfield pulled him aside for a little chat. Hetfield allegedly asked “What’s your plan with this?”; Newsted says he replied that they were gonna shop around the album and only do tours that didn’t interfere with Metallica. Hetfield then allegedly asked Newsted, “So you plan on selling t-shirts and everything?” Newsted, of course, answered affirmatively. Newsted says conversation ended when Hetfield told him, “Other arrangements can be made” — which is to say (“duh”), “You’re replaceable.”
Watch the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GFiTkWPZ8xU#t=1792
The story seems perfectly plausible to me… although I might have left out the bit about how all of Echobrain’s praise was coming from friends and people whose job in part consisted of telling him how great he is. Just sayin’.
[via The PRP]
