Jason Newsted Lost a Ton of Money on His Newsted Project

With all due respect to ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, talented fellow who unfairly doesn’t get the respect he deserves, I had completely forgotten that in 2012 and 2013 he attempted to get his self-named band — that would be Newsted — off the ground with an EP and full album release.

My memory isn’t the only one that glossed over that era of metal history. Not only did the band never really take off, leaving a Newsted-sized hole in the memories of countless other would-be fans, but it seems Jason would rather not think about it, too: he’s been largely absent from the internet for the past five years.

But leave it to Mike Mushok, best known to most as the guitarist of Staind and best forgotten by everyone else as the guitarist of Newsted, to drag up those memories from the depths. In a new interview on Jamey Jasta’s podcast, kindly transcribed by Metal Injection, Mushok spoke a bit about his experiences with Newsted and speculated on what may’ve led to the band’s demise:

“I think he was happy with it. I think the touring thing was hard. I don’t think it was exactly what he expected it was going to be. But listen, it was fun. I really enjoyed him. I really enjoyed our time together and playing. We’re still friends; we still communicate… We were playing smaller places, but the shows were always good; they were always fun. I just think it cost him a ton. ‘Cause he was footing the bill for everything. So I think that at the end of the day, he’s, like, ‘I’m doing this ’cause of my passion for it and what I love, but I’m bleeding here.’ We had this European tour that I think cost him a bunch.”

Mushok had only good things to say about Jason and his work ethic:

“Jason is a hard worker, man. We would practice 10 hours, he’d record the whole thing, and when we were done, he wouldn’t walk out of the control — he’d sit there and listen to it. I’m, like, ‘Dude! Come on, man.’ I mean, there’s a hard work — I’m a hard worker, but this guy was next level.”

Needless to say we hope Jason is doing OK in light of taking it in the chain financially on the Newsted run. I’m not studied up on what exactly his contributions were to the Metallica albums he performed on, but those are such perennially strong sellers that I’d imagine he does OK in royalties (or at least I’d hope).

You can listen to the full chat between Mushok and Jasta below.