ARTISTdirect's editor-in-chief Rick Florino recently sat down with NEWSTED frontman Jason Newsted (ex-METALLICA, VOIVOD, FLOTSAM AND JETSAM) to talk about his new EP Metal and other topics. Excerpts from the chat below:

ARTISTdirect.com: Is it important for you to tell stories with the lyrics? You can see the songs as much as you hear them.

Newsted: “That's a great statement. That's what it's about. It has to be something people can remember and sink their teeth into. I do not want fodder. I learned most of this from Snake from Voivod. In my opinion, he is the greatest word weaver in metal music and possibly in pop music. John Lennon did pretty good. (James) Hetfield does good. There are a couple of other people that do pretty good as well. Snake is the very best. English is his second language, and he still manages to make it so magical. Like you said, you see the words and the story and hear the music. I got that from him mostly to begin with. I've been writing lyrics for decades. Flotsam and Jetsam was all my lyrics. I tried to paint pictures of things like that. It has to be something that makes sense. There are no wasted words in the songs.”

ARTISTdirect.com: What influences you outside of music?

Newsted: “A lot of them have to do with documentary films and reading. The (Pat) Tillman thing came from reading. Certain influences come from that. Then you tap into experiences you've had, you start channeling, and it comes to you. At least it does for me. Once you start practicing that for years and know how to tap into the stream, then you can start pulling things out. It's like it is with my paintings. I channel it, and it happens. I don't really plan on what the painting is going to be. It just becomes what it becomes. Whatever comes out of my head is what happens. It's the same with music. The immediacy of the music is because I was able to capture it the moment it came to me. I've got my guitar in hand and Garage Band ready. The moment I channeled it I recorded it, and it became the song as opposed to knocking it around, overthinking it, and all of that crap. Modern technology has been a big help in me getting it the way it is now.”

ARTISTdirect.com: Does painting come from a different mindset than music?

Newsted: “There's definitely a rhythm to it. I always have to music going when I'm painting. A lot of times the lyrics of those songs find themselves in the text in the painting. It's a direct link to the music. By happenstance because of severe shoulder surgeries, I was "one-armed" for almost four years with three different surgeries—right arm, left arm, right arm. I had to learn to use both hands equally. All of my paintings are done with both hands and both sides of my brain. It's like two people are coming at the canvas. It is a direct link. The paintings are the same as the music intensity-wise and color-wise the same as my bass playing. It's the same thing just a different medium. It has to do with channeling and finding that place. None of it comes from nowhere. I try to keep a real wide variety of listening practice, and I have for years. I listen to all kinds of music in different languages with different instruments to make myself a better player. The more you pour in with books, documentaries, and good music, the more you regurgitate it out of your filters, it becomes your own. Things will always be regurgitated. The only thing original in heavy metal is Black Sabbath. Everything derives from that. In my style of painting, everything derives from Picasso. There are certain people who are such innovators that there's no choice to just derive from that or take their lead. I try to take the lead of many great heroes, regurgitate it through my filter, and spit that shit out. I keep high standards. If it's up to those standards or pretty close, other people dig it too.”

ARTISTdirect.com: Does the EP lay the groundwork for the full-length?

Newsted: “Yeah! The initial intent of EPs back in the day was to be the primer of what's going to come on the LP. We're going to re-record a couple of songs for the LP, but the rest are all fresh songs. We're delivering 13 tracks. Mike Mushok has been in the band for seven weeks, and we already completed the LP.”

Newsted will be part of some European festivals in June.

Check out the dates below:

June

5 - Impact Festival (Second Day) - Warsaw, Poland
7 - Sweden Rock Festival - Solvesborg, Sweden
16 - Download Festival (3rd Day/Pepsi Max Stage) - Castle Donington, UK
21 – Seerock Festival - Graz, Austria
26 - Hegyalja Fesztival - Tokaj, Hungary
29 – Rock The Beach - Helsinki, Finland
30 – Graspop Metal Meeting - Dessel, Belgium

To read the full interview visit ArtistDirect.com.