Former METALLICA Bassist Jason Newsted - "Jimmy Page And Chris Slade - What Time Do You Want Me There?"
May 21, 2010, 14 years ago
Former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted is currently showcasing his artwork at the Micaëla Gallery in San Francisco, CA until July 27. Speaking with Tony Hicks from Mercurynews.com, he says his departure from Metallica was prompted by the band's restriction on outside endeavors. He felt creatively stifled to the point of bailing out.
"It took 10 years for me to decompress and come back down to the ground from all that," he says. "You have to have a purpose. That's why people get (messed) up on drugs and alcohol. Because they don't have a purpose."Newsted hasn't ruled out going big again, taking calls the past few years from the likes of SLASH (VELVET REVOLVER, ex-GUNS N' ROSES), AEROSMITH's Joey Kramer and others looking at side projects, none of which progressed past the first couple of calls. Last week he received a message from former AC/DC and THE FIRM drummer Chris Slade, who texted he was "looking for (Jimmy) Page (LED ZEPPELIN) and Newsted."
"Jimmy Page and Chris Slade," he says, with a laugh. "What time do you want me there? When you get called by your first name by guys whose posters you used to have on the wall - and still do, as my dad has kept my old room the way it was with the posters of Led Zeppelin, and Aerosmith and AC/DC - surreal is the word for it."Read the entire interview here.
