Former METALLICA / VOIVOD bassist and NEWSTED frontman Jason Newsted is featured in a new interview with Elliot Levin at the NY Hard Rock Examiner. An excerpt is available below:

Examiner: Have you heard any feedback from Kirk or James or Lars about the EP?

Jason: "No, I don’t even know if they know I have music going. We were at the Golden Gods together the other night, and one of the wives said to my wife that the reason they didn’t say anything at the acceptance speech or they didn’t want pictures together, it’s because they didn’t want to interfere with my project. So I guess they had some knowledge of it. But their own world is their own world. I mean it really is a microcosm, it really is a bubble. So I’m not really sure to tell you the truth."

Examiner: I just watched an interview with Dave Mustaine yesterday, and he said that your music sounds like just what he would’ve expected. Is that the kind of response you were hoping for from your peers?

Jason: "That’s awesome! That’s a great quote. Yes, that’s what I want to hear from people and that they understand how honest it is. That’s really my main quest, retaining the purity of this music. There’s too much bullsh*t, faking, pretending you can play through ProTools falseness that I don’t want to be caught up or involved in. It’s important to me to fly the flag of metal in its purest form. This is all about punk rock effort, let the music do the talking."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Newsted recently dropped into 107.7 The Bone to hang with Nikki Blakk recently and to talk about his upcoming tour, recruiting Mike Mushok of STAIND to the band, his opinion of the new BLACK SABBATH track 'God Is Dead', playing Metallica songs, and more.

Watch the 30-minute video interview below:

Newsted kicked off their US tour on April 19th in Walnut Creek, CA at Red House. Remaining US tour dates are as follows:

May

17 - Pontiac, MI - The Crofoot
18 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
21 - New York, NY - Highline Ballroom
22 - Cambridge, MA - The Middle East Downstairs
23 - Asbury Park, NJ - The Stone Pony

Visit this location to get access to VIP ticketing packages for all US dates.

VIP packages include:

- one general admission concert ticket
- one meet and greet with Newsted
- one photo opportunity with Newsted
- get one personal item signed by Newsted
- one tour T-shirt
- one commemorative VIP Laminate
- first entry into the venue (where available)
- lines free merchandise shopping (where available)

Check out a video introduction of Newsted's new line-up below: