Niclas from Metal Shrine recently interviewed former METALLICA / VOIVOD bassist Jason Newsted, who is releasing a four-song EP under the moniker NEWSTED, entitled Metal, on January 8th, exclusively via iTunes. An excerpt form their chat follows:
Let’s just say that (current Metallica bassist) Rob Trujillo breaks his leg and they’re about to go on tour and they call you. Would you do it?
Jason Newsted: Aahhh, it kinda depends on the circumstances. God, I haven´t been asked that before. (sighs deeply) If they were cool and they were bros. Actually, here’s the word, if they were brofessional about it and if they came as my brothers and they were professional with the meeting and they called the meeting and they’re sitting there and looking me in the eye and the managers aren’t around and we’re doing this as we used to do every fucking thing, with just us and then the managers did what we told them to do… if it was like that again and the money was crazy, then I would consider it. I would consider it, but it would be only for that thing and it would to be absolutely delegated and it would have to be these 30 shows in these 45 days for this squillion dollars, then I would say most likely I would come and crush every fucker in my sight. But it has to be that.
I love those guys and I always will and I will defend them to the end of time. I don’t dig it when people talk shit about them and I don’t dig it when they put them down about certain music they didn’t like that they did or whatever. Fuck those people! As soon as the people can put out a better album than Metallica, you let me know and I’ll listen to it, but until that time, just back off! I don’t come and tell you how shitty you’re doing your accountant job or whatever, you know what I mean. I don’t like that part, but I’ll always have respect for those guys because they gave me my chance, ok. They gave me my chance and I’ll never ever forget that. Now, we’ve had our differences over time but that shit is under the bridge a long time ago. The shit that has transpired in the last 10 years of the rumors stuff and ‘Oh, Jason got treated so bad. Poor fucking Jason.’ and everything, it’s such shit! It’s so wrong and it’s not the truth and it really bothers me. I understand that it gets sensationalized and blah, blah, blah. What I try to say man is trainloads, trainloads of joy, accomplishments and wonderful experiences and one little, tiny fucking symbol full of shit. It was joyous and victorious and accomplishing things and setting the fucking standard, you know what I mean?”
To read the interview in its entirety, click here.
On December 18, Brandon Marshall of Sonic Excess conducted an interview with former METALLICA, VOIVOD and FLOTSAM AND JETSAM bassist and current NEWSTED frontman Jason Newsted. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.
Sonic Excess: Welcome back! The metal word has missed Jason Newsted. Every couple of years, you come up with a new project or collaboration, and then we don’t hear from you. Are you back for good, and is the band NEWSTED a full-time project?
Jason Newsted: [laughs] I’m always back for good and better! NEWSTED is the project that’s happening now, I would like to see it grow, get somewhere, of course, and be able to share it with everyone who wants to share it with me. It has been a lot of years coming. It’s ready for me, and I’m finally ready for it. I never thought I was going to put my name on a project; I’ve always come up with cool enough band names. We did it with this, and I’m very proud of it. Things are lining up very well, and I’m hoping to take it out to the people live next year.
Sonic Excess: What was the spark that got NEWSTED ignited?
Jason Newsted: We always play a lot of improv music. We have though the years, and we just keep it going in the Chophouse Studio [Newsted‘s home studio in Walnut Creek, California] and play with a lot of different cats through time. What really happened was about a year and a week ago, with the METALLICA 30th-anniversary shows, where we played The Fillmore in San Francisco. Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] had called me in October of last year and said, “Do you want to jam?” I said “What time do you want me there?” I haven’t seen them in a long time, and I hadn’t seen them since the [Rock And Roll] Hall Of Fame thing anyway. He said, “What songs do you want to play?” and I said, “You pick the fastest one dude.” We took the 14 fastest ones. I rocked a few each night, and we had a good time. What came from it was the realization of the energy of the fans. There were probably 30-35 countries represented on the floor that week. The energy I got back, and the appreciation, the real, true fan-dom, and being able to look into people’s eyes made me think it could happen again. Maybe, I could bring it out on my own and sing, play bass, play guitar, and do my own stuff. Make it fast and make it ugly, like old METALLICA, like “Kill ‘Em All” and “Ride The Lightning” records, and the old FLOTSAM AND JETSAM records, make real, old-school metal. One year later, I have 11 songs total, and we are doing it in batches. The first batch is in four, and you can pre-order it today.
Sonic Excess: Everything seems to be happening very fast. A month ago, your web site went live, and now you have an album coming out January 8th. How long has NEWSTED been in the works? Can tell us about the other members in the band?
Jason Newsted: Yes, I would be glad to. Jesus Mendez, Jr. is the drummer. I have been playing with him for about 10 years, and we have known each other for longer than that. He was a California roadie guy for METALLICA and worked at headquarters for some years. Then, he was the drum tech on the ECHOBRAIN tour, so we have been friends for a while. We have played a lot of hours, for a lot of years. He comes from like Vinny Appice, DIO, MOTÖRHEAD, AC/DC, but way down with double bass. He is a very serious, hard-working player. Our secret weapon is Jessie Farnsworth; he is a little bit younger than us. He is 32 and he is from the East, from Connecticut. He has been out here for a while, and I have been playing with him for about four years. We swap back and forth with bass and guitar. I choose people who have not quite risen in their own bands. I didn’t want people who were jaded or had ugly baggage come into this band, and I didn’t want to make it a supergroup. I wanted real friends that I get along with, and I wanted to play real true music.
Sonic Excess: Do you plan on touring?
Jason Newsted: I plan on taking it anywhere I can. As you can imagine, people are coming out of the woodwork wanting to help out, like promoters and agents, and people wanting to do what they do. We have scheduled meetings after Christmas about how we are going to get it out there to the people. My desire and quest has always been to take it anywhere I can for anyone who will accept our westernized rock ‘n’ roll music. I want to continue being the ambassador of metal, like I have been pretty much my whole career. My idea, actually, is to go to a lot of places not a lot of people actually do go to. I’ll still go to the “A” markets and play places expected, but I really want to get into the nooks and crannies of the countryside. I really want to get in front of people in places where I come from. I want to go to a lot of places that don’t get a lot of shows. I’m down with that, and I really want to do that.
Sonic Excess: What’s your opinion on bands charging for meet-and-greets now?
Jason Newsted: I think it’s bullshit! My guys had been talking to me about doing those things, and they talk about KISS making money for this meet-and-greet. People will pay it, but that’s not the point. I don’t want to take money like that. If they want to buy a t-shirt and have something to show for it, that’s what we do. You can’t download a t-shirt. There are certain things that make sense to me. I have never charged for my autograph up until the web site. That is my first time in my 30-year career that I have charged for my autograph, and I have signed for hundreds of thousands of people. I don’t feel comfortable with charging people to meet me; I don’t feel comfortable with charging people to get me to sign something when they are standing with me. If they buy it off the Internet and want an 8×10 or an autograph CD, they have that momentum. That’s fine, but I’m not going to charge people to meet me. I just don’t feel that’s right. I’ll pay to meet one of my old sports heroes, or something like one of the cats from the 1970s Orioles. I’ll pay a couple of bucks for something, but I’m not going to pay for Gene Simmons. It’s ridiculous, that’s not what it’s about.
Former METALLICA, VOIVOD and FLOTSAM AND JETSAM bassist Jason Newsted has uploaded new video footage of a rehearsal session at his Chophouse studio in Walnut Creek, California. Check it out at this location.
In a recent interview with Eddie Trunk‘s “Friday Night Rocks” radio show on New York’s Q104.3 FM, Newsted stated about his plans to release original music via his newly launched official web site, NewstedHeavyMetal.com, “It’ll be called Newsted Heavy Metal Music. Whatever it ends up being — if it’s five songs, 20 songs, 50 songs… I don’t even know what the heck I’m gonna do. I have so much music from over the years. I have a bunch of new stuff, I have so many mixes of projects with people — new players, young players, old-school players like myself — so I’m just trying to figure out exactly what I wanna unleash on everybody first. That’s kind of what it’s coming down to — the timing of things and how I wanna hit people with it, and which stuff [to release first].”
Asked how he plans to release his music, Jason said, “I see a couple of the old avenues still being there that will always be there in the purest form — making the vinyl and everybody having the special-edition vinyl to be able to read the lyrics, stuff like you and I loved the most, that’s the closest to us that’s the most endearing and the most personal. So that’s always gonna be there and I never wanna dismiss that, so that will be percentage of it for the fans that really dig the real American kick-ass guitar music … And then the newest avenues that I’m just really now learning about as I expose myself to all this stuff… I saw a piece of one of [‘That Metal Show’ espisodes on VH1 Classic] and somebody talked about DOWN and some other bands doing four tracks at a time in EP form every few months, letting people have some fresh metal. I think that’s a pretty good concept, a pretty good formula — I’m hip to that, [and] I’d like to warm up to that. Since it is new territory for me, I’m really open to that idea; I think it’s a good way to spread stuff.”
Newsted married his longtime girlfriend Nicole Leigh Smith in October.
In his acceptance speech at METALLICA‘s Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in April 2009, Jason thanked Nicole — whom he referred to as “the love of my life” — for “standing by me through the last seven years of challenges and adventures.”
Century Media announces that on January 21st, 2013 in Europe and January 22nd, 2013 in North America, Canadian progressive metal pioneers VOIVOD will release their 13th studio album, Target Earth! In anticipation of this release, the band has now posted the official Target Earth EPK. Check it out here:
The EPK was directed by Irem Schwarz with assistance by Lorenz Fischer and Hee-Seong Han. It was shot in Berlin, Germany on October 16th, 2012 during VOIVOD’s latest headlining run of Europe and features behind-the-scenes footage, plus an exclusive interview with Away (Michel Langevin) and Chewy (Daniel Mongrain) about the making of the album.
For a first listen of Target Earth, be sure to check out a stream of the album’s title track “Target Earth” HERE as well as the album’s first single (Released as Digital Download and as limited 7″ EP) “Mechanical Mind” HERE
VOIVOD’s vocalist Snake (Denis Bélanger) checked in to comment about the “Target Earth” track as follows: “Target Earth…could this be a threat from out of space? A wake up call for humanity? It ended up being a young hacker shutting down the whole world’s financial systems in order to reform and redefine the bases of our societies. It’s a one man’s inside job, using technology to change the world…forever… and hopefully for the better.”
Target Earth was recorded at producer Pierre Rémillard’s Wild Studios in Quebec and mixed by Sanford Parker (PELICAN, NACHTMYSTIUM). The original art was once again drawn by drummer Away (Michel Langevin) and features color schemes from each one of the band’s previous albums.
The album brings back original bass player, Blacky (Jean Yves Thériault), marking his first recordings with the band since 1991’s Angel Rat. It’s also the first to feature guitarist, Chewy (Dan Mongrain), who cut his teeth playing guitar to the late Denis D’Amour’s riffs and thus has matched his style to a tee. VOIVOD, as a full group, hadn’t sat down to write a record together since 2003’s self-titled album. The end result harkens back to the group’s late 80s output and after 30 years together as a band, one of their best yet.
The official track-listing for VOIVOD’s Target Earth can be seen below:
1. Target Earth
2. Kluskap O’Kom
3. Empathy for the Enemy
4. Mechanical Mind
5. Warchaic
6. Resistance
7. Kaleidos
8. Corps Étranger
9. Artefact
10. Defiance
“Target Earth” will be available in Europe as limited edition Mediabook CD (with 2 additional bonus live-tracks), as standard CD, as gatefold double vinyl (180 gr. and as black or coloured versions) and as very limited edition deluxe box set via CM Distro.
Canadian progressive metal pioneers VOIVOD have now premiered the title track from their upcoming 13th studio album, Target Earth, on Metal Sucks.net! To hear the track, click the link below:
To hear the album’s first single, “Mechanical Mind,” please click here!
Due out January 21st, 2013 in Europe and January 22nd, 2913 in North America, Target Earth was recorded at producer Pierre Rémillard’s Wild Studios in Quebec and mixed by Sanford Parker (PELICAN, NACHTMYSTIUM). The original art was once again drawn by drummer Away (Michel Langevin) and features color schemes from each one of the band’s previous albums.
The album brings back original bass player, Blacky (Jean Yves Thériault), marking his first recordings with the band since 1991’s Angel Rat. It’s also the first to feature guitarist, Chewy (Dan Mongrain), who cut his teeth playing guitar to the late Denis D’Amour’s riffs and thus has matched his style to a tee. VOIVOD, as a full group, hadn’t sat down to write a record together since 2003’s self-titled album. The end result harkens back to the group’s late 80s output and after 30 years together as a band, one of their best yet.
The official track-listing for Target Earth can be seen below.
1. Target Earth
2. Kluskap O’Kom
3. Empathy for the Enemy
4. Mechanical Mind
5. Warchaic
6. Resistance
7. Kaleidos
8. Corps Étranger
9. Artefact
10. Defiance
“Target Earth” will be available in Europe as limited edition Mediabook CD (with bonus tracks), standard CD, gatefold double vinyl and as very limited edition deluxe box set (details on that to be announced soon).
Canadian metal innovators VOIVOD will release their new album, “Target Earth”, on January 22, 2013 (one day earlier internationally) via VOIVOD‘s own company, Iron Gang Factory, and Century Media. The CD was recorded in January at Pierre Rémillard‘s (OBLIVEON, CRYPTOPSY, KRISIUN, MISERY INDEX) Wild Studio in a small town called St-Zénon in Quebec, Canada and was mixed by Sanford Parker (PELICAN, NACHTMYSTIUM). The follow-up to 2009’s “Infini” will contain the band’s first music to be written with new guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain (MARTYR) following the passing of original axeman Denis “Piggy” D’Amour in 2005. The original art was once again drawn by VOIVOD drummer Michel “Away” Langevin and features color schemes from each one of the band’s previous albums. The effort will be available as a CD, gatefold double vinyl and a limited edition deluxe box set.
“Target Earth” track listing:
01. Target Earth
02. Kluskap O’Kom
03. Empathy for the Enemy
04. Mechanical Mind
05. Warchaic
06. Resistance
07. Kaleidos
08. Corps Étranger
09. Artefact
10. Defiance
According to a posting on the page, fans can “expect something in the vein of ‘Nothingface’ with some elements from the other albums. It will be a classic VOIVOD album.”
Regarding what the new VOIVOD songs sound like, Mongrain said in an interview, “As a VOIVOD fan since I am 12 years old and early rise of VOIVOD in late ’80s and everything, I think… I’m in conflict of interest right now. [laughs] I like the old stuff as much as the new stuff, so I think it’s a blend of everything. It’s really a team work and Blacky [Jean-Yves Thériault] is back on the ‘blower bass’ — he’s got the original sound — and we’re having a blast jamming. I think it’s working pretty good.”
On the topic of the lyrical themes covered in the new VOIVOD tracks, singer Denis “Snake” Bélanger said, “The song we played [on the early 2012 European tour] [‘Kaleidos’] is about conspiracy involving drugs and the FBI… [Laughs] It’s hard to describe because we’re kind of early in the process. There’s another song called ‘Target Earth’, which is more like a spacy, conspiracy, controlling the information around the world. The main thing is the ‘war’ of information. You know, somebody Osama Bin Laden is dead, someone [else] says he’s not… It gets to a point where everybody has his own story and nobody is sure what the truth is. There’s people above everything controlling the information.”
In an interview with Exclaim.ca, Away stated about VOIVOD‘s forthcoming studio album, “It’s more in the progressive metal vein, so it’s reminiscent of the ‘Dimension Hatröss’ era.”
VOIVOD‘s new single, “Mechanical Mind”, was released on October 9 (one day earlier internationally) as a digital single and a limited-edition seven-inch single-sided vinyl with a skull etching by VOIVOD drummer Michel “Away” Langevin on the B-side.
VOIVOD debuted the “Target Earth” title track during their April 12 concert at the Roadburn festival at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.
VOIVOD 2012 is:
Denis “Snake” Bélanger – Vocals Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain – Guitar Jean-Yves “Blacky” Thériault – Bass Michel “Away” Langevin – Drums
“Mechanical Mind” (new song) studio version (audio stream):
“Kluskap O’Kom” (new song) performance:
“Kaleidos” (new song) performance:
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Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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