Ex Metallica Bassist Jason Newsted Returning To 'Heavy' Music

Jason Newsted has been playing bluegrass music in The Chophouse Band for many years, but has recently revealed his plans to return to heavier music.

In a new interview with 98.7 Gator FM, Newsted talked about new musical journeys and how The Chophouse Band will incorporate elements of metal music in upcoming releases. As well as playing in his long-running bluegrass-based band, Newsted mentioned two other heavy projects.

"I’m kind of stepping back into the heavy now," Newsted revealed in the Gator Garage. "So, the last couple of weeks, I’ve been auditioning guitar players for a heavy project. I’m back on bass and singing with a metal drummer — double bass — you know, getting loud again. So I’ve got a couple of irons in the fire. I’m putting two new projects together right now — but loud."

Newsted added, "I spent six months of last year putting together The Chophouse Band Volume 1. The Chophouse Band has been together making music since 1992. So it was our first album after 30 years. I spent a lot of time on that. And then, once I got that under my belt, I’m kind of stepping back into the heavy now."

The Chophouse Band is also getting heavy, according to Newsted, who commented that the group's new music is going "places that are as heavy as anything else that I’d been involved with — Voivod, Ozzy, Metallica, Newsted band, any of that stuff... You can take the boy out of the metal [but] you can’t take the metal out of the boy; it’s just the way it’s always gonna be." Amen, Jason.

Jason Newsted departed from Metallica in January 2001. In 2009, he joined his old bandmates - James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich, as well as their current bassist, Rob Trujillo, for the band's induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Newsted and Trujillo played bass together on the same stage.

Watch Jason Newsted's full interview with the Gator Garage below, and relive Metallica's performance at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.