A teaser for "Soldierhead", the first video from Newsted, the new band led by former Metallica, Voivod and Flotsam And Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted, can be seen below [via Blabbermouth]. The clip was filmed on December 15 in an abandoned factory in California.
In a recent interview with Sonic Excess, Newsted stated about the video shoot: "It's just a simple thing, and I just wanted to capture the band. There is no heavy concept, no literal thing about bullets chasing your head or any of those things. It's old-school metal and most likely will be black and white. It was shot in an old factory. It was a gnarly, dusty, old factory and it had energy. That is what I will describe it as. I haven't got to play to the camera like that for a long time, and I was really going for it. The soldier version is something everyone will have. An HD version will be available on iTunes, but I want everyone to have it for free across the world. I want it to be the tip of the spear for everybody to see and hear what exactly it's all about."
"Soldierhead" was premiered on the December 17 edition of the "Eddie Trunk Live" show on SiriusXM satellite radio. The song comes off Newsted's four-song EP, entitled "Metal", which will be released exclusively via iTunes on January 8.
"Metal" will contain the following tracks:
01. Soldierhead 02. Godsnake 03. King Of The Underdogs 04. Skyscraper
By purchasing all four songs, you will receive a copy of Jason's handwritten lyrics.
Newsted is:
Jason Newsted - Bass, Lead Vocals
Jesus Mendez Jr. (The Napoleon Blownaparts) - Drums
Jessie Farnsworth - Guitar, Backing Voice
Newsted and his bandmates will guest on the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline" with host Bob Coburn on Monday, January 14 at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to speak with Jason by calling 1-800-344-ROCK (7625). The show will be streamed on the "Rockline" web site for two weeks beginning the afternoon after the live broadcast.
In the Sonic Excess interview, Newsted stated about his new band: "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 [this] year."
On the topic of what the spark was that got Newsted ignited, Jason said: "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."
Jason also spoke about the other members of Newsted. He said: "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."
In a weird way its like a slower rendition of Kill Em All - Lightening era, like its a different sound but with the same sort of power, theres be no doubt though that theres definitely an influence there, but it sounds sick anyways, good on Jason for bringing out new music
Ooh yeah? haha, Are you alive-ah? How does it feel to be in the 'tallica famuleh? Just kidding, James is awesome, but I always enjoyed Jason's backing vocals on stuff like the symphony album.
just chill, bro. You're at a 9 I'm gonna need you at a 4. Cliff was more creative than Jason and that's what made him a better bassist. Personally I don't think Metallica respected Jason as an Equal member of the band. I'm glad he's doing his own thing now, and I'm sure it'll be better than whatever Metallica is doing.
Listen to orion, For whom the belltolls, Anesthesia, to live is to die, Call of ktulu... ALLLL CLIFFF!!!!! ..
..... and YES Lars iis ****ing up, but not a bad drummer.. YES nickel back sucks, and Hendrix IS one of the greatest!
first of all, do you know what good "bass tone" is? Cliff's image has nothing to do with why he is liked more. Whether or not he died he is better than them both. His contributions to the actual music of Metallica go far greater than most know, and way far greater than Jason and Rob. And i am not saying Rob and Jason ever did/have done a bad job, I'm just saying no one can ever replace Cliff Burton
Not to mention Cliff actually wrote quite a few of Metallica's older songs. Orion was all him (obviously) along with a good portion of the Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets albums. Plus the dude didn't use a pick like Newsted...he tapped, strummed, fingered, by the end of it all his fingers had to be as tough as the skull on his head.
Newsted ****in' rocks though. Great bassist, one of the greats but not greatest. He couldn't hold a fire to Cliff's style, but he did replace him. Therefore the comparisons between them won't end. What if he was replaced with Les Claypool? Or someone who would put up a good argument, I guess.
Cliff never risked himself to do back vocals, sure he could headbang for two and half hour straight but he lacked stage presence.Cliff was a creative bass player but not has skilled as everybody thinks.Newsted not creative? Lars and James never gave him the chance to be in Metallica,When they gave him the chance it was awesome(my friend of..)Just listen to his other projects.Jason had the soul, the energy and a presence on stage no other Tallica bassist got.
While we can never deny Cliff's creativity, you gotta admit that Jason was tight as hell and brought a stage presence that can never be matched by Trujillo....
All three of Metallica's bassists are great. Rating one as better than the other two is difficult. Jason wasn't high enough in the mix sometimes, especially in ...And Justice For All. He once said that among all the things that Metallica did to him, the worst thing was not the pranks, but that they buried him in the mix. Luckily they did let him shine in My Friend of Misery, but ...And Justice For All would have been better with more bass.
IMHO...if you play base 'exclusively' with a pick...you're not a bassist...maybe a bass player...but no way a bassist. Cliff and Rob were/are leaps and bounds better players.
From a technical standpoint, Cliff was the only one who knew exactly what they were doing, not hating on Jason or Rob, I love them both, but Cliff went about his playing from a technical perspective and I think that's what made him a more creative bass player.
Jason is also my favorite bassist in the band, since I grew up with them around the Garage Days/Justice era onward. But let's not kid ourselves, Jason had no where close the musicianship that Cliff had. Jason is a fantastic player but Cliff was actually a pioneer that restored some legitimacy to the bass as an essential instrument in metal (which I would argue it hadn't been since guys like Geezer Butler in the 70s)
TF? Jason was in AJFA, The Black Album, Load, and Re-Load. What exactly are you referring to when you say that Metallica died when he left? Are you talking about St. Anger? or Death Magnetic?
I saw them at Download and they were just as powerful as ever, if you've watched them on Youtube on your shitty little sound system then it's obviously not going to sound that good.
To me Metallica didn't die until they made Lulu. For the first time I couldn't defend my favorite band and have to admit to haters, that 'yep, Metallica made something that was total s#it' (I even enjoyed a couple of tracks on St Anger, but) the Lou Reed project was a terrible idea, and a lot of longtime fans were barely redeemed with Death Magnetic and this project might have nailed the coffin of their legacy unless they come up with something really epic in 2014 that could give their 80s stuff a run for their money. It's possible but highly unlikely
i love James he's my idol my hero i chose guitar as my instrument because of him but these lyrics are bettre than anything James came up with on DM....
Listen to orion, For whom the belltolls, Anesthesia, to live is to die, Call of ktulu... ALLLL CLIFFF!!!!! ..
..... and YES Lars iis ****ing up, but not a bad drummer.. YES nickel back sucks, and Hendrix IS one of the greatest!
Can people stop arguing about who is the better Metallica bassist? It's irrelevant to this article and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Every bassist has their own unique qualities.
Let's all just agree that this is AWESOME! Newsted sounds like a Lemmy/late 80s James Hetfield mix. Always loved his live "Whiplash" vocals.
so who gives a damn that it might sound like motorhead a bit. If you ask me I think its pretty ****ing awesome, there is so much crap music coming out these days. It's kinda refreshing to here some real music, from real musicians. Everyone should stop talking about who is better and all that metallica shit cause it has nothing to do with this article. Lets just listen to some ****ing metal!
that was ~30 seconds of much better music than I expected. I really like his voice and singing technique, it's like pushing squares into circular holes as it's so "edgy"
Go to his website @ http://newstedheavymetal.com/ to check out some more samples of tracks. Sounds pretty generic imo. I'm just wondering if something isn't mentally there for him anymore. Look at all the pictures on his site as they cycle while you listen to clips, I just can't take him seriously.
