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| Birth Name(s) : Jason Newsted |
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Full Jason Newsted Biography
Jason Newsted is an American bass guitarist, currently a member of Voivod and Rock Star Supernova. He is best known as a former member of the band Metallica, which he joined in 1986 following the death of Cliff Burton, and left in 2001. He currently resides in Walnut Creek, California.
Jason Curtis Newsted was born March 4, 1963, in Battle Creek, Michigan. His European ancestors were Germans from Baden.
Jason went to Gull Lake High School in Richland, Michigan, joining Arizona thrashers Flotsam and Jetsam in 1983. Jason left them to join Metallica in 1986 after the tragic death of popular bassist Cliff Burton. Following auditions and an evening of drinking, the three members of Metallica, James Hetfield, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, and drummer Lars Ulrich, reportedly came to a decision in the restroom of "Tommy's Joynt" in San Francisco amid the urinals, and upon their return to the bar asked Jason to join Metallica. It was Ulrich who asked Newsted coolly: "Want a job?" Jason's first show with Metallica was in Reseda, California, on November 8, 1986.
After confirming Jason as their new bassist (becoming Metallica's longest serving bassist) Metallica constructed a cheap studio in Ulrich's garage in order to acclimatise Jason to Metallica. In this studio, the band quickly recorded an album consisting completely of cover songs called The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited, a homage to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands that influenced them. Jason was often referred to by the nickname "Jason Newkid" and in autograph sessions Jason would sign his name and add "Bassface" below, often having the B marked out by one of the other band members.
In 1988, the band recorded ...And Justice for All, Jason's official debut with Metallica. While the album contains classic Metallica songs such as "Blackened" (which Jason co-wrote), "One", and "Harvester of Sorrow", the bass guitar is all but non-existent, buried under layer upon layer of rhythm guitar tracks. Only a trained ear can make out many of the parts, although this can also be partially attributed to Jason's doubling of Hetfield's rhythm guitar parts (drummer Ulrich has challenged fans to find any instance in any song on the album in which Jason is not doubling the rhythm parts).
Newsted left Metallica in January 2001 and joined the Canadian metal band Voivod in 2002. The last song Jason played with Metallica was "Fade to Black" at the VH1 Music Awards and he knew at the time that it was going to be the last song he would play with the band. During the bridge, when Hetfield sings, "death greets me warm, now I will just say goodbye," Jason can be seen waving to the camera before playing the last few minutes of the song.
Newsted also gave a reason for his desire to work on his Echobrain side project was due to the fact he is a Musician and loves to play music. While the other Metallica members had started a family, Jason decided not to and devote his life to music. While they were at home he still had the desire to play music and felt working on his Echobrain record was harmless.
In July 2006, Jason Newsted joined Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke to form Rock Star Supernova, a band that finalized its member lineup by selecting Lukas Rossi as lead singer in the competition style reality television show Rock Star. Supernova's first album was released on November 21, 2006, to disappointing sales, debuting at number 101 in the US, although it reached number 4 in Canada and went platinum. Jason is currently in negotiation with Bon Jovi to tour with them as a hired hand.
He is also known for his deep and throaty singing style that he has jokingly referred to as Cookie Monster vocals. While in Metallica, he provided backing vocals to Hetfield and would even take entire verses from "Seek & Destroy," "Whiplash," and "Creeping Death" for himself to give Hetfield's voice a rest. In some cases, he even did lead vocals by himself. His backing vocals have been met with both respect and criticism; fans often cite this as one of the aspects of his departure from Metallica that is most missed.
Newsted is also noted for his energetic stage presence. Once described by Lars as an "energy-bomb of a person," Newsted would frequently run on stage, and headbang, displaying his well-known "war-face." He has stated in interviews that during some shows he would "Fuck up his neck pretty bad" and "couldn't play for a few minutes." He has since attempted to remedy this problem by using lighter basses, and Newsted occasionally headbangs to this day, years after leaving Metallica.
In 2003, Jason signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. Jason has visited with children in the program and sits on the organization's board of directors as an honorary member. |
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