Jason Newstead - X Metallica

* Genre: Rock

* Active: '80s, '90s, 2000s

* Instrument: Bass, Guitar (Bass), Theremin

Biography

Jason Curtis Newsted (born March 4, 1963 in Battle Creek, Michigan) is an American bass guitarist currently a member of Voivod, but is best known as the former member of the band Metallica from 1986-2001. He currently resides in Walnut Creek, California.

Bassist Jason Newsted may not have been an original member of Metallica, but he was present for the band's rise from the metal underground to the top of the charts worldwide from the late-'80s up to the dawn of the 21st century. Born on March 4, 1963, in Battle Creek, MI, Newsted and his family relocated when he was 14 to Kalamazoo, MI. Shortly thereafter Newsted discovered rock music via Kiss and their blood-spurting, fire-breathing demon bassist, Gene Simmons. He soon discovered other popular metal bands of the day (Ted Nugent, Rush, Black Sabbath, Blue Oyster Cult), all the while learning bass and playing in local bands.

In 1981, Newsted and a friend left Michigan with hopes of making it to California to start up a band, but made it only as far as Phoenix, where they remained. Newsted formed a new band shortly thereafter, dubbed Dogz, which changed their name to Flotsam & Jetsam by 1983, specializing in a newly founded metal style -- thrash. It was also around this time that Newsted discovered the frontrunners of thrash, Metallica, quickly becoming his favorite band. Flotsam & Jetsam signed with the Metal Blade record company, appearing on an edition of the label's Metal Massacre compilation and recording a debut album, 1986's Doomsday for the Deceiver. All the while Newsted was the band's leader, serving as the main songwriter and lyricist in addition to his bass duties.

Flotsam was quickly moving up the ladder when Metallica (who had just released their most successful album yet, the classic Master of Puppets release) suffered the tragic death of bassist Cliff Burton mid-tour in September of 1986. Metallica decided to soldier on and began auditioning bass players to fill the void left by Burton. Despite a promising future with Flotsam & Jetsam, Newsted opted to try out for Metallica and got the gig. Metallica picked up where their tour left off shortly after naming Newsted their new member and spent 1987 working on their highly anticipated follow-up to Master. Although 1988's epic prog-metal concept album And Justice for All was a major hit and broke Metallica to the big time, Newsted's bass was barely audible in the mix, while his songwriting talents were barely utilized at all (he earned a lone co-songwriting credit with the album-opener, "Blackened"). By the release of 1991's self-titled release, Metallica had become one of the world's most popular rock bands -- a more straightforward musical approach and embracement of music videos had paid off, as the album would eventually sell over ten million copies in the U.S. alone. After a mammoth two-year tour in support of the album had ground to a halt in 1993, the members took time off.

It wasn't until 1996 that the quartet would issue their next studio album, Load, but the group took some heat from longtime fans due to their new look (short hair, designer threads) and a more varied musical style that embraced other forms besides metal. But Load was another sizeable hit, as was its follow-up a year later, Reload. 1998 saw a compilation of cover tunes from over the years, Garage Inc., while 1999's symphonic metal experiment, S&M, was well received. Newsted had also found time to guest on other artist's recordings (Voivod's Phobos, Jim Martin's Milk & Blood, U.N.K.L.E.'s Psyence Fiction, and Sepultura's Against) and was set to launch a side-project titled Echo Brain in 2000, which appeared to cause some strife within Metallica -- confirmed by a tell-all interview by all four bandmembers in Playboy magazine in early 2001. Around the same time the aforementioned Playboy interview hit the stands, Newsted abruptly left Metallica, offering the statement, "Due to private and personal reasons, and the physical damage I've done to myself over the years while playing the music I love, I must step away from the band." ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide

Jason left his previous band, Flotsam and Jetsam to join Metallica in 1986 after the tragic death of popular bassist Cliff Burton.

During 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 amongst the urinals, and upon their return to the bar asked Jason to join Metallica. It was Ulrich who asked Newsted coolly: "Want a job?"

After confirming Jason as their new bassist, Metallica constructed a cheap studio in Ulrich's garage in order to acclimate 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, an 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 Hetfield's 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).

Jason withstood an ongoing series of practical jokes during the mammoth two-year Damaged Justice tour supporting ... Justice .... Some of his hazing experiences would include: being tricked into eating wasabi, the band members ordering alcoholic drinks and charging it to his hotel room and, mentioned during the 2001 Playboy interview [1], having his personal belongings getting thrown out of his hotel window. He said the hazing went from fraternity pranks (such as the autograph sessions mentioned above) to being downright cruel with turning down the bass in ...And Justice for All as an example. He felt that the hazing never stopped. Many fans who have come to his defense have cited this behavior among the evidence that he was never fully accepted as an equal member of the band.

He left Metallica in January 2001. He 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.

In the film Some Kind of Monster, Newsted claimed that he left Metallica because of James Hetfield's controlling desire to keep everyone in Metallica and out of side projects (specifically Echobrain, which Newsted desired to release an album and tour with). Ironically, in Echobrain's self-titled debut album, Kirk Hammett is credited with playing a solo on one track ("Suckerpunch"), without consequence from Hetfield. Jason also admitted that after 13 years, he still felt that his bandmates had not accepted him as an equal to his predecessor, Cliff Burton. He also said that the band's decision to hire a psychologist was, "really fucking lame. And weak."

In 2003, Metallica picked former Ozzy Osbourne and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo as Newsted's replacement. Jason was very happy with the decision Metallica made and in a bizarre twist, Ozzy immediately chose Jason to replace Rob for Ozzfest 2003. Following the end of Ozzfest, Jason left Ozzy's band to concentrate on his work with Voivod. Even though he isn't 100% happy with his relationship with Metallica, they are on better terms than they were immediately after his departure. He has said, "I'll be right there [at the concerts] cheering them on" on MTV Icon. However, after finding out the line up for the Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003, Newsted criticized Metallica for touring with pop-metal bands such as Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit, stating that they were only doing that to get stadiums full. He also noted that he wasn't saying that as the hurt former member, but as a fan. He briefly criticized the production of post-Newsted album St. Anger as well, to which Hetfield has responded that "he's just a voice among many."

In most recent news, Jason Newsted joined Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee and former Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke to form Supernova, a band that finalized its member lineup by selecting a lead singer in the competition style reality television show Rock Star. Supernova's first album is to be released just before the new band hits the road in 2007.

Style

Like Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead and many bassists in the Rock and Metal genres of music, Newsted favors playing pickstyle instead of his fingers. In Metallica's documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica he explained that while learning to play his first bass he had no amp. To make the sound audible, he played with a pick and used a very heavy downstroke that physically starts from his shoulder ("the movement comes from the shoulder and involves the whole arm" - Bass Player magazine Sept/Oct 1991, "Metallica Right-Hand Technique" by Jason Newsted, page 38) and not his wrist (as does most other pickstyle players), which led to not only his unique tone and sound but a strength and consistency in his right-hand picking technique which leads to Jason hitting the strings at the exact same area on every single stroke (Bass Player magazine Sept/Oct 1991, "Metallica's Jason Newstead - New Album, New Sound" pgs 30-39) .

However, Newsted does use his fingers on occasion. The videos for "One", "King Nothing" and "Nothing Else Matters" show Jason using his fingers, and he also plays with his fingers on the fretless acoustic bass used for "The Unforgiven" from the aforementioned film. In addition to this, the video for the song "The Memory Remains" shows Jason playing fingerstyle and occasionally slapping his bass. Also, on the live DVD S&M, Jason can be seen playing fingerstyle on the song "- (Minus) Human," which was written a few years before the DVD was out on the street but previously unreleased (as well as "No Leaf Clover"). More recently he played fingerstyle while performing some of the Supernova original songs while on Rock Star Supernova

He is also known for his deep and throaty singing style. 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. His backing vocals have been met with both respect and criticism from fans; the respecting 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 a "energy bomb-of-a-person", Newsted would frequently run on stage, and headbang. He has stated in interviews that during some shows he would "Jack 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.

Rock Star: Supernova

In July 2006 Jason joined the band Supernova that is seeking a singer for the new band. The other band members are Gilby Clarke (guitar), and Tommy Lee (drums). The band selected Lukas Rossi to be their lead singer on September 13, 2006 on the television show Rock Star: Supernova.

On October 23rd, 2006 Newsted injured his shoulder while attempting to catch a falling bass amp head. He is scheduled for immediate surgery, and will then undergo a lengthy rehab process that could detain him for up to nine months. The band is searching for a temporary replacement for their upcoming tour. [2]

Discography

* Flotsam and Jetsam

o 1986 Doomsday for the Deceiver

* Metallica

o 1987 Garage Days Re-Revisited

o 1988 ...And Justice for All

o 1991 Metallica

o 1993 Live Shit: Binge & Purge

o 1996 Load

o 1997 Reload

o 1998 Garage Inc.

o 1999 S&M

* Sepultura

o 1998 Against (guest)

* UNKLE

o 1998 Psyence Fiction (guest)

* Voivod

o 1998 Phobos (guest)

o 2003 Voivod

o 2006 Katorz

* Echobrain

o 2002 Echobrain

* Papa Wheelie

o 2002 Unipsycho

o 2002 Live Lycanthropy

* IR8/Sexoturica

o 2002 IR8 vs. Sexoturica

* Moss Brothers

o 2001 Electricitation

DVD & Video

* Metallica

o 1989 2 of One

o 1992 A Year and a half in the life of Metallica

o 1993 Live Shit: Binge & Purge

o 1998 Cunning Stunts

o 1999 S&M

o 2004 Some Kind Of Monster

o 2006 The Videos 1989-2004

Lars Ulrich - METALLICA

Lars Ulrich (born December 26, 1963) is the drummer and founder of Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to a middle-upper class family and worked in a gas station and as a paper boy during his childhood and teens. At the age of thirteen he begged his grandmother to buy him his first drum kit. The kit was a Ludwig because he wanted to have the same drum kit as Ian Paice of Deep Purple. Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of seventeen, to pursue his training in tennis. After publishing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper, called The Recycler, he met James Hetfield and created a band — Metallica.

Besides being one of Metallica's founding members and main songwriters, drummer Lars Ulrich is also the band's spokesman. Born on December 26, 1963, in Gentofte, Denmark, Ulrich's father (Torbin Ulrich) was a nationally renowned tennis player, and it appeared as though Lars would follow in his father's footsteps, as the young Ulrich practiced hard on tennis skills. In 1973, his father took Lars to his first rock concert, to see the mighty Deep Purple in Copenhagen, which opened the youngster's eyes to hard rock and heavy metal. After he decided that the tennis life wasn't for him after all, Ulrich shifted his focus on music (namely the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement: Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamond Head, Motorhead, Def Leppard, etc.), and took up the drums. His family relocated to California in the early '80s, as Lars promptly put an ad in the local music paper looking for other similarly minded musicians looking to start up a band (even though the NWOBHM had yet to make an impression stateside). One of the first replies he received was from guitarist James Hetfield, as the pair agreed that they should form a band that was a reaction against the glam metal that had infiltrated Los Angeles at the time. Soon after, Metallica was officially born.

Several other bandmembers came and went, until a lineup consisting of bassist Cliff Burton, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, plus Ulrich and Hetfield (the latter also doubling on vocals by this time) moved to San Francisco, building up a solid fan base due to their shows and a heavily circulated demo tape, No Life 'Til Leather. Metallica was offered a record contract with the independent label Megaforce if they agreed to move to New York, which they did, replacing Mustaine with Kirk Hammett in the process. Over the course of three releases, 1983's Kill 'Em All, 1984's Ride the Lightning (which was the group's first to be issued by a major label, Elektra), and 1986's Master of Puppets, Metallica became one of heavy metal's most promising new bands, until Burton's tragic death nearly derailed the group. With massive success just around the corner, the remaining members decided to carry on with replacement member Jason Newsted, resulting in such blockbuster releases as 1988's And Justice for All and 1991's self-titled release, which established the group as one of the biggest rock bands on the planet. The '90s saw more sold-out stadium tours and further hit albums (1996's Load, 1997's Reload, etc.), before Newsted exited the band in early 2001.

Between Metallica tours throughout the '90s, Ulrich kept himself busy forming his own record label, Music Company (via Elektra/Asylum) and jet setting with other rock stars as well as movie actors. In the late '90s, Ulrich received criticism from rock fans when he publicly spoke out against the mp3 file sharing internet server Napster, attempting to lend a hand in closing down the server by prohibiting Napster from including any Metallica songs - going as far as giving a list of Metallica fans who had downloaded songs of the group (which resulted in the ban of nearly 300,000 users from the service).

LARS ULRICH IMAGES

James Hetfield - METALLICA

James Hetfield is the guitarist and vocalist from the band Metallica.

Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963, in Downey, Los Angeles County, California.

Hetfield was 9 years old when he took his first piano lessons, before taking on his brother David's drums and finally picking up a guitar in his pre-teens. Inspired by bands such as Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Venom, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy, Hetfield formed his first band, Obsession, in his early teens.

He started the band (Metallica) in 1981 with Lars Ulrich (Drummer).

James has been a major endorsee of ESP guitars since 1991, and is best known for playing custom-made Explorer-style guitars with an EMG 81/EMG 60 set for pickups.

Metallica was formed in Downey, California, in 1981 by drummer and former tennis prodigy Lars Ulrich and guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, who met after Lars Ulrich placed a classified advertisement in the American publication The Recycler. Bassist Ron McGovney was an original member, and the band used several transient guitar players, such as Brad Parker and Jeff Warner. Their first session played was in Lars Ulrich's garage. At that time there were only three members, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, and Lloyd Grant. Ron McGovney joined a couple of days later. Metallica got its name when drummer Lars Ulrich was helping San Francisco area metal promoter Ron Quintana pick out a name for a new magazine to promote metal and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands. Quintana came up with two suggestions: "Metallica" and "Metal Mania." Lars suggested that the name Metallica was lame and told him to use Metal Mania. Lars then decided to use Metallica as the name for the band he and James Hetfield had just started.

In early 1982, Metallica recorded "Hit the Lights" for the first Metal Massacre compilation. Guitarist Lloyd Grant was brought in to do the solos on the track but was never a full member of the band. Desperate for a full time lead guitarist, Ulrich posted an ad in the local newspapers. Dave Mustaine from Huntington Beach, California, a guitarist from the band Panic responded, and upon arrival started a sound check. Ulrich and Hetfield were so impressed with Mustaine's warm up and equipment that they asked him to join before actually auditioning. A few months later the band recorded a full demo, "No Life 'Till Leather", which quickly drew attention on the underground tape trading circuit. Conflicts with Mustaine eventually caused McGovney to leave the band, and he was replaced by Cliff Burton from Castro Valley, California, lured from his band Trauma in exchange for the other members of Metallica relocating to the San Francisco area.Upon arriving in El Cerrito, California, the group quickly built a healthy local following in the Bay Area Thrash Scene via word-of-mouth and live performances. Metallica then traveled to New York in 1983 at the urging of local promoters Jon and Marsha Zazula, and after a few gigs the band signed with the Zazulas' brand new label, Megaforce Records. Shortly after arriving in New York, Mustaine was fired due to various disruptive, unproductive behaviors all related to alcoholism and other addictions. Kirk Hammett was drafted from Exodus to replace him. Mustaine would go on to create the thrash metal band Megadeth. A pupil of Joe Satriani, Hammett brought to the band a more melodic and progressive guitar style quite different from Mustaine. This would become more apparent after "Ride the Lightning", the first album to feature Hammett's songwriting.

After Hammett joined the band, the classic Metallica line-up was installed, Kirk Hammett on guitar, Lars Ulrich on drums, James Hetfield on guitar and vocals, and finally Cliff Burton on bass. Many saw Metallica's formation as a direct reaction to the prevalent rock and roll music of the early 1980s. Inspired by bands such as Motörhead, Diamond Head (declaring in the sleeve notes of 1998's "Garage Inc." that "two heads were better than one"), Saxon and other bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, as well as from hardcore punk bands like the Misfits and Discharge. Yet Metallica's fusion of these influences transcended mere stylistic mashup, creating a heavy, hard, dynamic, yet capably melodic stlye perfectly reinforced by the evolving depth of their subjects, lyrics and composition, most noticeably starting with "Ride the Lightning".

Metallica's first album, "Kill 'Em All", was released in 1983 on Megaforce Records. The album set the template that they would follow throughout the 1980s, prominently featuring the heavy vocals and aggressive rhythm guitar of James Hetfield. "Kill 'Em All" did not have huge sales after its inititial release, but it did establish Metallica a loyal fan following in the growing 'underground metal' scene. A year later Metallica released their second album for Megaforce, "Ride the Lightning". The new album expanded their form with longer songs that featured lyrical and instrumental growth that rose above some of the playing on "Kill 'Em All". One significant development on "Ride the Lightning", the song "Fade to Black", presented a slower, more introspective lyric, musing on the perspective of someone contemplating suicide. Indeed "Fade to Black" represents the first such song in a tradition that would come to include "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "One". The inclusion of songs with these slower, more ballad-like passages and psychologically sensitive lyrics demonstrates one of the important factors that distinguished Metallica from most other thrash metal bands such as Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth, whose musical ability rivalled Metallica, but whose artistry never quite matched.

This development as songwriters continued with "Master of Puppets", which many consider Metallica's finest album, and which featured the compositional influence of bassist Cliff Burton more than any other Metallica album. "Master of puppets" was also to be the last record with Cliff Burton, who tragically died in a bus accident on September 27, 1986, in rural Sweden.

Later, Jason Newsted joined the band as a new bassist. He stayed in the band for 15 years and has released 5 Albums with Metallica ( ..And Justice For All, Metallica, Load, Reload, Garage Inc.) and appeared on the official Metallica Concert DVD's entitled Live Shit: Binge and Purge, Cunning Stunts and S&M. In the Year 2000, there were some arguments between James Hetfield and Jason Newsted. This was basically because Metallica did not listen to Jason's musical ideas; Jason only being credited for 3 songs out of the 5 albums he was in.

Jason then left the Band and helped a fairly unknown band called Echobrain to
release their album. Once they successfully released it he left Echobrain and joined Ozzy Ozbourne's band. Jason is now a member of Tommy Lee's band "Rock Star Supernova," however he will be out of that band for approximately 9 months after suffering back injuries when trying to catch his bass head which fell off his amp. When he recovers, who knows what project Jason may encounter next?

When Metallica released "St. Anger" in 2003, it received mixed reactions from fans and critics, but hit #1 on the Billboard 200 in it's first week, after which sales plummetted and it became Metallica's poorest overall seller to date. While producing, the band searched for a new bassist. His name was: Robert Trujillo.

Now In 2007, using Rick Rubin's critically acclaimed producing abilities, they will start to record the newest album which is as of yet untitled. The writing stage is complete and recording will begin next january with an expected release of late fall. A supposedly world tour will follow.

Kirk Hammet - METALLICA

Birth Place: San Francisco, California, USA
Date of Birth: November 18, 1962
Heritage: American

Kirk Lee Hammett was born on November 18th 1962 in San Francisco, California. He got his first own guitar at the age of 15, when he would buy a Montgomery Ward Strat copy from a friend for ten dollars and a Kiss album ("Dressed To Kill"). But he only started really playing it after about six months later.

During his adolescence, Kirk was very introverted, as he had moved from San Francisco to a suburb, the East Bay. He suffered a lot from the culture shock, and the music he would listen to -Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix or Cream- set him apart from the other kids even more. But playing his favorite songs like "Purple Haze", "Wild Thing" and "Communication Breakdown" on the guitar made him feel closer to the music he was listening to. Together with John Marshall (from "Metal Church" -he replaced James Hetfield a couple of times when James broke his arm and when he had the accident with the pyrotechnics in Montreal in 1992) he would figure out songs and jam on them.

The first real good guitar Kirk bought was a blonde Stratocaster with a maple neck, because of Hendrix. After listening to UFO, with Michael Schenker, he bought a black Flying V, which can be heard on the first three or four Metallica albums. By then, he had formed a band called Exodus, and they would play Thin Lizzy, UFO, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden cover songs, but also original ones. From the money they actually got for playing at garden parties or so they had to pay the PA they rented. Exodus opened a couple of shows with Metallica, and Kirk was very impressed by them, and their original sound. When lead guitarist Dave Mustaine got expelled, after a fight with James Hetfield, Kirk was invited to an audition in New York and he joined the band without thinking twice. Actually he found that he was more suited playing with these guys than with the band he himself had formed!

In 1982, a few weeks before Metallica recorded their debut album, "Kill 'Em All", Kirk took lessons from Joe Satriani, from whom he also adapted that 12 hours a day playing routine. "Kill 'Em All" would then mark the beginning of an incredible Metalli-era!

( See the MetallicA History ).

In the band, when recording, Kirk used to play only the lead guitar parts ( until "Load") and eventually contribute arrangement ideas. He would compose up to 40 takes for one single solo, recording them on his portable recording machine. Kirk really considers his solos as "songs in the song", and so he would not stop working on them until he is fully satisfied with the result. ( Take for example the "Enter Sandman" solo. It's composed of several takes to give the perfect solo! ) His playing has quite evolved since the early years with "Kill 'Em All". So Kirk admits having overplayed on "...And Justice For All", where he tried to impress everybody and make proof of his virtuosity. But on the "Black Album" and especially on "Load"/ "ReLoad" Kirk dropped some speed in favor of a more bluesy playing style and experimental sounds. His song writing role changed too and he contributed some rhythm guitar work to the last two albums. His influence in the band has considerably grown this last years, as Metallica used to be fairly dominated by the duo Hetfield/Ulrich. But Kirk's charisma has always put him apart and has at least equally contributed to his popularity as his extraordinary guitar playing has.
In his private life, Kirk got divorced from his first wife Rebecca (which he married on December 3, 1987) and wed his girlfriend, Lani, on January 31 1998 in Kailua, Hawaii.