Why Jason Newsted's Latest Tour is Different

Jason Newsted will always put on a show, you can count on that.

The glory years found him doing that with Metallica, of course. But he also logged time prior to that with Flotsam and Jetsam, and in the years that followed with Voivod and even Ozzy Osbourne.

But with bands like Echobrain -- the first thing he did following his exit from Metallica, it became clear that he's happiest when he's following his own muse. Which is what makes his current tour with the Chophouse Band an especially interesting view of Newsted's world.

It's not a new group, as he'll tell you. But it's been an important creative outlet, a rotating cast of characters he's made music with for more than 30 years. With this outfit, he has the ability to just play, whatever that means in the moment, anytime that he wants to.

The difference here is that he's now taken the group out on the road for their first proper tour and as the early headlining dates have demonstrated, it's a fun, long night, one which stretches out close to two and a half hours of music and conversation.

As always, he's honest and spontaneous. As he got ready to kick off a concert in Pennsylvania, he called an audible and took time to make further gear adjustments. "Back in the old days, we used to have roadies," he quipped to the crowd. "I said I wanted to do it DIY and here we are."

We spoke to Newsted prior to the start of the tour, which also finds them sharing the stage with Blackberry Smoke at certain shows, to get a sense of what to expect. Wiithout giving away any spoilers, the current concerts are delivering on what he promised.

You'll hear songs from "heroes," nods to "the big band," as he calls Metallica and original material, offering a look at just some of the music they've been laying down over the years. As video posted by Rok-Sho and Jim Powers shows, fans are hearing a lot of different kinds of music.

You can listen to our entire conversation with Jason on the UCR Podcast. Here are some edited excerpts from that discussion.

It seems like the Chophouse has brought you a lot more than just having a place to make music.
Yes, the umbrella of the Chophouse began January of 1992, so we're in our 35th year, I guess, if you look at it that way. Initially it was a place to go and jam for when we were off tour and your agenda isn't there and you kind of get to have some fun playing and remember why you play.

Over those 35 years, it's grown into the umbrella for a record company and art stuff and, you know, all of the things, [but] still having music as the main focus. Many different great players have come through because we have...I guess we've had four Chophouses, as it goes. I'm sitting in the Chophouse HQ, we call it, in Santa Cuesta, Florida. It's about five or six years old, this place.

We sold all of our Western property about five or six years ago. Got rid of the original Chophouse and the Montana Ranch as everything was on fire. So now we're down to two. We have one in New York and one here in Florida. And as you see, it is the place for creation. So whether it's drawing or doing our videos, or making albums, or making music, or having jams, or all the things -- ceramics -- all the s--t, it's in this building now. So it has grown into that. The Chophouse equals creative space.

Watch Jason Newsted and the Chophouse Band Perform 'Stormbringer'

What brought about the idea to do this current run of dates?
There's a few factors. [Newsted pauses] I needed to prove it to myself again, I think. You know, I took the Newsted band when I was 50 and that was to prove myself that I could. [He laughs] It really was very selfish, actually, but one of the [most fun] things ever happened. It felt good, man. It felt like I'd done some things right over my career. When we went out that time, we got the respect from people. That was fantastic.

But now I'll just touch on it briefly. [About a year ago], I had a procedure for throat cancer. They cut out a bunch of s--t over here and went inside and cut out a bunch of s--t. We caught it early and it was a gamble I had to take, you know? They said maybe you'll sing like this or not sing like this. I'm like, "Well, can I keep breathing?" "Yeah." "Well, let's do that."

I took the most....severe [path]. You can't be sure on this s--t, no matter what. The most sure that we could be was by going and lasering that s--t out. So that's what we did. That's almost a year ago. Whenever anything happens that we reflect upon, a New Year's goes by and you reflect on the year. Your birthday goes by and you reflect on [the past year], this kind of s--t.

Well, this one was about a million times that, right? So in my spoiled ass conditioning, however long it's been, you know, dude, anybody would be affected by it, no matter tough you are, you get fucking spoiled. [Newsted laughs]. That doesn't necessarily mean money. It means exposure to things. It means experiences. It means how many more bands can you hear?

And so to impress me? To impress you? To impress those of us that are deep cut listeners, this kind of stuff? It takes a little bit of something, for a person, a male or female, a beautiful person, to turn your head? It takes a minute. It takes a lot to be impressed, nowadays. Been through a lot of s--t.

The great spirit got my attention and put me in check. And I think it's probably the only thing that could, period. It used to be the big band could put me in check because I had to answer to a whole bunch of s--t. But that [scenario]doesn't exist anymore, like you're talking about. I do everything on my own terms. So whether it's this year, next year, or whatever like that, this has put me into a different headspace and [given me] a new lease on life in the way that I'm not...nobody's guaranteed tomorrow.

Watch Jason Newsted and the Chophouse Band Perform 'Turn the Page'

But I'm really not and so I'm really careful about how I spend my time now. I need to go out and do this to feel as alive as possible. Because I felt as close to death as possible, in the last year, I've had some close calls. We had some close calls together. I've had some close calls on my own with ATVs and motorcycles and s--t. But this was the closest and so it made me want to feel alive.

And the way I know how to do that is by going out and playing live in front of people and exchanging that [feeling] [Spend time to] meet people, saying hello again. That was the main factor. Then I got to be pals with Blackberry Smoke over the last couple years. And so these things started tying together and I kind of manifested it. And then last November in Ithaca, I played a Black Sabbath tune with them. Charlie [Starr] and I get to be good buddies. I said, "Bro, you need to let the Chophouse Band open for you." He said, "Right on." And here we are.

It's not hard to see how you struck a bond with the Blackberry Smoke guys.
it is an honor to know them, and even more of an honor to be included in this way. I must say that one of the determining factors, if we go back to one of our earlier questions, there, one of the determining factors that made me want to say yes to this. I want to be very clear, Matt, that, you know, I'm paying to play these shows. I happened to be in this band that did really good. I put my money away and didn't put it up my face. Now I can do this stuff. And if I choose to take my boys out for how many ever f---ing shows, and how many ever countries [we want to go to], I am paying to play.

One of those reasons I said yes was because of the southern hospitality, the warmth, the friendliness as a collective of these people, not just Charlie, not just Paul [Jackson], not just Benji [Shanks] -- not just the main guys -- it's the f---ing merch guy and the monitor guy and the camera guy. All the same attitude, all the same respect being shown, and that's what matters to me. I hope it matters to most people, but that is it for me, that's very most important thing you show me respect and you get mine.

You know, we have our friends, we have our bros, lifelong and all that, yes, we do, but that s--t could get cold, right? I remember specifically on the Gigantour, we played with Megadeth. Those buildings, we're going to go on at 4:30 in the afternoon. It's f---ing July and it's 80 [degrees] outside. It's f---ing beautiful outside. We should all be out there anyway, you know?

But we're in this gray, cold, f---ing cavern. Everybody's dressed in black. Everybody's trying to outgrimace each other and s--t. We're metalheads, and that's great. We have our army and everything. But what the f--k, man? This is cold, cold, cold, cold. I'm not putting it down. I'm just making an observation.

The comparison from that kind of thing and whatever brotherhood that is, to this new kind of brotherhood. Cats that have been doing it 25 years successfully, cats that worked really hard to have a following, a loyal following that knows the difference between two kinds of music. Matt, [if it is] good [or]not good, they know the difference. They know the difference. And they know Blackberry is good. They'll see the Chophouse Band is also good. That's why it's going to work, right? But one of my main reasons for wanting to go with them was because of their brotherly nature, their kind demeanor.

Jason Newsted and the Chophouse Band are on the road throughout July. You can see the current tour dates at their official website.