NEW YORK (Top40 Charts) - Headbangers expecting thunderous heavy metal from former
Metallica bassist Jason Newsted's new band EchoBrain are in for a surprise.
After 15 years of earth-stomping, ear-deafening, ground-breaking music with Metallica, Newsted, 39, quit his lucrative job to listen to a new muse.
He quenched his thirst for experimentation with the powerful yet melodic pop/rock of EchoBrain, whose music sits somewhere between Soundgarden , Jeff Buckley and Radiohead.
The band's eponymous debut album, launched March 5 on Chophouse/Surfdog Records, debuted at No. 34 on the Billboard New Artist chart, despite scant promotion and radio play.
"When you see me live it's still the same Jason that you see in Metallica, but these other players make it a different color," Newsted told Reuters before EchoBrain's show this past week in New York. "It's important to me that the Metallica fans don't disrespect the time and the music we shared together already by signing off on EchoBrain without giving it a chance."
The New York crowd at the Bowery Ballroom gave EchoBrain more than a chance -- it gave it an enthusiastic thumbs-up, grooving, cheering and stomping of the floor.
JAMMING
The band's origins go back to 1995, when Newsted heard then 16-year-old Brian Sagrafena's jazz /funk drumming at a SuperBowl party for the first time. They started jamming together and a year later Sagrafena brought along singer/guitarist Dylan Donkin. The three hit it off and started a musical experiment that culminated with EchoBrain's debut album.
But Metallica had a strict "no side-projects" policy, and when the band opposed Newsted's desire to release an album with EchoBrain, the bassist quit the heavy metal juggernaut.
Without the big label money behind Metallica, Newsted spent $2 million of his own cash to record the EchoBrain album and put together a tour of the United States and Japan.
Being an independent artist again and playing with musicians who lack touring experience brought back memories of Newsted's early days in the music business.
"Things that I used to take for granted or became jaded to in Metallica after a while I see again through their eyes," he says of his new bandmates. "I'm proud of them. This was a thing where they had to prove something to me and to themselves."
The band makes a point of meeting the audience and signing autographs after each show. "You have to go and take the music to the people, one fan at a time," Newsted said.
So after selling 80 million records worldwide with Metallica, will all the fun that he's having with EchoBrain be rewarding enough for the bassist?
"We try not to set ourselves up for too great of expectations, just be cautiously optimistic," he said. "Will it end up being profitable? That doesn't necessarily mean being successful to me."
METALLICA REUNION?
Newsted is already contemplating a follow-up album with EchoBrain, as the band has finished several new songs.
At the same time, the bassist does not rule out a Metallica reunion. "I miss Metallica," he said flatly.
Since their falling out last year, Newsted mended fences with the other three Metallica members. Guitarist Kirk Hammett even made a short appearance on the EchoBrain album, and he and drummer Lars Ulrich attended one of EchoBrain's shows in San Francisco .
"Everybody has said wonderful things to each other," Newsted said. "Even more so with (singer/rhythm guitarist) James Hetfield ."
Newsted hasn't been replaced in Metallica, which has not performed in the year since he departed. He said he would return to Metallica without hesitation as long as Hetfield, who founded the band in Los Angeles with Ulrich in 1981, asked him to. "James is the best rhythm guitar player heavy metal will ever see. Ever. There won't be anybody better than him," Newsted said.
"But it has to be him, looking me right (in the eyes) and saying 'I really want you to play."
