Former Metallica, etc. bassist/vocalist Jason Newsted has opened up a bit further about his past struggles with addiction. This past May, Newsted went on to state that it was those issues that ultimately led to him departing the aforementioned thrash metal legends back in 2001.
Speaking to the ‘Let There Be Talk‘ podcast this past spring, Newsted explained that it wasn’t actually the long established narrative that clashes with Metallica over his side projects that led to his exit, but rather his inability to get treatment for his addictions issues due to his Metallica commitments. Newsted said at the time:
“One thing I want to straighten out, or just comment on.. the Echobrain thing. That was another project that I took to a certain level. I had had 40 projects in the Chophouse to a level of recording, composition, rehearsal, that kind of thing. This one was just more promising, and I took it to a different place. But it’s not the reason I left Metallica.
The reason I left Metallica is because I was a horrible addict. I was way up against myself, and if I didn’t get some kind of help, I was going to die. And so I just said, ‘You guys, can I have a minute? Please give me a minute.’ And they said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I would rather live than be in your band. I love being in your band. I think it’s kind of obvious. I wear your shirt every fucking night.’ So it’s like, you know, ‘I wear our shirt every night. I fly my colors every night. I meet every fucking person that wants to meet and represent us for all the fans every fucking night. Don’t tell me I’m not committed. Don’t tell me I’m not loyal. Don’t tell me. I’m always the first one in and last one out. I’m not saying the words. It’s fucking history.’ It’s real.
You can’t give me that minute to get my head straight again. Then I have to go. Not that I don’t love you, and certainly not that I’m not committed to this band.”
Now, in a newly published interview with Spin, Newsted has spoken further about that dark time in his life. While it’s a chapter he plans to cover in-depth in his upcoming memoir, he did have the following to say about his battle against painkiller addition — a situation exasperated by various injuries and surgeries. He told the publication of that:
“In the mid- to late ’90s, I had a lot of pretty serious neck and spine issues. It’s easy to see the map of why this is fucked up. In that time, I would start taking Vicodin and get through some days. I kept going and going and going. The injury was in a place that couldn’t really be repaired.
Within the addiction, I would say probably 10 or 12 years on painkillers, off and on but 2004 to 2008, full on because the surgeries did what they did. I got out of one right back into another. I finally got off that shit by the time I was just about to do my first exhibit.
It was 16 years ago this week in San Francisco, May 2010. I had peeled myself off the drugs and started getting back to get back to myself again. That’s when the global art thing started happening for me and the Paris gallery representative. I had about 10 years of that.”
