Jason Newsted names the Metallica thrashers he’d take country
The former Metallica bassist told Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now that “Battery” and “Fight Fire with Fire” could work in a roots setting.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Jason Newsted has a country-metal thought experiment, and he is not reaching for the obvious ballad.
The former Metallica bassist was asked on Rolling Stone’s Nashville Now podcast which song by his old band might survive a roots-style makeover. Newsted passed over “Mama Said,” the country-tinged track from Metallica’s 1996 album Load, saying that choice was too easy.
Instead, he went straight for speed. Newsted said he would be interested in trying something “super fast and challenging” while keeping its momentum, only without as much distortion or amplification. His picks: “Battery” or “Fight Fire with Fire.”
That is a very specific kind of hayride. “Fight Fire with Fire” first appeared on Metallica’s 1984 album Ride the Lightning. “Battery” opened 1986’s Master of Puppets, the band’s final album with bassist Cliff Burton, who died later that year. Newsted joined Metallica soon afterward.
The question came as Newsted is spending the month in a rootsier setting than the one most Metallica fans know him for. He and his Chophouse Band are opening dates for Blackberry Smoke, the Southern rock group led by Charlie Starr. The Chophouse Band lineup includes Jimbo Hart, formerly of Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, on bass.
Starr joined Newsted on the same Nashville Now episode and had his own Metallica-to-country pick. He chose “Welcome Home (Sanitarium),” also from Master of Puppets, and described the idea as having a spooky Johnny Cash feel.
Newsted left Metallica in 2001, but he told the podcast he remains curious about what the band is doing now. Asked whether he would attend Metallica’s coming residency at Sphere in Las Vegas, Newsted said he would like to see it and called the setting interesting.
The timing gives the conversation a little extra twang. Metallica’s ReLoad, the 1997 follow-up to Load, recently received a deluxe reissue, according to Rolling Stone. Meanwhile, Newsted is on the road with Blackberry Smoke through the end of the month.
The tour is scheduled to include two nights at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on July 24 and 25, according to Rolling Stone. For now, Newsted’s country Metallica picks remain an idea, but he has made clear which corner of the catalog he would attack first: the fast, fierce stuff.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.