Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted gave an interview recently and has revealed he has several musical projects in the works, including a return to Metal! Jason appeared on Gator 98.7 FM’s Gator Garage for a VIP performance and question-and-answer session with the radio station’s Jason and Franny. Jason described new albums by The Chophouse Band and two other bands, including a metal band he is prepping. Jason’s post-Metallica output included albums with Voivod, touring with Ozzy Osbourne, and a solo EP and album, Newstead. Inspire of critical acclaim, Jason folded the Newsted project and deleted his social media accounts – commenting he lost “an awful lot of money — hundreds of thousands of dollars.” He added: “I couldn’t continue because the business is such a harsh thing now and so different than what I had known.”  

Jason commented to 98.7 (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “Actually, I spent six months of last year putting together The Chophouse Band ‘Volume 1′.  The Chophouse Band has been together [and] making music since 1992. So it was our first album after 30 years. I spent a lot of time on that. And then, once I got that under my belt, I’m kind of stepping back into the heavy now. So the last couple of weeks I’ve been auditioning guitar players for a heavy project. I’m back on bass and singing with a metal drummer — double bass, you know; getting’ loud again. So I’ve got a couple of irons in the fire. I’m putting two new projects together right now — but loud.”