NEWSTED OUT OF ECHOBRAIN and NOT BACK IN METALLICA

From Mercury News:

A year and a half after he left Metallica, the biggest heavy metal band in the world and one of the top-selling bands of all time, Jason Newsted is doing things in cycles.

Lunar cycle. Newsted is releasing a series of new albums on the Internet, one every other full moon.

Annual cycle. Last year, Newsted introduced a Beatle-esque band, EchoBrain, at Nadine's Wild Weekend, a new-talent showcase in San Francisco. On Sunday, he returns as the last act of the showcase with Papa Wheelie, a harder-edged metal/punk outfit.

Bicycle. The members of his new band came together riding mountain bikes.

Newsted, 39, retired from Metallica to pursue other musical interests -- and he has been doing it with a vengeance.

He has 13 full-moon releases planned from the Walnut Creek home studio he calls the Chophouse, a roughly bimonthly cycle through 2005. One of them, a Papa Wheelie jam, was recorded at the Sausalito recording studio the Plant on Thursday; its release is planned for Halloween. They are available through his label's Web site, www.chophouserecords.com .

He's producing several other bands, including an English all-woman band, Suffragette.

And he's touring and jamming with former Allman Brother Warren Haynes and his band, Govt. Mule. ``That's a dream, dude,'' he says. ``It's a surreal situation. I'm a kid in a candy store, gaga as it were, to have the opportunity and privilege to play with some of the best players in contemporary music today.''

The Michigan native joined Metallica, his favorite band, in 1986 after the death of bass player Cliff Burton. It was just in time for the band to move heavy metal into the mainstream, sell more than 80 million albums, win two Grammy awards and make its members rich.

Surprisingly, even though he's single, he's a real neighborhood guy. His younger neighbors in his Walnut Creek cul-de-sac call him up when they are having a party, and the next thing they know, they've got a band there.

Band after band

EchoBrain formed when Newsted met musicians almost 20 years his junior at a neighborhood Super Bowl party.

Papa Wheelie formed around Joe Ledesma, a bike shop owner. Ledesma was a drummer until mountain biking buddy Newsted gave him a bass and taught him to play. Newsted plays guitar, and the drummer is Metallica drum technician Steve Wiig.

``Our first gig was a neighborhood barbecue,'' says Newsted. ``It was all improvised. None of the music is prearranged. There are some skeletons of riffs and no set lyrics. It makes me able to enjoy playing, feeling the noise, with no agenda and no one from a record company breathing down our necks telling us what to do.''

Since its debut, Papa Wheelie has played in three houses on the cul-de-sac, ``touring the 'hood,'' as Newsted says. He played a 12-year-old's birthday party. He's happy to be playing the metal music ``that's in my blood.''

Thursday's jam at the Plant sounded like a band with strong vision and direction. It was as if this powerful power trio had taken a trip back 10 years, when metal was analog, vital and repetitive in a chanting, spacey and spiritual way (think Kyuss).

Newsted's vocals fit perfectly in this trippy metal form (although I wouldn't bet I could repeat one lyric correctly). His guitar had all the rhythmic finesse of a bassist who knows how to keep a beat. And the other two members, relative musical rookies, played with delightful depth. If Newsted's not careful, this ``fun'' side project could have a commercial future.

There are jams at the Chophouse four nights a week, he says. After 10 p.m., when the electric volume is too loud, they take it acoustic on the porch, with guitars and bongos. Guests have included Metallica members, guitarist Devon Townshend from Steve Vai's band, members of Sepultura, a Slovenian guitar player and a 12-year-old neighbor. ``The kid next door has a band and asked us to play with them at a barbecue.'' If the guy has the nerve to ask, Newsted added, ``we'll do it.''

His label will release EchoBrain's next album. He was proud to launch the first one, which sold 50,000 copies, ``from my dining room table.''

He has been replaced on bass by his friend Adam Donkin. ``The ball is now pretty much in their court. . . . I've pretty much paved the way. Now, it's up to them to earn their way back up to that. All the money I put into it, I'll never see again, but it felt so good,'' Newsted says of the trio, which has a lawsuit pending over its name filed by a Texas band called Echodrain.

Retirement for this rock star means playing music because he loves it, not because he has to be a star. It's definitely keeping him young.

`` `I don't want to grow up,' '' he sings. ``Tom Waits said it. I live it. I put myself in a position to be a kid as long as I want to. I play loud music and scream for a living.''

So what about the rumors filtering down every month that he's returning to Metallica? ``Six months ago, I might have told you that things are looking OK,'' he says. ``Now I'm not really interested.'' If Metallica songwriter James Hetfield called, ``and said, `I really want you to help me make that music' and addressed it that way -- no lawyers, attorneys, managers -- I would consider it,'' Newsted says. ``But it would have to be him calling me. I don't ever want to say it could never happen.''

Still likes Metallica

Newsted says he has returned to listening to the band as a fan again. His favorite album is 1984's ``Ride the Lightning,'' recorded before his tenure with the group. ``They made the biggest jump in the least amount of time. It was when they finally discovered they were something to be reckoned with. It was all so incredibly epic sounding. Cliff's writing is still timeless, monstrous.''

Is there irony in the fact that he's selling -- and giving away -- music on the Internet? After all, Metallica was a heavily publicized fighter against free music on Napster.

``I don't mind sharing my music. I gave away the first 2,000 EchoBrain CDs,'' Newsted says. ``But with Metallica, that was their art. Would anybody, a painter, a photographer, would they give you a painting free and let you copy it and sell the lithographs for $2,000 apiece?''

Metallica members also understood that it was the music business, and they were savvy businessmen.

``We were in a position, unlike almost every other contemporary artist, where we had an exclusive contract since 1990. We didn't need to use the record company as a bank and Metallica has funded everything it's done, every album, every video. That's why we were so vigilant. No one else has their own music to protect.

``Most kids are just stealing from a record company, which gets 85 percent of the dollar. Not many people make money on music to the point where you can eat. Not even the people you see on MTV who look like they are doing so well. . . .''

Besides, other members had families to support, he says. Lars Ulrich has two children; Hetfield has three.

``You may think we have too much money for your taste, but we worked really hard to get to where we are, harder than 97 percent of the bands that ever existed,'' Newsted says. ``Do you think it's special enough to pay for? Then it's only fair to pay for it.''

Papa Wheelie

Where: Bottom of the Hill, 1235 17th St., San Francisco

When: 9:15 p.m. Sunday (other acts start at 4 p.m.)