In the early 1990s, Metallica were arguably one of the biggest bands on the planet, selling out stadiums worldwide with ease. But despite their packed schedule, two members were plotting a very different kind of side project.
Plans were mooted in 1992, at a time when Metallica and Guns N’ Roses had embarked on a massive co-headline tour – and one that nearly deafened Jeff Beck. Jason Newsted, the band’s then-bass player, says he and Kirk Hammett wanted to start a blues band.
The revelation comes from a newly unearthed interview the pair gave to Raw Power that year and republished by Sunset Vinyl. At that point, Newsted had been in the band for six years, having been sworn in to replace the late Cliff Burton. Yet the bassist says it took them that long to really hit it off and the blues was a shared passion.
“We’ve been jamming,” Hammett said, with Newsted then taking over, adding: “We’d watch one song from Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan and do our version of it.
“Everybody’s taking in different influences, different than what people would expect us to be doing. Kirk and I have really been starting to indulge heavily in the blues. I listen to a lot of older folk blues and stuff and Kirk’s really got turned on Robert Johnson and those kind of things.”
While it was typically Newsted handling vocals – he served as backing vocalist in the band – Hammett said he’d get behind the mic “depending on how many beers I’ve had.” It was, he explains, their “after-hours indulgence.”
The proposed project band even had a HQ in mind.
“I’m building a studio in my house; it’s almost done,” Newsted revealed. “A full 24-track digital. We’ve already asked a lot of people to come and play, people that we talked about earlier, Andreas [Kisser, Sepultura] and Greg Hall from Sacred Reich, and horn players and different things. I’m going to put all kinds of stuff together. So, I can say yes, there are plans to do some other music for sure.”
“Yeah, we’re going to form a blues band,” Hammett returned. “[We want to] have a bunch of guest appearances by other musicians, and just see how it goes.”
“I’m fired up,” Newsted went on. “There’s one guy at home that I’ve been writing blues songs [with]; we’ve already got quite a few songs put together. So, when the time comes about a year from now or whatever, it’ll happen.”
But not even the best-laid plans come to fruition, with Metallica’s relentless touring schedule the likely culprit.
One name on their potential feature list was John Campbell, who was causing a stir in the New York scene. He’s one of the cool guys like [Eric] Clapton,” Newsted had purred. “He’s one of the few Mississippi Delta-style players around nowadays.”
Campbell, however, left the world all too soon, dying of a heart attack in 1993.
Hammett’s love of the blues runs deeper than his metal-minded day job suggests, and he even delivered a ‘How to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan’ Guitar World lesson in 2019.
“Ironically, I was never really into Stevie while he was alive,” he confessed at the top of his lesson. “Then, shortly after he died, I got hold of a video of him playing a live show and was just totally blown away by his timing, his tone, his feel, his vibrato, his phrasing – everything. Some people are just born to play guitar, and Stevie was definitely one of them.”
Hammett’s ownership of Peter Green’s infamous Greeny Les Paul is another sign of the guitarist’s appreciation for blues greats, so perhaps there’s time for a bluesy Metallica album yet.
