Jason Newsted (ex-Metallica) has revealed that he is planning to hit the studio next month to record his debut album with The Chophouse Band. Release details for the effort are still pending.

Newsted told 98.7 The Gater the following:

“During my COVID downtime, I was in upstate New York. I wrote about 35 new songs during that. I brought it back to my boys. I was sending them the tapes, the demos, sending it up to them to learn them… And that’s what we’re going to do at the Maltz. We’re playing a couple of songs that people are familiar with, inspired by Johnny Cash and stuff, but most of it is all new original music from THE CHOPHOUSE BAND. I’m not playing any acoustic guitar anymore — it’s just Les Pauls and SGs and stuff now. Some of it’s a little quieter but most of it’s not.”

“THE CHOPHOUSE BAND started out as almost a bluegrass-tinged thing, and now it gets to some places that are as heavy as anything else that I’d been involved with — VOIVOD, Ozzy [Osbourne], METALLICA, NEWSTED band; any of that stuff — it gets to those places now.”

He went on to say that he “loves” singing:

“Now since the last time anybody saw THE CHOPHOUSE BAND, we have a vocal group within the band. Now there are four singers in the band. I have two singers from New York — a female and male singer — that are coming down to join us. And so I’m singing eight or 10 songs, and they’re singing the rest, but I do background vocals and stuff now. So I can actually really concentrate on playing the guitar and then singing that background stuff. And there’s screaming and some [growling] also. So I still haven’t lost that. And it lets people know that there’s still one foot in that place. You can take the boy out of the metal [but] you can’t take the metal out of the boy; it’s just the way it’s always gonna be. So I’m excited for people to be able to witness what we have been working so hard at. I put a lot — a lot — of energy into these new songs.”

Newsted also confirmed that the band will enter the studio on May 5 to record the album. When asked if the record will be self-released, he said “yes” before adding:

“Actually, it’s possible — very possible — that I’ll be back into the Q Prime fold [METALLICA’s longtime management company] with that kind of backing, like a real-deal thing.”

[via Blabbermouth]