American bass player Jason Newsted, who is well known as a long-term member of Metallica, is rightfully considered one of the best bass players on the planet. Obviously, as he likes to say a bit behind Paul McCartney. His passion for metal music led him to a number of projects before and after Metallica. Voivod, Echobrain, Flotsam and Jetsam, but currently we can finally hear results of his solo work, which was the original plan of our interview. But it turned out to be, as he said, the most honest interview he ever had.
At first, his manager told me to keep questions about Metallica to an absolute minimum. However, we somehow got there and covered a few issues very honestly. I don’t remember, if I ever exchanged so many heavy emotions during a music interview. It was almost a fight at one point. Jason has a tendency to be mostly friendly, but he is also very self-confident, passionate and defensive, when talking about his values and art. The beginning of the interview had a relaxed pace and we spoke about new Metal EP, bass playing style, modern technology and many more. Controversial topics later on were not the main aim, but through an emotional exchange of arguments, we got to, as he said, to never before expressed thoughts. The main benefit of the interviews for Czech gear-oriented magazine Muzikus, was the fact, we could build the friendly atmosphere talking about instruments.
This interview took place on 13th of January 2013.
Czech version of the interview here.
Photos credit: Ian Alex
English translation credit: Iva Boháčková & Jakub Souček
During your career, you had a chance to play on a huge spectrum of instruments. Please, give our readers an idea, what brands do you prefer?
I play on Sadowsky basses for more than fifteen years or more now. Same goes for pick-ups, as most of my basses have Sadowsky pick-ups in them. I also use Telecaster ’74 bass with the big humbucker at the front for a couple of songs on the latest recording.
Sometimes, you also play on a guitar, especially during songwriting. Which one do you prefer?
I play all of the rhythm guitar tracks on all of the songs and I composed them mainly on the Paul Reed Smith guitars. Then there’s one guitar that was built for me back in the 90s by a company called GMP. There’s only a couple of very unique custom Jason Newsted models. I’ve been playing it for about twenty years and it is outfitted with the original Metallica guitar EMG setup with the 81 and 60, or whatever it is.
Any interesting facts within effects or amplifiers?
For me, I just plug straight in. I don’t do any effects on this record. There are a couple of bass effects put on, but I don’t record them through the app, I plug straight into the amp. The main amplifier is the same one I’ve used since The Black Album. Mid 70s SVT head and an old SVT cabinet that I bought back in Flotsam and Jetsam days is still the same rig that I played on every album, since The Black Album, Voivod and Echobrain. I recorded everything with that. But if I do use some effects for bass, I have a little effects setup live. I mostly use Boss Flanger BF-2, chorus, some delay and in the early days I used the original Morley Power Wah.
Thrash Legacy
For a majority of the music world, you are known within vocals as a back-up singer, but now you are presenting yourself as a full-time singer. How did you reach this point?
It’s been going for a long, long time actually before Flotsam was called Flotsam. I used to sing lead vocals and play bass when we just played Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Tank songs and stuff like that back in the early 80s. So I’ve always kind of done that thing, some growls and screams. So, I kind of did and it was always that guttural kind of singing or growling, or whatever you want to call it. The past ten years, while cooperating with Chophouse label and recording with many different artists, and styles of players, I always think I was writing lyrics. I’ve been writing lyrics for decades and decades. I have a lot of notebooks full of my poems. Those were the things that I placed on a music stand when we played our improvised music. Then I just sing. Over the years, I sang and sang and sang. And I went from screams to now, where I actually sing with my own voice. And so it’s just something that took probably, you know, twelve years in the Chophouse working with a vocal coach with different things and practicing. I had to unlearn how to sing my throat way and learn to sing with my gut. That’s kind of what I’m doing now and I develop my work out every day. The same as I do my sit-ups, my pushups or my bicycling, I do a vocal practice every day. It’s something that I have to keep working. I know, I don’t have the greatest voice in the world, but it’s not horrible. And it works for our music and I’m really enjoying it. So I always want it to be really good. And when we play in front of people, I want to make sure that they hear what they hear on the record. So it’s a new adventure for me. It’s a new world, new roles that are taking on, like playing a guitar, playing a bass and singing lead vocals. They’re all my songs from the beginning till the end with my name on it. And I’ve never really done that before. A lot of unknown and a little bit scary, exciting stuff.
From the tracks, which are available so far, it is really not that bad. When I heard the track called Soldierhead, I immediately thought of Chuck Billy from Testament. Has anyone ever told you that?
It’s really crazy. I heard somebody say that and I’ve been friends with those guys for years. Actually, the first person that I ever met in San Francisco, the morning that I came for my audition with Metallica, was Alex Skolnick. I walked into the rehearse space of Testament, they were actually called Legacy back then, at nine o’clock in the morning and he’s in there playing a guitar. I know those guys for many years. But the crazy thing is I don’t own any of their records. I don’t have any of their records on vinyl, CD or on my iPhone. I just don’t. And they are Bay Area guys and I’ve always known about them. We’ve done shows together and all that kind of things. But I’m just not that familiar with what they do. So when somebody tells me that, I mean, that’s pretty cool. It’s the same as when somebody tells me my paintings look like some other artists that I’ve never heard of. And I was like, oh, that’s cool. But I’ve always liked Chuck Billy as a person. So, I’ll take all of that as a great compliment.
They’re all my songs from the beginning till the end with my name on it. And I’ve never really done that before. A lot of unknown and a little bit scary, exciting stuff.
If we are talking about your bass playing style, you are trying to be different here as well. You care about the speed and harshness in playing. Therefore, I liked one of your answers in an interview that you were inspired by Lemmy of Motörhead, as he used a guitar pick.
Yes, my two main teachers are Geezer Butler and Lemmy. And you put those two together and that’s kind of the style I go after. But definitely the pick thing… Lemmy always made it okay that I was playing with a pick. Because through the years way back, when I was first starting as a teenager, people would harass me. Other bass players would be saying: “You’re not a real bass player, because you’re not playing with your fingers.” And I was like: “Can you play this fast?!” “Oh, well, no.” “Okay, you play with your fingers. I can’t really play like that. But you can’t play like this. You cannot play it fast like me with your fingers. I’m sorry, I don’t care who you are. You can try, but there’s no way stamina-wise that you can play as fast as me, for as long as me when I got a pick.” So over time, you know, that kind of just made it better and better that Lemmy was playing with a pick. Now you look around the world and everybody plays with a pick. And one very important point that I think I should make right now. Can we look at rock music and general popular music and bass players that play with a pick. The most successful bassists in the history of music have played with a pick. There is one billionaire bass player in our universe and his name is Paul McCartney. He plays with a pick. He always has. Okay? And the next guy is me. Millions of dollars earned and records sold. That’s me, I play with a pick. The most successful bass players in our world, they all play with a pick.
Metal EP
If I am not mistaking, your debut EP Metal will come out (interview took place on the 13/7th of January 2013) and everybody will finally hear your solo work. Throughout the years, you went through many bands and projects. But can we say that you finally reached a point in your career to say: “I can do a solo album now!”?
It was not any grand plan. I was not sitting down and scheduling it out or anything. It just happened. You know, I was always working in music the whole time perpetually playing all kinds of different styles and music. So just keeping it as a part of my balance, you know, it’s what I do the most. You might have heard this story already, but when Lars called me to go play with them for the 30th anniversary, December 2011 at the Fillmore Theatre, I said: “Sure, I will come jam with you.” I was excited to see the other members of the family and the Metallica family has always been close to the same people I have worked for years and years. So that was just a great opportunity to go and check everything out. I had no idea what was gonna happen when I got there, I didn’t know really what to expect in any way. To be honest, I didn’t know how the band is going to be and how the guys are going to treat me. I was just completely overwhelmed by the energy of the fans, and the outpouring of appreciation and respect that I felt. That week, there was the fan club show, and there were many, many countries represented at those shows. Everybody in all languages were just chanting “Jason” and it make me feel so strong that I knew, I did the right thing for so long. Especially by spending my time with the fans and doing all the things that I did in my career. I got completely, I guess completely surprised and motivated to try to play the music for the people one more time. By looking at those fans and hearing on fans and feeling their energy that week, it made me decide to give it one more strong shot with my own music. And so that’s what I’m doing now. That’s really what happened. It was the Metallica’s fault.
Give us an idea about a production of the album and your co-players.
Last year in August, I pretty much put everything together on my iPad. I recorded all the songs and all the instruments. Then I gave the music to my players in the band. Then they went to learn it and came back. We recorded the music in October and December of last year. It took about two weeks to record eleven songs. We’re going to share the songs with everybody in a few months. Hopefully, we will be able to take the music out to the people and share it with them. But the idea is to share all eleven songs. Talking about my co-players, our trio (Jesus Mendez Jr. – drums, Jessie Farnsworth – guitar) has been together for about five years playing all kinds of improvisations and going for hours and hours and making noise. Just having a great time, for the most enjoyed reasons like rawness and all that kind of thing, you know. Their part in it is supporting my vision, being disciplined, being able to hang with me for sixteen hours at a time playing music and making it happen. You know, all of that stuff there, guys that have paid their dues, but never really made it to a greater success. And so they’re still very hungry and determined to find some success. And that’s why I chose them. They’re the real deal, you know, they don’t have any kind of ego sh*t that ruins a lot of fans. Just hard working.
You recorded the songs in a very small studio and overall production sounds very raw. It naturally leads to a question, why did you want it like this?
I wanted to keep it as pure as possible. There was never any plan for any grand production or anything like that. You know, we went into a tiny studio in the middle of a cornfield and an old farmhouse and locked ourselves in there for a couple of weeks. No crazy effects, just plugged the guitars straight in the amps. We were trying to keep it as real as possible. And then, when people experience it live, they get what they’re hearing.
I can get in contact with people in all corners of the world and get my music to people in areas that I never could before. Even if we toured for fifty years, we wouldn’t be able to get to those places.
You mentioned that you prepared a majority of the songs on your iPad. I can see lately, it is quite a trend among musicians. However, you were always a strong supporter of analog. What happened?
I always try to keep me in the analog world, you know, just to keep it as pure and true as possible. But as the modes of capturing the music change, we need to change with them and adapt. The Pro Tools can be used to your advantage, because it’s a quick way to get creative ideas down. And the same with the iPad technology and that kind of stuff. The reason why the songs sound so direct is because I recorded them the moment the idea came to me. So it’s just very immediate in that way. To be honest, I had ignored technology pretty severely for the last decade. If you talk to anybody that’s in my circle, they’ll know that I would not touch the computer. I felt that it sucked the life out of people as I watched them sit in front of it for hours at a time. And now I came to realize that it could be harnessed in a way for my advantage very much, like I don’t have to wait for a rewind to get my ideas sound right. That’s the biggest advantage of that part of capturing it. And as far as sharing the music with the people in the globe, you know, I mean, the whole world has been connected by the internet. So, now I can get in contact with people in all corners of the world and get my music to people in areas that I never could before. Even if we toured for fifty years, we wouldn’t be able to get to those places. So that in itself is a wonderful thing. Piracy and the new attitudes of generations now that are used to getting the music for free and all that, it’s not the greatest thing that ever happened, because It’s hard for the music business to keep its wheels rolling. There are still ways to make a living at it. You just have to use the music as a calling card and then to take the show out there to the people selling t-shirts and things like that just to put food on the table. Technology has changed the music and the approach greatly, but it also can be harnessed for wonderful things and to build a following. Ordinarily you won’t be able to build it like that before.
Global Crowd
In one recent interview, for a documentary called Global Metal, they asked Lars about his current thoughts on illegal downloading of music. Especially as there are countries, where Western music is forbidden, inaccessible and the only choice is illegal downloading. He said it is a perfect option. Do you agree with him?
I really tried to keep myself a distance from that whole thing when it was taking place, because I was ignorant too. I just said, I really didn’t spend much time in the digital world, especially back then. And so I didn’t know what I was talking about. So I wasn’t going to talk about it. I just kept my distance to see what would transpire. I was confused by everything like why people would feel that they didn’t really understand, why we would get mad at them for sharing our music. To be honest, I just couldn’t get my head around and I couldn’t really understand what was taking place. I never had a big wall up about that or had an opinion really formulated back then. We all know that stealing is wrong no matter what it is that you’re stealing. Stealing is just wrong. But the way the world is dealing with the music, it’s just something we have to accept and try to work with it instead of trying to fight it. We can’t fight it anymore. That’s ridiculous to try to waste your energy on getting mad at people for what they do with music. You just gotta keep working.
When we are talking about a promotion of your own work, my recent master’s thesis was dealing with the music promotion through a modern technology and a necessity of authors to adapt to a modern music market, mainly through their target group. I fully agree with you that you can make a living in today’s music world and I believe in a positive future of music. How do see the future?
Adapt to a modern music market through your target group. I really like this formulation! Well, it was very difficult when we were doing our thing. We were just in that pocket, where we could be one of those last bands that sold tens of millions of records. I don’t think anybody’s gonna be able to do that ever again, as far as physical copies go. I don’t think CDs are going to be around for very long. Three to five years or something, everything’s gonna be phased out. Think about what Steve Jobs did with his stuff. I mean, it’s crazy to try to plan the future of stuff already. We’re still going to print vinyl forever though. It’ll just be more and more limited over time, there will still be some CDs printed, but it won’t make a whole lot of sense. Because people don’t really have the players for them. There’ll be pockets of the world that aren’t caught up to speed and will still have to pay for TVs and everything, of course. But as far as the manufacturer that we know of, or the type of chain stores that carry CDs on their shelves are almost gone. That kind of stuff is just inevitable. It all becomes a thing that you have to use that stream to get anything out to anybody, will be the only way to get it to anybody eventually. The generations now are used to being able to have the music for free like that. They don’t know any difference. So it’s not necessarily wrong to them. And the next couple generations that come up, will be cultivated in that as well. So, it’s going to take another generation to understand the righteousness of paying the artists and if you don’t pay the artist after a while, there’s going to be no more art.
Within your new project, we can see you are taking it seriously, not only within marketing: Excerpts of tracks, excerpts of videos, presentation on iTunes, busy FB page and being reachable even on Christmas day. Therefore, it is only natural to ask, if it’s just your work, or if you have a team?
We just a few people in place that kick ass. People that are determined and disciplined like myself. For the most part, it is family from Metallica camp that reaches out to help me. And so my main team right now is just four persons actually, including myself to make all this happen, but it is through the guidance of some people from Apple, iTunes, and Metallica camp that have guided me to present it the way I’m presenting.
The Right Person For The Job
It is almost twelve years today, since you left Metallica. You mentioned Metallica as your family, you were included in the Rock’n’roll Hall of Fame and in general it seems you have a good relationship. However, I would love to hear your opinion, especially on the early days, which I have a feeling were challenging and unpleasant. Over the years in the band, a couple of negative aspects simply piled up and you left, when it seemed as a right move.
Yeah, so it’d be twelve years since I left those guys. We all see that it was the right thing to do. Because their band survived and is stronger than ever. I am doing great as well. We created a lot of music and a lot of art. So I feel in control and that was the right thing to do, no question in my mind. As far as the last ten years go, I haven’t been out there really telling my own story. But I never really got into any kind of mudslinging or anything like that. It just wasn’t necessary. So now that all that time has passed, it is quite good with those guys. I’m always there to see them and there are here to see me. We’ll be business partners for the rest of our lives. You know, it’s just the way it is because of the fifteen years that we established, basically the biggest heavy band there has ever been. So that’s forever. And the general relationships are better probably than they ever were. People don’t realize the challenges that are forced to individuals. They see the collective as the band. There is the music, there’s a shiny side. “Look at all of those lights and all of that crazy sh*t.” That’s what people see. They don’t see the personal anguish and the sacrifice and all the other stuff that goes on when thousands and thousands of people are relying on you for their paycheck to carry on with what you’re doing. So there’s a lot of pressure. There are a lot of things that go on and you’re just human beings. We are basically all pretty much barely high school educated, thrash metal musicians. And then we get thrown into this world where we have to understand legal mumbo jumbo that involves, you know, squillions of dollars at a time, and all that kind of thing. So all of those challenges that we met as a band, as a group, as a team, as brothers, you know, we pretty much kicked some ass. For those fifteen years together we have accomplished something nobody could get close to touching what we did as far as that kind of music. So, the positives far outweigh the negatives. In the beginning, during the first six or eight months when I was in the band, I got paid like I was at a fraternity or whatever. That was in 1986. 26 years ago. That’s a long, long time ago, and so many wonderful things have happened since then. But that’s the story people like to sensationalize and all that stuff. But it really was just the first couple of years where anything that was negative or can be taken as negative took place. And if you really think about it, you let somebody into a club, that’s that exclusive. If you’re gonna let somebody into the team that you’ve already been working on has the potential to be the biggest band in the world, you’re just gonna let somebody walk in there and go: “You are in and all that sh*t.”? You’re going to test them, see what they’re made of, you’re gonna make sure they’re the right person for the job, because there’s a lot at stake. And if somebody f*cks up if one guy f*cks up, and they don’t pick the right person, the whole thing will crumble until they pick the right person. That was me. They rule. They still rule. It was the right decision for them. Right decision for me.
Look at all of those lights and all of that crazy sh*t. That’s what people see. They don’t see the personal anguish and the sacrifice that goes on when thousands and thousands of people are relying on you for their paycheck.
Definitely, but I think the death of your predecessor Cliff Burton played a massive role as he was like a brother or almost a godly figure to them. You might have reached his level technique-wise, but you simply couldn’t replace a personal loss and eliminate a confusion of your co-players.
Of course. How can you? It would be impossible to. He was more than a bass player, you know. He was very innovative and great. You know, he was a friend, a big brother and a teacher. He was the one they all looked up to, to guide them through the sh*t. It was way more than just the bass player. F*cking five million people play bass. I mean, it is about the person. Very well read, very intelligent. Take no sh*t kind a person. Those guys all took an example from him. Okay. When you think it’s the same thing… Do you have any brothers or sisters?
Yes, a younger sister.
So if somebody, just all of a sudden, you know, took your sister, and she’s gone forever. How would you feel?
What do you think?
You would be a different for the rest of your life. There is now way one would go: “Okay, here’s the next day. Let’s go.” Guys were devastated. All the way to their f*cking toes, man. You know? And then 25 days later, I pop up. Here comes me saying: “I can do that!” They were like: “Who the f*ck are you?” But they had to keep going. That was the momentum. That was the business and the politics. They were on the way to become the biggest band. They were on the cusp of becoming what they became. And without me, stepping in to be strong enough to take all of their sh*t, they would have never got to be giant. They would have never had The Black Album. They would never be together now, if I didn’t step in with the capacity to handle all of their emotional stuff and still play.
Right, but don’t tell me you stood there like a little girl getting hits. I don’t believe you were not defending yourself, at least by saying: “I am not here to replace your brother, but to accomplish a shared dream!”
Oh yeah, for sure. There’s no question. I proved it. Every night and every show, you know. I played as hard as I could play, like I was never gonna get a chance to play again. And after time, they realized that. During the first six months, I just got paid a salary. Then after six months, on the first week I became a full member of the band, because I had proven myself in a six months’ time going against all of this negativity and all of this testing. I won and they signed me on as a full member. It was 1987. That was a long, long time ago. We’ve met such a success and there was just no just taking punches about anything. Anybody in that position would have fallen down into a puddle the first week and they would have get somebody else. The thing that I’ve learned and I didn’t realize this till the last couple of weeks, while I’ve been doing interviews, but each person at Metallica had a very special role outside the obvious roles. One guy is a star player, there’s a singer, there’s a drummer bla bla bla. But as far as the roles that are taken on, outside of the stage, you’re still ambassadors of the music and to the United States of America, because you’re going across the world representing the US with this music. There are so many different things everybody had to handle. Lars did the business stuff, James did the music stuff, Kirk was the artist guy and I am the people person. The one that was put in front to take care of the Make A Wish Foundation, the cancer kids, anything emotionally challenging, like that I was put out in front of a bad case to take care of it. By putting me out there in those positions, it built my character to what it is today. I am able to handle any situation with a person that comes to me. Whether they’re sick, they’re sad, they’re terminal, whatever, like that, I’m able to bring light to their eyes and make them smile, because I was pushed out in front to represent the band. I became a bigger man, because they gave me the job they didn’t want to do. I’m better for it. Fans knew they could talk to me. I was always approachable, always accessible. You know, I will look in your eyes, I will take a picture with you and shake your hand. And it’s still the same today. But that all came from me, taking all of the flack, grief, whatever it was, from that band. I had to take all that on. It’s one person for all of their grieving. I still keep firing off the thing in my head. You know, there were a lot of challenges in the beginning. But I always rose to those challenges. Those guys might not have agreed with me and that I wasn’t pushed the whole time or whatever. But they did respect what I did, and being my own self and not trying to replace him. Because I knew that I could do better than any other in the world. I was a bigger fan of Cliff Burton than anybody that has ever lived. So, the fact that I got the take to carry on, I didn’t take his place, I just carried on the vision. I just carried on his work that he had started. I followed through, so this band is where they are. There’s something that I don’t know how others will take it, but I truly feel that I saved their band in 1986 by being the right choice. And being able to take all the sh*t and take all the good too. I also saved their band twelve years ago this week, by stepping aside and letting them carry on with what they wanted to carry on with. I was not able to be on the same page with them anymore. They were taking too much time away from the band. We hadn’t plugin our amps for months and months and months. By the time that I made the decision to call the meeting to talk to them, you know, there was so much distraction from actually playing metal. And I couldn’t take it anymore. I was busy with my other projects, I already started recording Echobrain. I was already going forward with another project that was going to do a worldwide release with, because they weren’t spending any time playing any music. They were like, it’s great to have a family and all those things, but Metallica is still a f*cking priority. And it always was a priority for me. And I think that over time, it became not just a priority for them. My band is still the priority for me. Even though I have all this other stuff going on, it’s still what I put first. And anybody around me, in a circle or my wife or anyone knows that it is coming first. And I always put Metallica first. When those guys stopped putting it first all the time, like we all used to do together, it changed things for me. They weren’t able to give the same amount of time to play at volume and remember why we’re doing it. When we played loud together, it transcended everything. The rest of the world went away, all the issues, all the sh*t. When we went loud, nothing existed except our power. Right? We lost touch with that. In August of 2000 when we stopped playing live, James has injured himself. He couldn’t be the same player. He had to wear his guitar different and he couldn’t stand at the mic the same. It was a different approach on things. He wasn’t spending as much time on music because of life. And I understand that and I don’t have anything against having life. But if you have committed to having this thing as the priority, if all of a sudden other things are more important than that, I can’t do it. It has to be a priority the whole f*cking time. And it works for me, but it wasn’t for them. Ultimately, at that time in our career, I had to step off. Because I had things to do. I had music to play and share with people. And they had a different vision about how they were going to go about things from that point. James was in a serious emotional and substance trouble. And I knew that. I had to step off and when I stepped off, I do believe that was the catalyst for him to realize that there was trouble because I was always his brother. Dressing room-wise, for two hours in that dressing room, James and Jason in that dressing room for years. We were brothers and were like-minded. We like trucks, guns, outdoors and the mountains. You know, we were like-minded people. My family took James on as a family member. You know, my mom says, my mom probably still says that we’re brother. I mean, you know, we were that close. So when that kind of thing comes about, we don’t have that same commitment anymore, whether I am misreading it or not. But we weren’t committed the same way that we had done in the past and I just wasn’t feeling it. And I was not feeling it. I was pretty well f*cked up with substances at that point too. So, nobody was in their right mind, we should have kind of, like Lars said a while ago, you know, we didn’t take any time to assess the mental stability of the members of the band and individuals after so much hard work and not being home for ten years. We were on the road for ten years, pushing it, pushing it, pushing it, to be, the biggest thing ever. We forgot about everything else. You know, people want stability and if we were sat down for some kind of meetings and actually address people’s mental issues, it would help. I was, you know, addicted to painkillers and James all drunk and Lars did stuff over here. It was a mess and if we would have addressed it as people, instead of bringing in an outsider, we could have probably done it. But because of what happened and what transpired and the managers bringing in an outsider trying to fix it and all that kind of sh*t, I was not going to be a part of that.
Without me, stepping in to be strong enough to take all of their sh*t, they would have never got to be giant.
Understood, I really appreciate your honesty. From your words, it is clear that your life’s priority is the music itself. There are many projects you went through and you still have almost kid-like passion for writing and playing music.
That is correct. And I try to show that every day and I got really, really fortunate from my hard work, that I got to be in a band that was very successful. I didn’t put the money on my nose, my father helped me invest it, so that I would have it later on. So, now that money that I invested, it makes it possible for me to record music with these other bands and do what I want to do to keep chasing it. Because I’m never gonna stop chasing, I never did stop and I’m never gonna stop chasing it the whole damn time. And I’m just chasing it a little bit brighter light for more people.
I am really happy to hear it. I wish you to keep this excitement for as long as possible and that your own band will help you to accomplish your goals.
Thank you, man, I want you to know that I haven’t ever divulged that stuff to anyone. You’re the first person I’ve ever talked to about this from any kind of press. I kept it to myself for a decade. And you were really asking good questions. And so just please be respectful of my words. I said a couple of things in the past interviews in the last couple of weeks that people have taken out of context and made it kind of silly, and I really, I really didn’t like that. So please just stick to my honesty, and you know, that my words are true, and my passion is true. I really appreciate your help. And anything you can do to let everybody know on what we’re doing, guide them to the news that heavymetal.com and keep an eye out for the shows and everything. I’m gonna go to meetings next week as they’re planning all the festivals and stuff so hopefully, we’ll be able to bring it out to you guys all.
Looking forward to that. So Jason, all the best in 2013 and hope to meet you personally one day.
Great. You too. Take care.
Take care, bye bye.
Goodbye.
