Echobrain: The band that almost broke up Metallica
No one can spend their lives just playing one style of music every single day. Some of the biggest names in rock music are known to have a multitude of side projects, and even bands with a signature sound like AC/DC know how to twist themselves to make something a bit more bluesy in a handful of tunes or slow things down now and again. That kind of flexibility wasn’t a part of Metallica, though, and it almost spelt the end of the band once Jason Newsted started working with his side project, Echobrain.
If you know anything about Newsted’s origin story, his wanting to express himself outside of Metallica wasn’t just a desire; it was an obligation. Looking through his decade with the group, he only had three writing credits to his name on any of their projects, and everything else just consisted of him writing basslines to James Hetfield’s songs or being told what to play.
So, since Hetfield had contributed vocals to bands like Corrosion of Conformity, it wasn’t out of the question for Newsted to start working with other people as well. Listening through to Echobrain, though, it’s not like it was going to step on any of the thrash audience, either, being more of a breezy hard rock affair than what the Load era of the group was known for.
Just the fact that Newsted would entertain the idea was enough to piss off Hetfield, though, who told him that he should stop any work with side projects immediately and work on the next record. That kind of pressure would never gel with someone wanting to express themselves, so Newsted gave Hetfield an ultimatum.
When discussing his departure, Newsted said that Hetfield’s refusal to ease up was what made him leave, saying, “I asked James straight up, ‘Dude, you can’t be in a band with me if I put out that Echobrain record, right?’. Then he said, ‘Yes’, and I said, ‘Well, then, it’s time for me to step off.’”
But while Metallica could shrug that stuff off normally, Newsted’s decision to leave led to them nearly falling apart. In the documentary Some Kind of Monster, the group looks in shambles after Newsted leaves, culminating in the now-infamous fight where Hetfield slams the door shut and storms out of the room before going to rehab and working on himself.
Although the group still seemed on the verge of collapse, they were at least able to put aside their differences for long enough to make an album. St. Anger did end up sounding like one of the biggest pieces of emotional vomit in their catalogue, but at least it got them back to sounding like themselves again on the next record, Death Magnetic.
So even though Echobrain never lit the world on fire afterwards, their role in Metallica’s near-fall from grace is a good lesson that every musician in a band should take to heart. No matter how amazing you think you are, it’s important to stop being an asshole and realise that every member is as important to the whole as you are.
