On the latest episode of “Nashville Now”, Rolling Stone ‘s podcast where senior editor Joseph Hudak dives deep into the hottest genre in music, country, former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted spoke about how his recent battle with throat cancer inspired him to hit the road with his long-running THE CHOPHOUSE BAND this summer. He said in part: “About a year ago, they found some throat cancer, and so I had some pretty serious procedure. And so I’m, yeah, 300 and whatever days out, nearing 400 days out. And I’ve got some healing to do. They told me to wait till about August or so to start trying to do anything, but I really want to bet on myself and have some incentive and all that kind of thing.”

Jason continued: “I had to claw back. I had to claw my way back. The depression, the level of depression was so severe that you just… A couple of times, I’d never been the kind of person that would say that or even had that kind of thinking, but [I felt], like, ‘Dude, fuck this.’ I done did what I did, been blessed very much. Great friends, a way to be still, just fucking let… Like, ‘Okay, man, just take me now, motherfucker,’ that type of thing, for a couple weeks. And I started getting back out of it. I started swimming again, got back on my bike, doing my things, doing my things, getting some sun, playing some music, meeting some people, keeping my head out, writing some more songs, doing all the things. The planets started aligning. I thought, ‘I need to go out and play these songs for people.’ You felt so close to dead. How you go the exact opposite of that, all the fucking way over here like this, is to go out and play for people. Express. Let them hear your stories, your new songs. Tell your stories with your songs. Fuck no, they ain’t perfect. No. No. Nope. They’re just what they are. I do what I can with what I got and what’s left, okay? So now stepping into new worlds, even though I’ve been where I’ve been, a bunch of new things for me, like starting over.”

Newsted, who played with METALLICA from 1986 to 2001, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2025 but wasn’t declared cancer-free until earlier this year.

“May of 2025, about 370 days ago or something, I had a procedure for throat cancer and they took tonsil, lymph nodes, and all this kind of thing out of here and it was a very harrowing type of thing,” he told SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk” in May. “I didn’t really tell anyone other than my family and closest circle. I didn’t want anybody to know. I wanted to keep it private until I knew what was going to happen. I got my free and clear a few weeks ago, and so that’s when I started talking about it and telling my friends about it.”

Regarding his decision to play live again so soon after his cancer battle, Newsted said: “I was betting on myself that I was going to heal and I was going to get better and I was going to be strong enough to do these shows. I kind of put it out there as an incentive thing, but also to prove to myself I could and to feel as alive as possible, because I’d never been that close to death before. And it was very eye-opening at the same time, and it makes you appreciate everything that you’ve had and the opportunities you’ve had and maybe you want to take some more opportunities while you’re able. That’s kind of where it’s at for me to feel as alive as possible is when I go out and sing and play and interact with the people. That’s the one thing that I miss the very most. It’s not the money. It’s not any of that shit. It’s not the trappings. It’s meeting the people.”