Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted opened up about his recent battle with throat cancer and the emotional journey that followed.
The musician revealed how a serious health diagnosis led him through a period of deep depression. It ultimately inspired him to return to the stage with his long-running The Chophouse Band this summer.
“About a year ago, they found some throat cancer, and so I had some pretty serious procedure,” Newsted said. “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.”
Newsted went on to describe the severity of the depression he experienced during his recovery. He admitted he reached a point he had never encountered before.
“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, f*ck this,'” he said. “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, motherf*cker,’ that type of thing, for a couple weeks,” he continued. “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.”
As he began to recover, Newsted said the desire to perform for audiences became the driving force behind his decision to hit the road.
“I thought, ‘I need to go out and play these songs for people,'” he said. “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. F*ck 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?” Newsted added. “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.”
What makes his comeback all the more remarkable is the full picture of what he endured — and ultimately overcame. The cancer was found in his tonsil area in early 2025 and caught at an early stage. He underwent a surgical procedure on May 8, 2025, during which doctors removed tissue and used lasers to eliminate the disease. By mid-2026, he had received his official all-clear. He had beaten it entirely.
The surgery left a lasting physical mark. It altered the structure of his throat, resulting in a slightly changed voice. Despite that, his drive to perform has not wavered. “I got my ‘free and clear’ about three weeks ago,” Newsted said. “So I beat it.” He is now celebrating one year in remission.
The experience also prompted significant lifestyle changes. Newsted stopped drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana, prioritized rest, and reset his daily habits. He described feeling more clear-headed than at any point in his adult life. This transformation has directly shaped his approach to the music he is now bringing back to the stage.
His first major step back into live performance came in November 2025, when he appeared as a guest with Blackberry Smoke. That appearance served as a preview of what was to come. The full return arrived with the announcement of an 18-date North American headlining tour with Jason Newsted & The Chophouse Band, launching in July 2026. The run includes stops in Durham, Charlotte, Charleston, Lewiston, and Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium, among others.
The band backing Newsted on the road features Jesse Farnsworth on guitar and vocals, Jimbo Hart on bass and vocals, Humberto Perez on guitar, and Robert John-Tucker on drums and vocals. Together, they represent the vehicle through which Newsted is channeling everything the past year has thrown at him — the illness, the darkness, and the hard-won recovery — into something he can share with an audience once again.
Source: Rolling Stone
