Former-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted claims that due to various injuries over the years, he wouldn't be able to play with Metallica today — even if he wanted to.
Blabbermouth transcribed Newsted's recent video chat with The Florida Daily Post, where he explained, “The surgeries kind of set me back. I kept playing music the best that I could, and I haven't ever been able to come all the way back; I'm, like, 90-something percent full. I can't play the full Metallica stuff; I couldn't do the show anymore like that.”
Newsted spoke about leaving Metallica in 2001 and second-guessing his decision to split: “As the times went by in the earlier years, (I kept asking myself) 'What if? What if? What if? What if? What it you had stayed? What if? What if? — that kind of thing. And everybody — except for maybe my sister, my wife, and my dad and my brothers, and my mom; they (told me), 'You do you.' They were in it close enough with me. They went to enough shows. They saw enough of the backstage stuff. They saw what took place. And they were, like, 'We get it. You do you. We'll be around for you.'”