Newsted himself has refused to dismiss the possibility until now, but the workaholic bassist is increasingly busy with his band EchoBrain, and the fact that he recently told MTV News that “Metallica has two control freaks, and it’s very hard to get any kind of two cents in that monopoly” is unlikely to have gone down too well with the band’s creative axis, guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. Indeed, Jason admitted that relations with Hetfield are still somewhat frosty after leaving the band last year.

“I haven’t talked to James for a year,” he sighs. “I still exchange Christmas cards with the others, but James is in his own world. So much has taken place personally and emotionally for us all, a lot of damage was done. Damage was mended, too. But I’d rather become brothers again first, and if we can rock again then great. Friendship has to be the priority.”

With his new band’s self-titled debut album about to hit the racks, Newsted is enjoying the freedom that EchoBrain brings him. Formed with drummer Brian Sagrafena and guitarist Dylan Donkin during the halftime break of the 1995 Superbowl, the trio has helped to keep him sane during some tough times. But liberation is not without its frustrations.

“I can’t say I’m super-peachy happy about being out of Metallica, that was a huge part of my life,” he explains. “But EchoBrain and Metallica coexisted for six years, and the time seemed right to start taking it seriously.”

EchoBrain have already been compared to Soundgarden, Led Zeppelin, Queens Of The Stone Age, Smashing Punpkins and ZZ Top. Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett plays on the album’s track ‘Sucker Punch’ – ex-Faith No More guitarist ‘Big’ Jim Martin also crops up on ‘Spoonfed’ – and Jason’s took former band-mate Lars Ulrich and Metallica producer Bob Rock along with him to witness EchoBrain’s only performance to date, at a West Coast club last summer.

“Kirk was even a bit emotional, really proud,” recounts Jason. “Basically, we’re a jam band. We take a four-minute song on the record and take it to ten minutes onstage because we like fucking rocking.”

Newsted has also produced the fourth album from Texan band Speedealer called ‘Second Sight’ for release in May and is consistently linked with his heroes, Canadian thrashers VoiVod.

“I’m gonna be playing on their next album, which is a dream come true,” he states. “This will be their 13th or 14th album, and those guys are so ahead of their time. Their talent has been so under-appreciated, it’s almost criminal.”

But EchoBrain are Jason’s priority, and they’re already revving up to hit the road for the first time, as a five-piece with the addition of Dangerman guitarist Chris Scianni and keyboard player David Borla.

“I’ve been very pleased with the build-up to the album’s release,” he says. “It sounds nothing like Metallica, but people really seem to be pleasantly surprised. We’re not aiming too high at the start. I know there will always be Metallica cats wearing black in the crowd, shouting for ‘Master Of Puppets’, but this band’s music backs itself up. It has its own power, presence and identity. We can’t wait to bring it to the UK because there’s a lot less tunnel vision going on over there.”

‘Hammer understands that Metallica have completed the framework of some 20 tracks for the follow-up to 1997’s ‘Re-Load’, and that producer Bob Rock has been playing bass on what little has already been recorded. The band’s much talked about collaboration with LA Rapper Ja Rule, a Beastie Boys-style track called ‘We Did It Again’ that mixes metal guitars with full-on rapping, is set to be issued on the Dreamworks Records hip-hop compilation ‘Ghetto Stories’, though is unlikely to make the album. Hetfield didn’t play on the collaboration as he was in rehab when it was laid down.

Kirk Hammett has already stated that the band’s new material is “very dissimilar to anything we’ve ever done before – it’s heavy and it’s very dynamic.” Ironically, considering Jason’s comments about control freaks, it also marks the first time that Kirk has written with James and Lars.

“It’s a very, very new thing,” says Hammett. “Rather than do it as, ‘Okay, the A part is his, the B part is mine’, we’ve forced them together. The new songs have unfolded in a very natural, organic way. We sound like a band, even though we still need a bass player.”