Recently talking with Louder, bassist Jason Newsted was asked how was to audition for Metallica, and also how was it to meet late Cliff Burton’s mother.
About the audition, Newsted said:
“Honoured to begin with, they were heroes and quite a bit above us at the time. So just to be amongst them was very special to begin with, but because of how I was raised, I was prepared for every goddamn thing. That’s how we did it in Flotsam, and so I went in totally prepared and confident. I got a 6.30 am flight from Phoenix, they let me up in this complex and the fog is rolling over and the sun is coming up and I’m like, ‘Holy s*it, I’m in San Francisco!’
“Few hours go by and I’m just there, practise, practise, practise the whole time, got my sandwiches with me. The guys finally show up about 10 and I’ve been there since 7.30. A guy comes up to me and says that I’m going to be in there last, and asks if I want a bottle of water. I’m like, ‘A bottle of water? Wow! These guys have got some money!’ I lived in Arizona, three dollars an hour, if you can get water, you get water, doesn’t matter where from. So bottled water? F*ck, we’re living, man! I finally, at the end of the day, go in, and James has had, I don’t know, between 10 and 16 beers.
“They’re still f*cking self-medicating, grief-stricken [after Cliff’s death], running from this process that they know they have to be forced into. So already the ground is shaky, I’ve been awake for two days because I’ve been thinking about this moment. I’ve written the set that they played with Ozzy in Tuscon, I hand it to James and go, ‘Name one [song for me to play]’.
“He names one and we play it, play another and another, bam bam bam! We go outside and grab a drink and something to eat and they’re asking me questions about my experience: how long had I been playing, how many gigs had I done, how long had I been in Flotsam… their managers were already booking things in, making plans, and you have to have that schedule free.
“I told them that it wouldn’t affect me and that any time they needed me, I’d be there. I flew home that night and Lars called me the next day and told me to come back and learn these [new] songs, so I went back about 30 hours later.”
Meeting Cliff Burton’s mother, the bassist replied:
“That evening, it was the third day that I played with the boys, I think I stayed overnight in San Francisco for the first time, and you gotta remember that I had lived in a tin shed with no toilet and no bathroom in Arizona and now I’m staying at the Miyako Hotel.
“That third night, they had the ‘elders’ come in for their blessing. So, Torben Ulrich, The Burtons, a couple of the crew guys, people that had been there from the get-go, I’m not sure if there was a couple of the other families there. We got through about six tunes: ‘Master’…, ‘Fade To Black’, …’Bell Tolls’, the masterpieces!
“So I am just composing myself for a second, putting my bass down, turning off Cliff’s amp, I’m playing f**king Cliff’s amp, dude! Jan [Burton] comes walking in the room by herself, and she grabs me and gets my attention.
“She says, ‘Great job, son’, and I’m like ‘Oh, f*ck!’ She embraced me and it seemed like it was quite a while, and she said, ‘You’re the one, you must be the one. Please be safe, we love you’ and she gave me a kiss. That was 35 years ago and I’ll never, ever forget it.”