Ex-METALLICA Bassist JASON NEWSTED And His CHOPHOUSE BAND Perform At Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta, Florida (Video)

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Former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted and his CHOPHOUSE BAND played two separate benefit shows at the Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta, Florida on February 15 and February 29. Video footage of both performances can be seen below. Named after Jason's four recording studio facilities around the U.S. and featuring a fluid roster of players, THE CHOPHOUSE BAND began in 1992 when Newsted founded The Chophouse Records Studio in San Francisco. THE CHOPHOUSE BAND is led by Newsted, playing acoustic guitars and performing lead vocal, accompanied by 
close friends/musicians of all walks and styles, sharing some great American songs from familiar and unfamiliar heroes. Jason told the Palm Beach Florida Weekly about THE CHOPHOUSE BAND: "We all get along great because there's not money involved. They've got their own bands, their own families, their own gigs. We do benefit gigs, six a year, and that's it. I record and write and play songs the whole rest of the time. They could all run circles around me musical theory-wise. They could tell you everything they’re playing, and all the relating chords. I surround myself with the bad-asses, and they make me look really good. I'm playing cowboy chords the whole time, and they're doing their fancy shit to make me look good. I just concentrate on singing, and getting across the things I want people to hear." Jason left METALLICA back in 2001, but was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, along with Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and the man who replaced him, bassist Robert Trujillo, in 2009. Six years ago, Jason shelved NEWSTED, the heavy metal project he operated between 2012 and 2014, saying that it cost him "an awful lot of money — hundreds of thousands of dollars." He added: "I couldn't continue because the business is such a harsh thing now and so different than what I had known."