Newsbites: Metallica need to be ‘brofessional’

Brofessional: ex Metallica man Newsted

Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted – who’s just launched his new heavy metal project – says he might consider returning to the thrash giants if they were “brofessional” about it. He comments: “If they came as my brothers and they were professional, and they’re sitting there and looking me in the eye and the managers aren’t around; if it was like that again and the money was crazy, then I would consider it.” [Metal Shrine] Stop press: you can listen to Soldierhead, one of Newsted’s new tracks, below.

The version of Queensryche fronted by Todd La Torre has sent a message of support to Randy Gane of Geoff Tate’s Queensryche lineup after the keyboardist suffered a heart attack last week. Gane had worked with the original band in the past before following singer Tate after his sacking. The statement says: “We in Queensryche want to send our thoughts and prayers out to our old friend Randy. He will always be a part of the extended Queensryche family and we want to wish him a speedy recovery. We ask all our fans to keep him and his family in your thoughts as we celebrate this holiday season.”

Elvis and Beatles autographs remain the most often forged celebrity signatures in the US. They were also top of the list last time it was published, in 2010. But experts say there might be no criminal intent behind the stats, pointing out that in the 1960s autographs had no financial value and were often completed by office staff. Auctioneer Margaret Barrett explains: “Secretaries and assistants just wanted to make fans happy. A lot of times people stumble upon an old box of signed photographs in grandma’s attic and don’t know they’re forged.”

Megadeth were last week forced to name a new winner in their annual Christmas card competition after contestants complained the first-named fan had done Photoshop work on an image that already existed, instead of creating his own work from scratch. The prize, a personal phone call from Dave Mustaine, had already been awarded. The band said in a statement: “Using someone else’s work is like having someone else run your race for you – just not cool. Dave was disappointed, but looks forward to talking to our official contest winner.”

Producer and songwriter Jeff Lynne says his heart was never in live performances with ELO. He recalls: “That’s not what I was there for. I was there to learn how to make records, and that’s all I cared about. Even when I was on tour and on stage singing, I could be thinking about another song I’m working on. Which just shows you my heart wasn’t in live performance, that it was in the studio, and it always has been. That’s why I became a producer.” [ClashMusic]

Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen admits the band know they’ve set themselves a hard task by deciding to play classic album Hysteria in full at their upcoming Las Vegas residency. Collen says: “We’ve always said yeah we could do High’n'Dry. Hysteria – that’s a lot more challenging. A lot of the songs on there are hard to sing and play at the same time. Listening to the whole thing, you realise just how much went into that record. They are such amazing arrangements that you forget.” [Vegas.com]

Clutch frontman Neil Fallon is convinced the band have taken the right approach by releasing upcoming album Earth Rocker on their own label. It’s the second time they’ll have followed their own release path. Fallon says: “We’ve tried many times with many different iterations with labels. To be frank about it, the major labels are in the business of selling platinum records – even a gold record, probably, is considered somewhat of a failure. I don’t think we’re that band and we never were.” [DCHeavyMetal]

Mothers of Invention co-founder and singer Ray Collins has died after a heart attack at the age of 76. He spent six days in hospital before being removed from life support last week. Collins appeared on the band’s first two albums, Freak Out and Absolutely Free, before leaving in 1967 because he wasn’t happy with the direction Frank Zappa was heading. But he also appeared on the Mothers’ 1968 album Cruising With Ruben & The Jets, and continued to collaborate with Zappa for some years afterwards. Asked why he’d stopped performing 40 years ago Collins once said: “If you just enjoy life, it’s conducive to not being successful. I just enjoy life.”