Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and The Chophouse Band recently headlined the village volunteer fire department’s annual Field Days this past Saturday, September 3 at Austin Park in Skaneateles, New York. A video clip of his appearance has surfaced on social media. He was spotted with a new longer haircut that he sported during his early Metallica days.

Jason Newsted talks about The Chophouse Band

Newsted, who bought and moved into a $6 million home on Skaneateles Lake in 2020, previously performed at last year’s Field Days as a guest of Mere Mortals.

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. Newsted also revealed that The Chophouse Band was planning to enter the studio to begin recording its debut album.

Elaborating on the musical direction of the new The Chophouse Band material, Jason said: “The Chophouse Band started out as almost a bluegrass-tinged thing, and now it gets to some places that are as heavy as anything else that I’d been involved with — Voivod, Ozzy [Osbourne], Metallica , Newsted band; any of that stuff — it gets to those places now.”

Adding that he “loves” singing, Newsted said: “Now since the last time anybody saw The Chophouse Band, we have a vocal group within the band. Now there are four singers in the band. So I can actually really concentrate on playing the guitar and then singing that background stuff. And there’s screaming and some [growling] also. So I still haven’t lost that. And it lets people know that there’s still one foot in that place. You can take the boy out of the metal [but] you can’t take the metal out of the boy; it’s just the way it’s always gonna be. So I’m excited for people to be able to witness what we have been working so hard at. I put a lot — a lot — of energy into these new songs.”