"I've never told this story, I'm not sure if I should tell it now, actually," Newsted begins. "There was a lot leading up to it through time � The very upside-down thing that I don't think anybody knows; the management of Metallica was very, very excited about Echobrain [one of Newsted's side projects], wanted to take it out for me, wanted me to do Echobrain also, with Metallica. They felt Echobrain was that good, the singer was that good, and it didn't affect Metallica because it was a totally different kind of thing, and I was in Metallica; that would give it it's pedigree already."

Newsted continues, "And so they had told me, pretty convincingly, 'This is a great record, we've been playing it around the office, that's all I've been hearing, it's fantastic, this kid has a great voice. Let's do something with this.' That's what they told me, and then James [Hetfield] heard about it and was not happy. He was, I think, pretty much out to put the kibosh on the whole thing because it would somehow affect Metallica in his eyes, because now the managers were interested in something I was doing that had nothing to do with him."