Jason Newsted says "Rock Star" was too good to pass up

Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted told us that he considered himself semi-retired after the death last year of Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, the guitarist in Newsted's current band, Voivod. But Newsted admitted that the chance to start a new group for the reality TV show Rock Star was an opportunity that he couldn't pass up: "No one, any of our peers or Metallica or anybody, have ever had the opportunity to have their band backed and financed by international network television. Being able to have an opportunity to take it to 20 million people at once, it's just that more people are gonna see it now. It's really cool."

The Rock Star band, called Supernova, also features ex-Guns N' Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee.

The trio has been writing and recording instrumental tracks for its debut album as auditions have continued to find the band's lead singer. Newsted says the contest is narrowed down to 15 vocalists, but the winner won't be decided until September.

Supernova will go on a full North American tour once the frontman is chosen and the band records its debut album.

The second season of Rock Star will premiere on July 5th. Meanwhile, what is probably Voivod's final album, called Katorz, will arrive on July 25th.