pretty clear." In particular, Newsted, who needed time off to recover from neck and back injuries sustained from years of onstage headbanging, was upset that Hetfield would not permit him to release an album by his side project, Echobrain. Hetfield believed that doing so would "take away from the strength of Metallica", while lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and drummer Lars Ulrich separately opined that Newsted should be able to release the album. Newsted also wanted to play a greater creative role in Metallica, whose direction was dominated by Hetfield and Ulrich, and felt that the band had lost its focus and was spending too much time on matters such as the Napster lawsuit. "We spent more time in f---in' court last year than we did playing our instruments", he said in 2001. In an effort to keep the band together, their management company, Q Prime, connected them with "performance enhancement coach" Phil Towle. Though not a trained psychologist or psychiatrist, Towle, a former Chicago gang counselor, had worked with the St. Louis Rams during the 1999–2000 NFL playoffs (which concluded with the Rams winning Super Bowl XXXIV), and had unsuccessfully tried to keep another of Q Prime's clients, Rage Against the Machine, from breaking up. After just one session with Towle, Newsted, who had been with Metallica since 1986, quit the group following a 9 hour band meeting. Announcing his resignation on January 17, 2001, he cited "private and personal reasons, and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love". The remaining members stated that they still planned to start work on a new studio album that spring, and would continue with a new bassist. In a later interview, Newsted stated his distaste for the idea of Metallica going through group therapy: "Something that's really important to note — and this isn't pointed at anyone — is something I knew long before I met James Hetfield or anyone else: Certain people are made to be opened up and exposed. Certain people are not. I'll leave it at that." Production When Berlinger and Sinofsky began filming Metallica in April 2001, the band was mired in turmoil. Still without a bassist, the members were not getting along and were struggling creatively while trying to make a record. The original scope of the filmmakers' project was to film the band in the recording