Megadeth bassist David Ellefson will be releasing a new covers album titled “No Cover” on October 2. The 13-track record will feature covers of tracks by Motörhead, W.A.S.P., Def Leppard, Cheap Trick, Queen, Judas Priest, Twisted Sister, and more.
Ellefson recorded the album with vocalist Thom Hazaert, guitarist Andy Martongelli, guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Sons Of Apollo, ex-Guns N’ Roses), drummer Paolo Caridi, and the following special guests:
– Charlie Benante (Anthrax)
– Eddie Ojeda (ex-Twisted Sister)
– Brandon Yeagley (Crobot)
– Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth)
– Frank Hannon and Troy Lucketta (Tesla)
– Mark Slaughter
– Jason McMaster (Dangerous Toys, ex-Watchtower, Evil United)
– Greg Handevidt (Kublai Khan, Ex-Megadeth)
– Chuck Behler (Ex-Megadeth)
– Gus G (Firewind)
– John Aquilino (Icon)
– Doro Pesch
– Dave McClain (Sacred Reich, ex-Machine Head)
– Dave Alvin (White Trash)
– Todd Kerns (Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy And The Conspirators)
– Andy Freeman (Last In Line)
– Jacob Bunton (Mick Mars)
– Dead By Wednesday
Ellefson said the following:
“Before any of us started writing our own songs, we all began playing cover songs by our heroes during our formative years as musicians. So, it’s fun to go back in time and revisit those songs which helped us to become the artists we are today, especially when, ironically, many of those artists have now become peers and friends.
During the process of recording some covers for B-Sides and bonus tracks for the upcoming Ellefson solo LP, Thom and I just said, ‘This is a blast, let’s just do a whole album of covers!’ Literally, within 2 weeks, we had the songs recorded, and began calling our friends to join us, many of whom we had just performed with on the MEGA-Cruise back in October. From there, the album just fell into place.”
“A lot of our buddies have been playing covers and quarantine jams on the Internet during the pandemic, so this is really just an extension of that, but we took it the next level and actually recorded a full studio album.
We’ve been working remotely anyway, as we’re all over the Globe, so it was easy to incorporate some guests jumping in with some outstanding performances of their own. It’s been a really fun nod to making great music with our friends, who are kick-ass players, and many legends in their own right, which is the whole reason we got into this in the first place!”
Hazaert added:
“It’s all songs and artists that really mutually influenced both myself and David, especially a lot of early ‘metal’ and harder classic rock. Some stuff I picked, some stuff he picked, but for the most part is was all artists that we both loved. What’s funny, as there’s a bit of an age gap, we were sometimes more influenced by different eras of the same bands. But it was really him saying, ‘Let’s do this song,’ and me saying, ‘Yes!!! And let’s do this song.’ And before we knew it, we had over 15 songs. And it’s a lot of album tracks, deep cuts, early tracks, stuff people might not expect, which was what was so fun.”
“It was also great that we were able to work in a lot of nods to David’s history, getting Chuck Behler to play with us, bringing in original Megadeth guitarist Greg Handevidt to play on ‘Love Me Like A Reptile’, a song they used to play in cover bands together before they moved to L.A. (which we wrote about in ‘More Life With Deth’), and Randy Burns is going to mix a track or two. As a singer, these are literally bands I’ve listened to, and covered all my life, and for me, getting to play with Eddie Ojeda, the Tesla guys, Charlie Benante, Jason McMaster, Mark Slaughter, etc, and sing these songs that mean so much to me. I mean, literally, the entire record is my bucket list of people I’d love to play with, and some of my favorite bands. So, it’s truly an honor to put together something so fun, and really as effortless as this was. It truly is a love letter to rock n’ roll, an homage to what made us, musically, who we are today.”
