During a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk,” former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson confirmed that he would still open to taking part in the band’s farewell tour. According to him, when he is “not in Megadeth, [he] always look[s] at it like it’s Dave [Mustaine]’s solo band.”
Ellefson said the following:
“I never closed that door to that thing… When Dave put the group back together, when he said he wanted to work again in 2004, I said the same thing. ‘Cause there was this talk of, ‘Should we do the ‘Rust In Peace’ reunion?’, and that didn’t happen, of course. And then that was even revisited again in 2015 right before — 2014, I guess — which, when that didn’t happen, then we basically rebuilt the group and put out the ‘Dystopia’ album.
But I said to Dave in 2004, which was the first time trying to put it back together as a band, which really kind of turned out to be more of a solo [project]… When I’m not in MEGADETH, I always look at it like it’s Dave’s solo band. That’s just how I look at it. And not that it’s good, bad or otherwise; it’s just different. To me, it just is a different feel than the MEGADETH of Ellefson and Mustaine together. So, for me, I said even then, I said, ‘Why don’t we bring Jeff Young, Chris Poland, other surviving members, Nick Menza, even Marty? Why don’t we make it be something bigger?’ And what hit me on it is at that time ASIA and YES were doing that — to huge success. They were kind of bringing both bands together touring, because it was a very different world. Young bands like LAMB OF GOD and KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, these guys were kind of owning the landscape. And thrash metal was, I guess you could say, was making a comeback, so to speak, in the 2000s. But I think now for sure, before you put something down of that size, especially with that legacy that had all these different members who were so key, and every lineup and every album of that lineup had its own fans. And we know this as KISS fans. So there’s ’70s KISS, there’s ’80s KISS, there’s different versions. And they each get different fanbases that come into that. And so for me, yeah, if I were calling the shots, absolutely. But then again that’s me and I get along with everybody. So who knows how that’ll play out?”
He continued when asked if he is friends with Megadeth’s current bassist James LoMenzo:
“I am, yeah. Look, I have no ill will toward anybody who’s performing with Dave right now. Look, they’re certainly capable musicians. They seem like they’re a decent guy. Look, me and Kiko [Louriero, then-MEGADETH guitarist] brought Dirk [Verbeuren, current MEGADETH drummer] in in 2016. As Chris Adler was going back to LAMB OF GOD, we needed a full-time drummer because Chris Adler was not able to do both gigs. So, Chris gave us Dirk’s number. We reached out to Dirk, did the audition, he got in the band, and so, me and Kiko made that happen. And Dirk’s worthy of the gig, of course. I’ve always sung LoMenzo’s praises. I was surprised he can play that kind of music ’cause that’s not a background that he comes from that I was familiar with, but he’s certainly done a very good job. And we can be friendly and friends with each other about that kind of stuff. So I don’t have any ill will. But like I said, to me, it just sounds different. When it’s me and Dave, that is a version of MEGADETH — it’s the O.G. version from the ’80s through the ’90s, and then revisited again in — what? — 2010 through 2021. There’s just a different sound to it. So it is what it is. It carries on. And it’s fine with me. I mean, I still get paid and I get royalties, so keep working. [Laughs] It’s good by me.”
[via Blabbermouth]
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