Megadeth: "I think we've become dangerous again, which is good"

Getting the opportunity to chat with a guy like Dave Mustaine is not a simple thing. He's one of the biggest icons of heavy metal music, as he shaped it in a way only a very few have done. And by the way, he’s written some of the greatest heavy metal albums and songs. But, apart from the obvious, it means a lot on a personal level, as he was one of my biggest musical heroes in my early teens and continues to be one of my favorite musicians more than 30 years later. So, yeah, it’s a big deal...

As Megadeth get ready to return to Europe for some headline slots - including a headline appearance on Release Athens Festival, on June 14^th - Dave seems to be in great mood and great shape as we talked about a few topics. He told us about his special connection with Greece, why the band is more solid than ever with new guitarist Teemu Maynsaari and what’s the status with Kiko Loureiro now.

We also compared the '90s era of the band to the more thrash days of the 80s, if there’s a chance to see him playing again with Marty Friedman on his side and why his advice to newer bands will always be to "stay in school".

It’s no news that Mega Dave has always interesting things to share when we speaks and this interview is no exception.

I'm really happy to have the chance for this interview because you know you've been one of my musical heroes since I was a young kid, and I've loved Megadeth for more than 30 years. So it's both a pleasure and a privilege and I want to thank you for your time.

You're welcome Chris!

The band did a lot of healing inside; musically, singing wise, performance wise... And we're the band that we want to be right now

You recently completed a tour in South and Central America and the crowds are usually pretty crazy and wild down there. So, was it the case as well this time? How was it for you?

It was! It was better than any other time we've ever gone down there. The very first time we went to Argentina, when they started saying "Aguante" was the concert we measured everything against, after that very first time we went down there. And nothing seemed to compare with that very first time we went down to Argentina, but this last tour was remarkable. And I think that the band did a lot of healing inside; musically, singing wise, performance wise... And we're the band that we want to be right now. We're playing the songs we want to play, we're not being held back from timing or songs that not everybody knows or not everyone can sing... I was one of the main holdbacks too with my voice before I had the cancer treatment.

Are you feeling better with that right now? Are you well and trully?

Yes, I do. I feel really strong right now.

There's something different about the Greek fans for Megadeth

That's great to hear. And now you return to Europe for some festival slots and you're also coming back to Greece, eight years since the last time you've been here. So, I'd like to know your fondest memories from your previous visits here in Greece. And what can we expect from your headline show at Release Athens Festival?

Well, there's three ways that I like to look at your country. The fans, the history and the food.

The food was absolutely remarkable. I discovered haloumi when I was there! And I don't know if haloumi is from Greece or if it's like, you know, the coffee wars that you guys have with the Greek coffee or the Turkish coffee or whatever... (laughs) But I had a lot of other things that I discovered... I never used to eat yogurt, and now I love Greek yogurt with honey on it. And there's so many other things that I have tried over there...

The history is great! Going up to the Acropolis and looking at a lot of the other different sites and stuff. When I was not touring, I chose to come to Greece on vacation because I thought Greece was so interesting, and it was so appealing to me. I wanted to go there. I could have gone anywhere in the world and I went to Greece.

And the last thing, the fans... The fans are just like fans anywhere else in the world. They're so passionate about the music that they love, but there's something different about the Greek fans for Megadeth. I've noticed that they don't want anybody to think of them as the second best fans in the world. And if they fight, they fight for their position in our minds and our hearts. And the crazy thing is that's supposed to be the other way around. We're fighting to get into the Greek fans’ minds and hearts. And it's always enjoyable for me when we play live because I get to see everyone's faces while they're smiling. And that's the greatest fucking feeling ever.

First of all, it's an honor, the words that you said about our country. Second, haloumi comes from Cyprus, so it's pretty much Greek. And then I can reassure you that the Greek fans really-really have a deep connection and love for Megadeth. That comes from the heart and being one of them I can really say that...

That's great to know. Thank you.

All of the former guitar players of Megadeth had something really unique about them. But, to find somebody that really loves metal as much as I do, it's been really a long-long time...

So it's been a few months now that Teemu replaced Kiko in the band. Was it a smooth transition? Have you become comfortable with playing with him? Also, do you spot any significant differences between him and Kiko regarding what they bring to the Megadeth songs when they play them live?

There's a lot of differences that the two guitar players. All of the guitar players that have been alumni members and former guitar players of Megadeth had something really unique about them. But, you know, to find somebody that really loves metal as much as I do, it's been really a long-long time...

Teemu plays these songs exactly the way they were recorded, which is something none of the other guitar players would do

If we go backwards, Kiko was not really a metal guy. Chris Broderick was kind of metal, but he was more prog. Before him there was Glenn Drover, who was kind of metal, but he had something going on with his health so we couldn’t go on. And then we had other guys... Jeff, Chris... Those guys were really great players, but they weren't like really metal-metal-metal guys. Marty, was pretty metal, but he really loved Asian music, Japanese music stuff from that part of the world. Teemu for me... I don't really know very much about him, but I know that he plays these songs exactly the way they were recorded, which is something none of the other guitar players would do. Some of the solos were kind of difficult for them to do and they did the best they could. There's an interview I saw recently of one of our former guitar players saying they did the best they could to do the solo and put their impression on it. And that to me, I don't think is respectful of the song. If I go to a classical concert and somebody was up there doing a Vivaldi song and one of the solos came up and the guy just started jamming, I would be very upset. You know, the song has these parts in it that are memorable for a reason. And I've always tried to do the solos as good or better than the covers we've done. Any of the cover songs that we do, we do that.

In fact, I was asked the other day something about when the past members get together and they go out and they play Megadeth songs, how do I feel about that? And frankly, I think it's great! It shows that the songs were great. And we all get paid for playing them. So, I think it's great. Those guys get paid, I get paid, the fans get paid with the enjoyment of hearing the songs. So, it's an all-around great time in Megadeth.

Are you still in good terms with Kiko? And how would you evaluate his contribution during his presence in Megadeth? Would you leave an open door to work again with him sometime in the future?

Well, I think where he goes at in his life right now, he wouldn't be able to keep the commitments that Megadeth had asked of him. And that's not going to change. He's not going to all of a sudden not have kids. And I respect him. He's a very fun dad. We had his daughter out with us on tour for a while, so she could have some "daddy and me" time and he was a very fun dad. I'm really grateful that Kiko picked Teemu for us because that's how that happened. I didn't know who Teemu was. Kiko did.

So, Kiko is fine where he's at right now. And we're not going to go back in time. If we were to have Kiko come play with us, it would be with us, with Teemu, as the guitar player in Megadeth. Because we made a statement that he was officially the guitar player in the band. When Kiko went home, he was evaluating what the situation was. But now we know that things are better with him to where the things are right now.

I was eager to start doing new songs when I left the studio last time in 2022

All right! Have you started thinking about writing new songs, making a new album, maybe? Or is it too soon? Maybe to see what you and Teemu could do together in the studio? And also, are you still eager to compose new music or do you prefer to play live shows with all this classic and great songs that you already have in your catalogue?

I was eager to start doing new songs when I left the studio last time in 2022. We had songs that weren't finished, but we needed to get ready for the record release and to go back out on tour. So, I hope that answers your question. I just was talking with the guys about getting ready to start submitting ideas for what we're doing next.

Yeah, it answers my question. So, next year it will be 40 years since the release of your debut album. Do you have any special plans to celebrate this milestone? Not just for "Killing Is My Business..." album, for its sake, but in general to celebrate 40 years of your discography?

I didn't think about that. I'm always looking for a reason to have a good time, so that is a great idea to have a party for that. You know, while we tour, when we have anniversaries, the 40th one is hard to have anything that comes close to that. 35 is coming up, 30 is coming up, and at some point 30 and 40 are going to land on the same year, 35 and 25 going to land on the same year kind of stuff. And eventually there's going to be an anniversary every year of one or more albums. I would love to do an anniversary record and tour to support those records. But at this point right now, we're just wrapping up the Crush The World Tour and we're getting ready to come back home. And when we get home is when we're going to start working on new songs, because be we'll be working out of the United States and it'll be a lot easier for us to go from city to city and set up our dressing rooms, so that we can do work during the day in the venues.

I don't talk a lot in between songs. And we don't waste time in between songs by not playing

Back to your recent tour, I was taking a look at the setlists that you had and there are some standard tunes that you play and then there are some songs on rotation from night to night. Are you planning to continue in this way for the upcoming festival show? Is there any chance that we might get a bit more extended set on your headline show here because some songs that are on rotation really hurt when they're not played.

I think we're going to be playing if we're headlining. I'm not sure if we're headlining or not, but if we are...

You are...

We're probably going to play anywhere from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. Maybe my management can speak up and tell us how long we're going to be playing for. But if we do play 90 minutes, I can tell you it's straight through there's very little time where we're not playing. I don't talk a lot in between songs. And we don't waste time in between songs by not playing. It's pretty much straight through for sixty, seventy five or ninety minutes. Whatever the time is that we're supposed to play. And the set list that we have changes every day. It's not the same setlist that we used to do. And we did that because we had video. Video really locked us into exact specific shows and it was kind of like being handcuffed. Now without the videos, we can do whatever we want at any time. We can throw songs in or take songs out, and it's not a big deal.

Yeah, that's good. Now, I was looking at the setlist again and I consider "The System Has Failed" as one of your greatest works. To be honest, I love this album and there are some amazing tunes on it. So is there a reason that you don't play any song out of this album on your recent year sets... If I'm not mistaken...

Well, "The System Has Failed", has "Kick The Chair" on it, right?

I think we've become dangerous again, which is good

Yeah, and "The Scorpion" and many more great songs...

Yeah, we're going to be adding that song to our set list. I was just talking with the guys and I said "You know, we really need to get "Kick The Chair" and "Washington Is Next" into our list of songs we're going to play". But, we got to do them right. We have to make sure that all the parts are learned properly. And there's so much stuff that goes on with all these amplifiers that are connected to one another. They all run off of MIDI. And it's important that we all know what the part is when something counts from 1 to 4 on one guys stuff, because we're using MIDI, it has to count from 1 to 4 on the other guy stuff too, or else it's a fucking mess.

I think we've become dangerous again, which is good. We're playing tighter than we ever have and we sound as close to the records as I can possibly get right now. We work every day on trying to make it sound closer to the records. Our sound engineer comes in every day into the studio and we do what's called listening for ear candy. So he’s coming in and we do listening for ear candy.

Now, why is it so hard to have vinyl reissues for some of your albums, like "Countdown To Extinction", "Youthanasia" and "Cryptic Writings"? You know, these albums belong to the pantheon of metal music, and they should be in every house of anyone that calls himself a metalhead. Is there any news on that?

Oh, I don't know! That has a lot to do with the record labels and the manufacturers of that stuff. The time’s getting close where we're going to be getting our rights back for our masters on all that stuff. And I'm pretty sure when that happens, we'll be able to do all these different types of releases.

You know, there's not only stuff that's not released on vinyl. It's also a lot of DVD and Blu-ray stuff that the label figures "Well, people will watch it on YouTube". Well, people will watch it on YouTube, yeah, that's right. But some people want a fucking Blu-ray... (laughs)

Yeah, I'm one of them...

Me too...

Well, I first listened to your music and fell in love with it during the 90s, with the three albums that I mentioned before "Countdown", "Youthanasia" and "Cryptic Writings". Of course, "Rust In Peace" as well... And I still consider this to be the golden era of Megadeth, if I'm allowed to say so. But I'm not sure you'd agree with that... so would you prefer the thrash 80s side of the band or the heavy, mid-tempo 90s side of Megadeth?

I prefer the 80s part. The stuff that happened during the 90s... several of those records... You know, it's kind of hard to really be honest about this because "Rust In Peace" came out in 1990. So that actually would qualify up with "Countdown" and "Youthanasia" and everything, if we did it right. So what are we talking here? Does "Rust In Peace" qualify as a 90s record or as an 80s record? 90s, right?

In the 90s I was trying very hard to satisfy Marty Friedman, because he was losing his interest in playing metal anymore

Yeah, technically it's 90s. But you know what I mean... It's on the "faster" side...

Yeah, sure, sure... I think this stuff from 1990 to 2000 was a lot more melodic and that was during a period where I was trying very hard to satisfy Marty Friedman, because he was losing his interest in playing metal anymore. And I remember when we were doing I think it was "Risk"... He had said something that we needed to be more alternative sounding like Dishwalla, which was an alternative band in America. And I played the riff for "The Doctor's Calling". But I was joking around and he goes "Oh my God, that's great". And so did the producers. And we ended up recording that. But the point was, a lot of that was me respecting Marty and not wanting to lose him as my partner.

"Whenever anybody tells me what would I tell to new bands... I always tell them "stay in school"

You're arguably one of the best lyricists in metal music and definitely one of my favorites over the years. I wanted to know how it feels that some of your lyrics that you wrote 30 or 35 years ago are still relevant. And sometimes even more than they were back then.

I feel pretty fortunate. And it just backs up whenever anybody tells me what would I tell to new bands... I always tell them "stay in school". You know, you want to be as smart as you can, because you need to learn numbers for cashing checks and collecting money. You need to know English for writing lyrics and reading stuff. You need to know history for having something interesting to write about. So much life that you need to learn in order to be successful in music.

So, yeah, I always try and encourage our fans to learn from the music. And you can tell that too with a lot of the songs. I mean, every record will have at least one really interesting word that people don't use. Like for example you were talking about "The system Has Failed", right? Was it you or was it the last interviewer? Anyway, someone was talking about "The System Has Failed" and there's a song on there, "Something Than I'm Not" and it has a word called "enissophobia". I never knew enissophobia was, so it was a new word that I learned and I shared in the record. After this interview, you should look up that word.

I will...

Unless you look it up while we're talking...

No, I don’t... (laughs)

It's a great word...

There's a lot of bands that are older that are still just as inexperienced as the new bands are

Yeah, will do. And that's another proof that it's always interesting and intriguing to read your lyrics. You recently mentioned that metal music has nothing to fear since good albums continue to come out. So, I'd like to know if there are any new bands or albums that you've listened to and make and make you feel this way and make this statement. Because you are one of the most important musicians that ever played metal music and you shaped it in a way that only a few have done, so how do you see the state of metal music today? And how different is it from "back in the day" to quote again a song from "The System Has Failed"?

(laughs) "Back in the day". That's hot...

Well, like I said in the previous interview, metal doesn't really have anything to fear...

You asked me for some of the bands that I was talking about. You know, I don't, really like going on record for saying something about any bands in particular, but the guys that would come to mind with me, right off the bat, probably be that new breed of metal bands like Avenged Sevenfold and a band that we’re taking on tour over here, for the Destroy All Enemies tour, it’s All That Remains. They've got a new record coming out that I heard and I liked it. But, I also know that a lot of the new bands can learn a lot still from some of the older bands that have their shit together. Because there's a lot of bands that are older that are still just as inexperienced as the new bands are.

I'm coming to see you tonight. Play some music, make me happy. Don't start telling me about your fucking problems

We went out on tour a while ago... I won't say who it was, but we went out on tour a while ago and the frontman for the band we were playing with was saying "fuck" over and over to the point where it became almost cliché. And you know, when I go to a concert I want to be entertained, I don't want to be annoyed. And anything, whether you say "fuck" or you say "shit" or you say "beans", when you go to see a performance, I think it's important to see a performance and to be entertained. It's not a time or place for someone to get up on a political soapbox. It's time for you to play the songs that I like. We don't have a lot of time tonight. The world's a difficult place to live in. We don't have a lot of stuff making us happy during the day. So I'm coming to see you tonight. Play some music, make me happy. Don't start telling me about your fucking problems. Right?

If it's going to help out some less fortunate people, then "Ok, yeah, I'm all about that stuff"

Yeah, I get the point. I was wondering that you have not done anything outside Megadeth since the late 90s that you did the project MD 45, which was very cool. Have you considered or are you still considering doing something outside Megadeth? You know, to test the waters a bit. Maybe to collaborate with other musicians or something? Or by this time, everything you do is only with Megadeth and that's it?

Well, I would say probably more towards the second part of your question. It's probably a little more Megadeth and that's it. But I have done stuff on other people's projects when it benefits others. If it's something that I'm going to make money off of and no one else is, then I don't want to do that. If it's something that, the person doing the record and myself is going to get paid and there's a charity benefit to somebody, so it's going to help out some less fortunate people, then "Ok, yeah, I'm all about that stuff". But if it's just a money making thing for people, I usually tend to back off a little bit from that. It’s not my thing. I love my band. It's got a lot of stuff that happens every day, so it's not like I don't have anything to do...

There was a special moment in Megadeth history when Marty Friedman rejoined the band at Budokan. It seemed that you both enjoyed playing again together and he started talking about how good it was in Megadeth. Would you consider collaborating again with him on any level? Because if I'm allowed to say, the chemistry that you had with him on a guitar level, was special. It was possibly the best guy that you had on your side and you had many great guys on your side...

Your question is, would it happen again?

I want people to give this lineup a chance and listen, because I am 100% satisfied with everyone's performance in the band right now. We're having some of the best concerts we've ever had

Well, if you would do anything else with Marty Friedman, maybe on a live set on a studio or whatever.

I think that the beauty of that was that it happened and it's been captured. When we played in Budokan and it captured again when we did Wacken. So I don't think we're going to do that again. I would love to see Marty playing with the band, with Dirk and James and Teemu, but we are a band now. We made an official statement that Teemu is official guitarist of Megadeth now.

So I think a lot of times when you do stuff like that, it just confuses your fan base. You know, with them thinking "maybe we'll have the "Rust In Peace" lineup together again". Well, we can't do that for a couple of really big, clear reasons. And I want people to give this lineup a chance and listen, because I am absolutely, 100% satisfied with everyone's performance in the band right now. We're having some of the best concerts we've ever had, Chris.

Yeah. It makes me even more excited to see you playing live when you say something like that, so I can't wait to see you performing live here. So, that’s it from me! Once again it was a privilege having the chance to talk with you. I'm really looking forward to see you here in Greece soon! Wishing you all the best!

Thanks Chris! Cheers buddy!