{"id":29081,"date":"2016-01-22T07:30:58","date_gmt":"2016-01-21T20:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=29081"},"modified":"2016-03-05T12:35:40","modified_gmt":"2016-03-05T01:35:40","slug":"dave-mustaine-of-megadeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2016\/01\/dave-mustaine-of-megadeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Mustaine of Megadeth"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201cI think probably the only thing that we try and do is not copy ourselves to make sure that we set the scales for our own self critiquing to high, not to unobtainable heights because obviously that would kill any project but just to make sure we don\u2019t take the easy way out and that we don\u2019t copy ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

From release: Thrash metal genre pioneers MEGADETH will kick off the New Year with the release of their 15th<\/sup>\u00a0studio album Dystopia. Dystopia\u00a0weaves together Dave Mustaine\u2019s intricate and unique songwriting style, trademark leads and lightning riffs with harmonious precision, paying homage to MEGADETH\u2019s influential roots while continuing to break new and heavy ground.\u00a0\u00a0MEGADETH burst onto the scene thirty years ago, virtually inventing a genre with their debut album Killing Is My Business\u2026 And Business Is Good<\/em>!<\/em>,\u00a0have now sold more than 38 million albums worldwide, earning numerous accolades including 11 Grammy\u00ae nominations, scoring five consecutive platinum albums\u2014including 1992\u2019s two-million-selling\u00a0Countdown to Extinction.<\/p>\n

In his house in Franklin, Tennessee we spoke to Dave Mustaine about \u2018Dystopia\u2019, its creation and more, touring, changes and how long Kenny G thinks they have to wait to win a Grammy\u2026<\/p>\n

Thanks for your time, Dave. To start us off, where did the title and idea of ‘Dystopia’ come from?<\/strong>
\nWell the band has always had *laughs* some trouble titling records as well as songs in general, and that song was called \u2018Tyrannicide\u2019 prior to \u2018Dystopia\u2019 and before that it was called \u2018What You Don\u2019t Know\u2019 and probably a couple of other titles before that, and we just finally got to the point that it was called \u2018Dystopia\u2019. Some of those songs when you\u2019re doing a record in metal there are certain songs that just cry out to you and say I\u2019m going to be the title track and \u2018Dystopia\u2019 told us that\u2019s what it was.<\/p>\n

Did you or do you usually go into each Megadeth record with an idea or concept as a foundation?<\/strong>
\nI think probably the only thing that we try and do is not copy ourselves to make sure that we set the scales for our own self critiquing to high, not to unobtainable heights because obviously that would kill any project but just to make sure we don\u2019t take the easy way out and that we don\u2019t copy ourselves.<\/p>\n

How has having Kiko and Chris Adler in the band helped to shape the current line up?<\/strong>
\nWell it certainly made things exciting. You know we\u2019ve had great players over the years but I think right now it\u2019s probably more exciting for me than it\u2019s been in a very, very long time because Chris is influenced by Gar Samuelson who was a jazz player and a lot of my playing in the very beginning had a lot of twists and turns ala a jazz guitar player because that\u2019s a lot of what the stuff that I liked was. I liked a lot of the weird stuff that was part of the British invasion and a lot of the weird arranged music from back in the day, not just real straight ahead forward stuff.<\/p>\n

What was the recording process like having this new blood in the studio?<\/strong>
\nWell Kiko was interesting to see how he would record, he was very knowledgeable, the difference was just a little bit of a language barrier and it wasn\u2019t even so much that he didn\u2019t speak English, just that he had a very thick accent and some of the words that he uses in his former band, some of the tools and the musical progressions and styles that they did had just different terminology, so that took a little bit of getting used to. Chris was real easy because again he was influenced a lot by Megadeth and the stuff that we\u2019d done, I had no idea I was really, really excited and in the end rewarded in more ways than one with his being as familiar with the band as he was. If he had been in the band the whole time he wouldn\u2019t be so much a fan as he was a band member because of how familiar he is with everything. He certainly knows as much as a guy that had been in the band the whole time.<\/p>\n

Am I right in saying this was your first solo production effort?<\/strong>
\nNo, no no\u2026 this is you know, if you look at a lot of stuff we\u2019ve done in the past, say for example \u2018Countdown To Extinction\u2019 I produced that with a co-producer Max Norman, and same thing with \u2018Cryptic Writings\u2019 I co-produced that with Dann Huff. This is the first time that we went into a record and it wasn\u2019t a team so to speak because Chris came along in the middle of the project, we had already started working on it and made a couple of moves with people we were working on the record and Chris had been helping us engineer and I said do you want to help me finish it and that\u2019s where that kind of came in at. This is definitely my style of how I would produce something because Chris is a relatively unknown guy so what you hear is not me being with somebody that\u2019s really great and be in one of those situations where you put your name next to somebody that\u2019s really great to make you look great *laughs*.<\/p>\n

You were in Australia late last year and played some killer shows. What was that run like for you?<\/strong>
\nToo short, it was way too short, you know we caught a lot of grief from our fans in Adelaide and over in neighbouring New Zealand for not hitting those two stops and frankly, I I wish that the live music scene was healthier in both of your nations, I think there\u2019s been some stuff recently that\u2019s really made a lot of people a little reluctant to go see concerts and it\u2019s affected the bands that come down there like myself and the shows that we can play. Australia is a beautiful and enchanting place and to miss out on it it\u2019s incomprehensible to think that I would never get to come down there and play again.<\/p>\n

Well hopefully you can off the back of Dystopia, I suppose there are no plans to come back and see us?<\/strong>
\nYeah well we\u2019re definitely going to go, I\u2019m just thinking about what it would be like to be somebody who\u2019s in a band that would never get the chance to come down there to see this nation because it truly is something to be marvelled with, it\u2019s close in age to where I\u2019m from and yet the two nations are a lot different and I think that it\u2019s neat to be able to travel to some place you can be so comfortable in and experience a neat, different new place.<\/p>\n

Well off that hopefully a new festival will come along that can pick it back up and those bands can come here\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah I\u2019m hoping that Gigantour is going to be successful in The States and we can take it out again because we\u2019ve done it there once before and I don\u2019t think we would ever have anything that would rival Soundwave, Big Day Out or Day on The Green, but I think it\u2019s cool to be able to bring live talent out and let people come and see, especially if you\u2019re bringing bands from other countries down to Australia, I think it\u2019s really cool to be that guy that can say hey, I brought some of my friends down here to be with you guys who are my new friends.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Australia, I wanted to ask about the imagery on the cover of ‘Dystopia’ is that the Sydney Harbour Bridge?<\/strong>
\nHell if I know but I sure have heard that from a lot of people *laughs*<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll just go with yes\u2026<\/strong>
\nYeah, yeah\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s been thirty years since you released your debut album back in 1985, and obviously music and the industry is a whole different beast now, so what for you is the biggest change you’ve witnessed since the band’s inception?<\/strong>
\nThe biggest change I think has been things going digital and especially with all the use of streaming and peer to peer file transfers and stuff like that, I think what was meant to be for good really hurt a\u00a0 lot of people that were unable to survive that, there\u2019s a lot of bands that were able to survive that because they were live bands and bands there weren\u2019t live bands that were surviving off of sales of records and stuff, they\u2019re gone\u2026 but that\u2019s kind of like the circle of life how the music industry has a way of kind cleansing itself, if an act isn\u2019t ready, hell, it will go out in plan, it just won\u2019t make it because it\u2019s just not ready.<\/p>\n

Thankfully you\u2019ve been around for all this time and past this as it must be so hard for new bands in this day and age to get up there?<\/strong>
\nOh yeah! Totally is because there\u2019s so many great, young players and stuff like that but do they have what it takes to go and get in a bus and ride around for days and days on end away from everybody and not eating well and not sleeping well and not travelling or being treated well and are you willing to do that and suffer for your art and do it over and over and over and over again? That takes a certain breed of people, and then to be able to get in front of an audience which really is the drug of choice for an entertainer like me and not let them know that hey, the other twenty two and a half hours of my life every day are fucking miserable\u2026 but the hour and a half that I\u2019m in front of you makes it all worthwhile.<\/p>\n

Fifteen albums in, what keeps you driven?<\/strong>
\nBills\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the best answer ever; let\u2019s leave it at that\u2026<\/strong>
\nWell truth be told, brother, come on\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

Lastly, let’s look ahead to the future, finish this sentence for me, the one thing I want Megadeth to do in 2016 is…<\/strong>
\nGet a Grammy, get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame\u2026<\/p>\n

What are you about fifteen nominations or something now for the Grammys?<\/strong>
\n*laughs* I don\u2019t know but it\u2019s getting up there, I tell you what, my buddy Kenny G, we were backstage at the Grammy\u2019s one night and I think it was like out eleventh or twelfth nomination and he goes \u201cHey Dave, I just want to let you know and not to feel bad, I was nominated twenty one times before I won my first one\u201d Gee, fucking great, Kenny that makes me feel really good. *laughs*<\/p>\n

Essential Information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From:<\/strong> Los Angeles, CA, USA<\/p>\n

Band Members:<\/strong> Dave Mustaine \u2013 Vocals \/ guitar, David Ellefson \u2013 bass, Chris Adler \u2013 drums, Kiko Loureiro \u2013 lead guitar<\/p>\n

Latest Release:<\/strong> Dystopia (Out Now \u2013 Universal Music Australia)<\/p>\n

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Website:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.megadeth.com<\/a><\/p>\n