Nick Menza’s Manager Calls New Dave Mustaine Book “Fabricated Bullsh*t,” Says “Dave Wasn’t Very Nice to Nick Towards the End”

October 13th, 2020 at 9:46am
Axl Rosenberg

Nothing has ever been Dave Mustaine’s fault. Unsurprisingly, that includes Megadeth’s failure to have a reunion of the Rust in Peace-era line-up after Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover both quit the band in 2014. During a recent interview with Loudwire to promote his new book, Rust in Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece (co-written by Joel Selvin), Mustaine portrayed Peace drummer Nick Menza — who passed away in 2016 at the age of 51 — as a cruel, greedy jerk:

“The chemistry of Nick and Marty [Friedman], don’t get me wrong — that was amazing. And my heart aches when I think about that. And, in fact, that’s why I wrote at the back of the book ‘In Loving Memory’ and not ‘In Memory Of’.
“Nick said some shitty things about me at the end, especially to you guys and to Blabbermouth, where he would just wail on me. And I would think, ‘Nick, why are you doing this? I never did anything to you. I’m always fighting for you.’
“When I would read the stuff that he would [say about me], I would just be so hurt. ‘Cause when we went to do the reunion, you see Ellefson tell the story, I wasn’t the one that said Nick wasn’t ready — Dave said that. I was really bummed about that; I wanted things to work out with Nick. And then in fact, I even said, ‘You know what? If it’s not gonna work with him playing in the studio, let’s have somebody else go into the studio and play, and then we can have Nick play live.’ I was bending over backwards to get a place for Nick. And then he said he wanted this exorbitant amount of cash to work for us and to be able to sell all kinds of merchandise that he had.”

How many of are Mustaine’s claims are true? According to Menza’s longtime manager, Robert Bolger, few to none. Posting a link to the Mustaine interview on Menza’s FB page, Bolger wrote:

“I’m going to keep this short, brief and to the point without tea bagging anyone in the processes, just how Nick would have wanted it! Some of the content that’s published in that book and in the press about Nick is fabricated bullshit to try and sell copies, nothing more, nothing less!
“The Menza family wasn’t even aware of any book being in the works, asked to comment or even offered a copy, i wonder why. Dave and Junior were NOT good friends of Nick no matter what they say now that Nick’s not here to answer what’s being said about him. Dave wasn’t very nice to Nick towards the end before his passing…
“This act of betrayal is a huge blow to Nick, his family, friends and fans. I have all the documented proof, from e-mails to text messages that was never published in Nick’s book out of respect for the integrity and legacy of the band. The truth will be displayed in a two segments of the official Nick Menza documentary that’s in the works.
“YOU WILL NEVER DIMINISH NICK’S LEGACY – RIP NICK MENZA”

So who is telling the truth? Fucked if I know! I will say this: unless he turns out to be a deity and not a human being, David Scott Mustaine has, statistically speaking, made at least 2-3 mistakes in his life for which he has no one to blame but himself. You can’t be the boy who cried “INNOCENT!” and then expect people to consider you a credible witness.

Megadeth are currently working on their follow-up to 2016’s Dystopia, which Mustaine has compared to ‘Deth’s most acclaimed releases. It will presumably be out sometime in 2021.