David Ellefson Has No Time to “Get All Butthurt” About Megadeth, Says He’ll Never Own a Copy of the New Album
You ever get kicked out of something or break up with someone and go “yeah well I don’t need them anyway.” I’m starting to get the feeling that that’s how David Ellefson tends to react when hearing about Megadeth these days.
During a recent interview with The Metal Voice, transcribed by Blabbermouth, it sounded a little like a jilted lover was talking when Ellefson was talking about Megadeth’s latest album The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!
“I do not own a copy of the new one, nor will I. Honestly, once I was let go, I moved on. And I didn’t look back… For me, it’s, like, ‘Well, move on. I’ve been here before. I’ve been without Megadeth once before. Everything worked out fine.’ I think the difference was this time… The first time, I’d only done Megadeth for almost 20 years, so when it ended, it was a pretty abrupt… the plane fell from the sky pretty frickin’ hard for everybody. This time I was prepared for it. And the transition… I mean, look, we didn’t work very much in the last five years I was in the band anyway — that album took almost five years to get it together and get it out. So honestly I’d been already working on a bunch of other stuff. I’d been doing Ellefson solo records, playing on other records, I worked with Al Jourgensen from Ministry, I wrote books. So my creative thing was really up and running and in motion. So it’s kind of, like, ‘Well, one gig went away. Oh, well. Next. Move on.’ I don’t have time to sit around and get all butthurt about it; I just fucking moved on. And that, I think, kind of just keeps me positive and moving forward.”
The bassist also talked about his work with the Kings of Thrash project, where he plays with… former Megadeth guitarist Jeff Young. And their four day tour where they had… former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland join them to play the entirety of both Killing is My Business… And Business is Good! and So Far, So Good… So What! Sounds like my guy still thinks about Megadeth a lot.
“I think what we’re doing with Kings of Thrash is we’re honoring the legacy, in a way. I’m kind of trying to keep my arms around the legacy and keep it kind of pulled together, ’cause it’s all of ours to share; it belongs to everybody. It’s not just any one person’s legacy; we were all there; we all created it; we were all part of it. And you can hear it, especially with Kings of Thrash. You go, ‘My God. There it is. That’s the sound.’ And especially to bring in a couple of new guys, like Fred Aching on drums and Chaz on guitar. They’re young; they appreciate it; they support it. And I’m grateful that the fans are there to support it. I listen to them; I hear what the fans are asking for. I tried to get a bunch of those songs in the set for the last five years, and it just didn’t happen. And I’m, like, well, I know the fans wanna hear these songs. Fuck it. I’ll go out and play ’em with my friends. And we’ll have a great time doing it and we’ll have fun and it’ll make the fans happy. And at the end of the night, that’s the ultimate hi-five.”
Oh, so it’s a legacy thing. Yep. I’m sure that’s what it is.
