David Ellefson Says He’s Being “Very Respectful” About Megadeth Firing
Mötley Crüe aren’t the only ones with disputes between former and current members of the band. Last year, longtime Megadeth bassist David Ellefson was fired from Megadeth following an online sex scandal. Ellefson and Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine have publicly discussed their failed relationship at length, but they evidently still have more to say about it.
In an interview with The Metal Circus, Ellefson spoke about his new bands, Dieth and Kings of Thrash, and answered whether he was frustrated that fans largely associate him with Megadeth.
“I’m always gonna be known for my work in Megadeth. But me not being in Megadeth is not of my choice. [Laughs] I think people are appreciative that I’m continuing to make music — at least from what I’ve seen. It’s not like I left the band and said, ‘Fuck you. I’m out.’ ‘Cause if I did that, and then if I was trying to start new bands, people would be, like, ‘Fuck you, Ellefson. You left our favorite band. Fuck you. We don’t care.’ People know that that was not my decision; it’s not the way I would have handled that at all.”
Disregarding the fact that of course he wouldn’t have fired himself from the legendary thrash band he’d been in for decades, Ellefson explained that he has been very respectful of Mustaine and Megadeth.
“Clearly I’m not mad about the past. I’m not disrespectful. I didn’t just close the door on Megadeth and say ‘fuck you’ and move on to something else; I didn’t do that at all. I will always be an ambassador for that group and for those songs and for that music, because I’m a part of that. So I think that’s the difference. I think I’m being very respectful toward it despite how my dismissal was handled. I think I’ve gone above and beyond being respectful. I can assure you many others would not have [laughs], but I did. At the same time, there’s new music. There’s a forward path. And I’m not just gonna live in my past, my glory days of the past.
“Look, I can just quit and not do any more music — to be honest with you, I could. And there are some days I think about that and go, ‘Yeah, fuck all this shit. Maybe I should just stop and just fucking get rid of all my guitars and just call it a day.’ I mean, there really are days I think about that. But then I turn around and I go, ‘I’m gonna grab an instrument,’ and I start playing. So it’s that natural instinct to want to play. That’s why there is another David Ellefson band. It’s because I’m passionate about it and I’m honest and I’m genuine about it. I’m not forcing something. I’m certainly not doing it for the money. All these bands fucking cost me money. I put my own money back into these things.”
Dieth’s debut album, To Hell and Back, is out on June 2, so you can expect to hear more about Ellefson’s time in Megadeth until then.
