Dave Mustaine Claims He Was Pressured Into Bringing Dave Ellefson Back to Megadeth in 2010
Ex-Megadeth and current Dieth/Kings Of Thrash/Ellefson-Soto bassist David Ellefson may no longer be in the seminal thrash metal band, but it’s not the first time he’s been on the outside looking in. According to a new interview with Australia’s Heavy, frontman Dave Mustaine wishes he kept Ellefson out of the band, rather than bring him back into the fold in 2010.
The topic came up as Mustaine was discussing what’s changed in Megadeth since they last played Australia in 2015. It’s a leading question that results in Mustaine “spilling the tea,” as the kids say these days…I think.
[David] Ellefson [former Megadeth bassist] was in the band. He was out. James [LoMenzo, current Megadeth bassist] came in. He was out. Ellefson came back because the Drover brothers [drummer Shawn and guitarist Glen] kept pressuring me to do this, get Ellefson back. He came in, and we had that weird shit that happened.
I put the bold italics there for emphasis. Dave Mustaine was pressured to do something?! I don’t know about you guys but Mustaine has always seemed to me like he was the most stubborn person in the room when it comes to making decisions. Maybe I’m wrong but I always got the “I’m the alpha male so you all listen to me” vibe from him. It’s wild to think two guys like Shawn and Glen Drover of all people could push him into bringing someone into the band he didn’t want to. Yet here we are.
Ellefson’s first departure from Megadeth took place in 2002 when Mustaine broke up the band following a medical diagnosis made it seem like he’d never play guitar again. Following a legal dispute between the two Daves, it wouldn’t be until 2010 when Ellefson would return to the band.
Ellefson was fired last year after a sex scandal blew up on the internet. At the time, an extremely explicit video of the bassist masturbating during a video chat made the rounds on social media, along with screen caps of text exchanges between him and an unidentified woman that people believed to be underage. Despite those initial claims that made it seem like he’d been grooming an underage girl during the incident, it was later determined that the interactions were consensual and the woman was of legal age.
Later on in the interview, Mustaine said he loved the fact that LoMenzo was back in Megadeth after firing Ellefson. He praised the band’s current bassist’s playing and singing, opining that LoMenzo’s singing capabilities “helps encourage me to sing.”
Couple all this with the fact that Mustaine doesn’t consider Ellefson a founding member of Megadeth and you’ve got a situation where Big Dave is making it crystal clear that he wants nothing to do with the disgraced bassist anymore.
