David Ellefson Didn’t Ask Marty Friedman to Play with Kings of Thrash: “He Washed His Hands of Megadeth”

Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson hasn’t been shy about recruiting former members of Megadeth, of which there are a lot, to play with his Megadeth tribute band, Kings of Thrash. Notably, he never asked ex-guitarist Marty Friedman to play with the group despite Friedman having arguably the highest profile of any former ‘Deth six-stringer. Ellefson discussed the choice on the Jasta Show, explaining that he felt Friedman had walked away from Megadeth entirely.

“No, I didn’t call him, ’cause, look, when Marty quit, he just walked away. He washed his hands of Megadeth. I mean, he left his money on the table. He just didn’t turn back. It was not, like, ‘Hey, you fuckers better pay me.’ I mean, nothing. He just literally walked out the door. That was it. He was gone, and he just washed his hands of the whole thing. So, yeah, Marty and I are friends, and we never talk about Megadeth — ever.

“Marty and I, I asked him one time about playing something. And he’s kind of more my — he’s my buddy. We don’t really talk music that much. We kind of check in, ‘Hey, what’s happening? How’s [everything] in Japan?’ And we don’t really talk business… So I intentionally didn’t hit him because I didn’t think he’d be interested. Plus he lives in Japan, and one of the beauties of Kings of Thrash, essentially it’s based in L.A. and those guys, they’re even rehearsing now for when we go to Australia next week. I just walk in and plug and play.”

Ironically, Friedman has connected with his former Megadeth bandmates over the last few months, performing at a handful of shows, including one in Japan and at Wacken. Friedman has never demonstrated an interest in constantly playing Megadeth songs again, so Kings of Thrash seems like a pipe dream anyway.