Dave Mustaine is “100 Percent Satisfied” Having Teemu Mäntysaari in Megadeth
To say Megadeth‘s been a revolving door when it comes to anyone not named Dave Mustaine would probably be an understatement. Just one glance at the list of current and past members on Wikipedia proves that point exactly. But during a recent interview with Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), it sounds like Mustaine’s pretty content with the current lineup — especially when it comes to guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari.
Mustaine’s comments about Teemu specifically came up when he was asked how the Wintersun guitarist will contribute to new music and the overarching songwriting process moving forward.
“Yes, I do. I think he’s gonna be a great addition to Megadeth. He already has. We’re playing more songs now than we were playing before. And that has nothing negative to say about any of the previous lineups. It just says that he knew more about the band and understands the metal backbone of so many of these songs more than some of the other people would understand it.”
Who’s playing guitar in Megadeth’s been a hot topic as of late, seeing as Kiko Loureiro walked away from the band and suggested Mäntysaari to Mustaine. Couple that with the fact that ex-Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman played a few songs with the band during a couple major shows, which got fans wondering if he’d ever rejoin the band.
To his credit, Mustaine made it sound like he’s going to stick by Mäntysaari, noting that there’s no chance that the former guitarist would come back into the fold.
“We played together for a couple of tracks, which was fun, and it was a very natural feeling. But I know that Marty, when we got together in Japan and we talked, Marty’s changed a lot; he’s a different man. And it’d be really fun to play with him every once in a while, see what’s going on. But the problem is a lot of fans will misunderstand us doing something with Marty and think that there’s some hope of Marty joining Megadeth again, and there’s not, that there wouldn’t be, because Marty is doing his own thing in Japan and I am 100 percent satisfied with Teemu right now, and I’ve already told the world that he’s our new guitar player.”
As for Loureiro, who left the band this past November, Mustaine admitted that his departure was unfortunate. Ultimately, he said he understood the decision since his family needed him home and that’s what was important.
“Well, it wasn’t really a surprise, because it started to become clear that his family was gonna need him. And I’m a dad too, so I saw it and I knew that his wife and babies all needed their daddy. And Kiko is a good husband, he’s a good dad, and he needed to do what was right for him and for his family. And I applaud him for doing what he did. A lot of people would not have the guts to walk away from being a rock and roll star to take care of their kids. They would somehow sacrifice something, and it probably would not be their family.”
