INTERVIEW WITH DAVE MUSTAINE: MEGADETH HIGH RISK
Phone interview conducted days before Marty Friedman's official departure announcement. Mustaine is irritable and defensive about the controversial album 'Risk'. He defends the record against criticism and fan expectations for a return to the classic sound, arguing that the band needed to evolve and take risks, and that the album was commercially successful. He highlights the song 'Breadline' as a personal track about homeless people, written for fans who care about his personal life. He announces that they have already begun composing material for the next album, which will be 'very heavy' and reminiscent of 'old Megadeth'. He expresses his frustration at not being able to release a live album due to contractual restrictions with Capitol Records and effusively praises Argentinian fans for their attitude at concerts.
Date
January 1, 2000
Media
Revista Epopeya (AR)
Interviewer
Fernando Serani
Interviewees
Rolling Stone
I would like you to tell me how the tour with Iron Maiden in Europe was, I know you just completed it...
Dave Mustaine
“It was very good. Iron Maiden was a very important band for us when we were younger, we saw them go through many changes. We liked witnessing the reunion with Bruce Dickinson, and the fans too.”
Rolling Stone
Are you particularly happy with Bruce's return to Maiden?
Dave Mustaine
“I never actually saw them with Blaze, or Blass, or whatever his name is (...) I always saw Iron Maiden with Paul (Di Anno) or Bruce, so seeing Dickinson at the front of the band seemed quite normal to me.”
Rolling Stone
Did you play any songs from...?
Dave Mustaine
“If you are going to ask me about Maiden your time is going to run out, and you only have twenty minutes...”
Rolling Stone
I was asking you about Maiden, because they said they were reuniting to “bring heavy metal back to the forefront”. Do you believe that for metal to be popular again it must return in its most classic format, or must it evolve, change, as Megadeth did?
Dave Mustaine
“I think the music that Iron Maiden plays is very “English”, it's British heavy metal. But in North America, although there is a certain audience, there are far fewer fans than there used to be. If they are going to continue playing that style, they must realize that music has changed a little, it has become modernized.”
Rolling Stone
Speaking of modernization, tell me a little about "Risk". I suppose you are aware that the reviews are not very good...
Dave Mustaine
“Well, talking about criticism is a very broad thing. I don't even know where you're talking to me from...”
Rolling Stone
Argentina.
Dave Mustaine
“Good. Reviews are just one person from one magazine. I'm quite happy with the album. There are some things I would change if I had to make the album again, but that happens to me with all the albums. I think "Risk" is being quite successful worldwide, and if the critics are disappointed with the album, I am disappointed with them.”
Rolling Stone
And the fans?
Dave Mustaine
“I think the fans like it. When they come to the concerts... many like the old songs, and not the new ones. But there are many new fans who wouldn't even be there if it weren't for the new songs, and those are the ones who are slowly getting into the older material. It's like an exchange. Anyway, we have already started composing for the next album, which will be very heavy. But I don't want to get ahead of what will happen in the future.”
Rolling Stone
Are you finally going to release the blessed live album?
Dave Mustaine
“The problem is that we still owe Capitol one album, by contract, and a live album doesn't count. Believe me, this is something I've been talking about with my management for years, but every time I want to release a live album they tell me no. However, I think we will at least release some live cuts... but it's always the same shit. Capitol doesn't want us to release the live album. And what can we do? Release it anyway, and have our company not support us? No. And it's not our fault. I think that if everyone in the world knew how the fans in Argentina are, they would be ashamed of their attitude at concerts. In Argentina they are all more heavy, and they have much more fun. Even with slow songs like "A Tout Le Monde", or the new "Breadline", the fans still sing and have fun. The other day we played in Indianapolis, and in the first song an idiot threw a beer at me and hit me in the face. In the second song, he hit me again... I know that wouldn't happen in your country, because they love us there, and they don't have that shit attitude. ”
Rolling Stone
And what did you do when they hit you with the beer?
Dave Mustaine
“I was going to leave the stage saying “go to hell everyone”. But I realized that the jerk who threw the beer was just one person, and the one who threw the second one was just another person, and that everyone else hadn't done anything wrong. And it didn't seem fair to leave. But I was telling you that I really want to return to Argentina, because one of the things about the new album that I think no one realized, is that the song "I’ll Be There" was written especially with the Argentine fans in mind. I imagined the fans singing the song, chanting the melody...”
Rolling Stone
Why didn't you include the lyrics on the new album?
Dave Mustaine
“Because we put them on our website to encourage people to visit us on the Internet. Everyone knows what my lyrics are about, but by not including them on the album, I imagined that people should pay more attention when listening to the songs, to be able to understand them.”
Rolling Stone
What are your favorite songs?
Dave Mustaine
“I like "Prince Of Darkness", it's very heavy, it reminds me of the heavier songs we used to compose a while ago. Also “Time: The End”, which reminds me of Mercyful Fate. It has a great solo, in a Jeff Beck vibe. "The Doctor Is Calling" I also like, the riff is great, a mix of Black Sabbath with Metallica and Megadeth. "Crush ‘Em" is an ideal song for public participation, for the fans to scream. Especially in sporting events like hockey, or football... Here in the USA there is a wrestling league that uses that song.”
Rolling Stone
The last time you were in Argentina, you said there would be a song that would be a remake of "The Call Of Ktulu", by Metallica. When I didn't find it on the album, I asked Marty about it, and he didn't seem to know what I was talking about. What can you tell me about it?
Dave Mustaine
“We never finished that song. And I never record what I don't finish. Every day that I pick up a guitar I play a little bit of that song, and I try to find the part that's missing. So that you understand me, I know what I meant when I said “a kind of remake of The Call Of Ktulu" (...) but here in the USA they thought I was going to re-record "The Call Of Ktulu" directly. And why the hell would I be re-recording a Metallica song? If I do it, I say it and that's it, but I clearly announced that it was “a kind of”... and nothing else. Furthermore, the truth of the story is that I composed that song before I left Metallica. And when I left, my former bandmates added many parts, while most of the segments I composed look a lot like "Hangar 18". And "Hangar 18" and Metallica's "The Call Of Ktulu" are quite different. But I will surely record that song someday, when I finish it. It's very difficult to write songs and turn them into classics. I could easily do whatever comes out, leave it like that, and say “take it or leave it”. But the fans would say “it's good, but not great”. I think all the songs on "Risk", whether fast or not, are still heavy. And you don't need to be fast to be heavy. Black Sabbath is living proof of that. I went through a very special period in my life, there are songs so different in my head that no one would understand them. For example, I didn't compose the song "I’ll Be There" for people like the one who threw the beer at me in Indianapolis. Because they would never understand it, they would never understand why I composed it for the Argentine fans.”
Rolling Stone
I loved the previous album, "Cryptic Writings", and I still listen to it today without getting tired. But with "Risk", I get bored. I expected to be overwhelmed by Megadeth and their new album, I expected much more. It's not that I don't like the softer and more melodic songs, but I don't expect that from Megadeth, I don't know if you understand me...
Dave Mustaine
“It's what I was telling you, there are songs we made to get them out of our system, we needed to make them. Now that we have expressed them, that's it. We had to take some risks. If we don't challenge the audience, how would we know what is good and what is not? People always ask us for the fast songs, it happened to us with "Youthanasia", and with "Rust In Peace", which they always tell me “Uh, Dave, it's your best album”. But it's not the best album for me. The best thing for me is what I'm doing now, "Risk" is the album on which I sang best. It would be very easy for me to make an album heavier than Hell itself, without worrying too much about the vocals... But every album is a learning process for me, I think I'm progressing as a singer. When we set out to record "Risk", we had a goal, and I think we reached it.”
Rolling Stone
It's just that headbangers all over the world saw Megadeth as a kind of “hope” in the face of the “softening” of big bands like Metallica. But it seems that Megadeth is following the same path...
Dave Mustaine
“I think you're dwelling too much on this topic. When we play live, we present all the heavier material, there are only three songs from the new album: "Prince Of Darkness", which is damn heavy; "Crush ‘Em", which... talks about beating someone up!; and "Breadline", which is a very sad song about homeless people living on the street. There are these people in your country, and also in mine, and the sad thing is that nobody gives a damn. It's a very personal song for me, because I was on the street when I started Megadeth. And if the fans don't give a damn about my personal life, what I convey... they can go to hell. But if you listened to something we are composing now, you would say “this is the old Megadeth!”. Everyone who works with us is very enthusiastic. The day before yesterday I sent the first demo with the new material to our management, we just started the composition process......And when everything was going smoothly and The Redhead was about to reveal the most intimate details of his next production (I think deep down he knows very well that with “Risk” they got on a slide), an icy voice sentences me: “Mr. Serani, you have one minute left”... Kill that operator!”
Rolling Stone
Mmmm, to finish Dave... How was the new cover you recorded for "Nativity In Black II", the second part of the Black Sabbath tribute?
Dave Mustaine
“We recorded "Never Say Die", which is a great song. But since we didn't have time to go to the studio, we decided to record it live, in a small club in Denver. The mix was done by the guy who mixed "Cryptic Writings". But I don't know yet when the album will come out. I say goodbye and I hope to see all our fans in March, when we go to Argentina again. See you!”