INTERVIEW WITH DAVE MUSTAINE

He has a reputation for being surly and bad-tempered, especially among journalists. They say that when Dave Mustaine answers a question, he usually responds with the fewest possible words, and sometimes not even that. Those who don't know him assure that he is a man of bad temper, and those who have already had some contact with the star or have stopped to read some succinct biography presume that Rock & Roll and the fight for metal (heavy) have turned him into a tough guy.
In both assertions there is some prejudice and quite a bit of stereotype. What is expected of the leader of such a fierce band as Megadeth? Smiles and a glass of juice?
However, that is what we found when we arrived at the interview with Dave Mustaine. The almost legendary figure of thrash metal enters one of those typical hotel rooms where companies usually hold executive meetings and greets with a one hundred percent natural smile; meanwhile, he offers juice and coffee as if he were a red-haired flight attendant and not a star of the most volcanic Rock.
It is not that he is always like this; in fact, those who frequent his inner circle usually describe him as a reserved and quiet man. But Dave Mustaine's mood changes when he sets foot on Argentine soil. He himself will say it several times during an extensive and revealing conversation, during which he will try to specify that it is not an act of pure demagoguery that he repeats in all the countries he visits. "When I go to Brazil or Chile I clarify that I like to play there, but that I love Argentina," he says, and it sounds convincing.
There are powerful reasons that support his friendly and even nice attitude. In October Megadeth gathered an audience of 20 thousand spectators who filled Parque Sarmiento. The data would not be especially relevant if it were not for the fact that this was the band's fourth incursion into Buenos Aires, and the previous one had occurred barely a year earlier. It is a kind of romance that has resisted the passage of time and habit; something that had not happened since Los Ramones broke up with a concert at River. A similar thing happened to both groups: they were not considered first-line acts in the United States, and their home games, with a packed stadium and a fervent crowd, they played in a distant land called Buenos Aires. To this must be added that Megadeth's last three albums (Cryptic Writings (1997), Youthanasia (1994) and Countdown to Extinction (1992) have been gold records, that is, with more than 30 thousand copies sold.
"The truth is that I have no explanation for this phenomenon, but I think it's great," comments Mustaine, shaking his lush red hair. "That's why we want to record our live album in Buenos Aires. We want the North American audience to realize that it sucks." (laughs)
Bad news for the band's fans: Megadeth's live album has been put in the freezer due to the change of drummer. In the middle of this year, Nick Menza temporarily left the group to undergo surgery. But, in truth, Menza did not get along well with the rest of the group. Today Mustaine reveals that Jimmy De Grasso, the new drummer, is a permanent member of the staff. "Jimmy is not going to want us to release a live album with the previous drummer, and I can understand that," explains Mustaine. On the other hand, the speed with which bootleg recordings circulate has meant that the live takes that Megadeth recorded last year in their presentation at Ferro are already in the hands of the fans. "I think," says Mustaine, "that with this change and with the damned bootleg recordings, what is appropriate is that we debut Jimmy's incorporation with a new studio album that we will begin recording on January 6. We estimate to finish that album by June and then we will go back on tour immediately. So what we are going to do is record some of those new live songs and add them to the material we recorded in Argentina, so I estimate that the live album - which I don't know when it will be released - will last about two and a half hours. Maybe it will be a double album; my problem, and I assume it as such, is that I care too much about the fans' opinion and I don't want something that is not perfect to be released. I don't want to release an album that is excessively long or too short. I remember when I was a kid and I smoked a joint to listen to Kiss Alive, and all the people screaming like crazy on the song "Black Diamonds", I thought it was great. Years later, the producer of that album, Eddie Kramer, told me that everything was rigged and it broke my heart. I don't want that to happen with Megadeth fans."
There was a time when Dave Mustaine couldn't love anyone, not even himself. A founding member of Metallica, along with James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and bassist Cliff Burton, he had a behavior that was difficult to tolerate, so he only remained in the band for two years, between 1981 and 1983. He was unceremoniously expelled for his drug problems and was very resentful, so he devoted himself to plotting his revenge: Megadeth was the vehicle for that revenge. The title of the first album, Killing Is My Business... And Business is Good, gave account of the young man's state of mind. The work was released by an independent label and the good reviews it deserved hastened the signing of a contract with Capitol Records, the label that released Peace Sells... But Who's Buying? Mustaine got hooked on heroin and was involved in a suicidal spiral that affected the life of the group. There were countless changes of lineup. In 1990, guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza brought musical stability to the band, joining Mustaine and Dave Ellefson, who had been idle for two years. Arrested for driving under the influence of heroin, Mustaine had to begin a recovery treatment that, little by little, was restoring his sobriety. There were relapses, advances and retreats, but today Mustaine continues to win in a fight that, as he states, has not yet ended and is fought day after day. He very rarely accepted talking about the subject with the press.

Dave Mustaine gives us some more details about his relationship with drugs, but asks for discretion. He is forbidden to reveal the treatment he has followed to quit them.
"If I fall again, some kid who is trying to get off drugs is going to think the treatment doesn't work. I am in constant recovery. This is something you work on every day."

Mustaine is enthusiastic about the reaction of the Argentine public. At times he doesn't seem like a 37-year-old man, father of two children and leader of Megadeth for fifteen years, but just another teenager, one of those who stand guard at the hotel door to get an autograph, a greeting or a little conversation. Euphoric, Dave continues to tell anecdotes.
"Now it's fun to remember that our new drummer was part of Alice Cooper's band when we played at Ferro, in 1995 as part of the Monsters of Rock festival. I asked him: What does it feel like now?. And he answered that when he heard the reaction of the people during Megadeth's performance, which played before Alice Cooper, he thought it was going to be very hard to have to play after us."
But it's not all roses: Mustaine doesn't quite understand why people spit. It is explained to him that the South American public misunderstood the books that told the history of English punk and the ritual of spitting - in fact, the Sex Pistols themselves got angry with the Buenos Aires public who greeted them with pure spit - and that this misunderstanding became an unpleasant custom.

The more popular I become in this country, the more I want to know about it. Sometimes, fame doesn't give you much opportunity to see things. I would like to go fishing, for example (although I know you can't in Buenos Aires), I would like to go see horses or how they cook that fabulous Argentine steak. The girls are the most beautiful in the world, really, and it seems to me that Argentina is a very sexy and romantic country.
Mustaine tells what he knows about Argentine history and it seems he understood everything very well until we became a Republic, (what happened after, perhaps not even we understand it).
"Many people are afraid to ask questions because they don't want to look stupid." But what American knows anything about Argentine history? They would have to come here and learn. I don't want to arrive, play and then leave; I want to give something back to the people. They give us so much... They bring things for my children! Every time I arrive in Buenos Aires, there is a box of my favorite cigars waiting for me in my room. How can I not like this place?