Megadeth lives to play another day
Frontman says audiences are ‘salt of the earth’
If the other members of Megadeth had their way, the band’s 30th anniversary this year would be celebrated in grand style.
But leader Dave Mustaine doesn’t need cake and candles to mark the occasion.
“Anyway,” he said,” where are we going to find the time?” The band is in the midst of its first Gigantour in four years, a rolling thunder revue of heavy metal acts. Then they hit the road with Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.
“We’re all going to need some therapy after that,” Mustaine said.
There was a time that Mustaine, 51, was the very image of the reckless, manic rocker.
It’s part of the reason he was turfed from Metallica, the band he helped form, in a leadership power play in 1983. But he’s a family guy now and age, he admits, does things to your mind and your body.
“I learned a cliché about musicians years ago, that we’re underworked and overpaid, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s pretty true. Unless you get caught up in the periphery, and you know what I mean, it’s a pretty cool job.”
Just last month, Megadeth released its 14th studio album, Super Collider, a bracing collection of what the band is all about — melodic heavy metal cast in Gothic imagery that appeals to the young and the young-of-spirit.
“It bothers me sometimes,” Mustaine said, “when the focus is on rock stars being bad. I was pretty bad myself in my younger days, and I said and did things I’m not proud of. But the music is a panacea for so many different people.”
Heavy metal audiences, Mustaine insists, are “salt of the earth.” Many, like him, come from troubled or underprivileged childhoods.
“I was a street urchin,” he said. “The music I play expresses the story of my life and that’s why it is so appealing to people who have come through hardships.”
Mustaine grew up rough on Southern California’s streets and was dealing drugs in his teens. But he was also introduced to heavy metal, giving him a sense of worth.
“I remember the first time I heard AC/DC’s Let There Be Rock, it changed my life. I was an impressionistic teenager and hadn’t formed any real beliefs or ideas of my own.
“But from the first couple of notes of that record, I was sure what it was I wanted to do.”
Megadeth, in turn, has inspired the generation that followed AC/ DC. And it continues to inspire in non-musical ways, as well.
Recently, the band announced it would turn over part of the proceeds of its July 16 concert in Oklahoma City, Okla., to disaster
I was a homeless child, so I know what that’s like DAVE MUSTAINE
relief in the wake of the May tornadoes.
They’ll even play in a celebrity baseball game.
“I was homeless as a child, so I know what that’s like. But I can’t imagine having something and, poof, seeing it all ripped away. We couldn’t go into Oklahoma and take more away. It wouldn’t be right.”
Mustaine has been keeping an eye on developments in Calgary, where recent floods left hundreds homeless. Gigantour has a date at the Stampede Corral on July 25.
“We have always had a close relationship with Canada,” he said. “Our drummer (Shawn Drover) is from Montreal, and a few years back we did a similar thing in Montreal after an ice storm.
“The people there remember what we did, but it wasn’t done to get noticed. We did it because we love the city and we love our Canadian fans.”
Gigantour, said Mustaine, is packed with theatrical gimmicks, but mainly because audiences expect them.
“I’m the biggest Led Zeppelin fan around, and they didn’t need inflatable groupies or fire-breathing dragons,” he said.
“Times have changed. I’m an old-minded person in a new-minded world.
“We’ve got lots of production stuff in the show.”
But, he added, “That’s not to say I’m not still salt of the earth. I still like macaroni and cheese!”