Megadeth
Menza Fuels MEGADETH Rumors
According to Examiner.com, ex-MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza has not...
MEGADETH IS ‘MOVING FORWARD’
In a brand new interview with Spotlight Report, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about...
MUSTAINE ASKS FOR HELP
MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine and his wife Pam held a press conference yesterday (Friday, October 10) at the Sheriff’s Department headquarters in San Diego to ask the public for help in finding his mother-in-law, who is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and has been missing for a week.
75-year-old Sally Estabrook was last seen at a campground near Julian, California on October 4. Her husband noticed she was gone when he returned from a shower and couldn't find her.
Said Dave Mustaine: "Sally Estabrook went missing Saturday at 4 p.m. up at the Pinezanita Campground up in Julian. She has Alzheimer's, severe, [and] she's not communicative. And we're just asking everybody right now, because of the search and how extensively that it's gone, we're looking outside of the camp area now. And we're just asking everybody that may have been up there to take a look in your sheds, in your garages, any of the thick brush around your house. A lot of times, people that wander that have Alzheimer's are found very close to their home. They just take shelter underneath bushes and stuff. So we're asking that you look there. Also, anybody that's working in the medical field, in the hospitals and shelters, any of the senior citizens, adult homes, stuff like that, look at your patients. Maybe there's somebody there that's not supposed to be there. We need your help. For any of you that are watching this right now, we're just asking that if you see Sally — we call her nana — she's probably not gonna answer to you, just call 911 and then we'll go from there."
Added Pam Mustaine: "There's been some sightings in a couple of cities off the mountain, and I'm just wondering, even the fast-food restaurants, if she's with homeless people, travelling around, I don't know that they would know the situation right now, but that they'd be around the fast-food restaurants or taking shelter in places where they can get food. Just looking more into those areas. And again, she wouldn't know how to put two words together. And she may look like a homeless person at this point. But just keeping an eye out maybe in those areas also or even the freeway ramps or however she could be surviving right now on her own."
Search-and-rescue teams from four counties and the U.S. Border Patrol and more than 300 volunteers have taken part in the search for Sally Estabrook.
Estabrook is 5 feet 4 inches tall, about 145 pounds with shoulder-length, blond hair. She was last seen wearing a teal top and white, Capri pants.
Because Estabrook suffers from Alzheimer's, she isn't very communicative, but might respond to her name.
Anyone who sees Estabrook should call 911 or the sheriff's department at (858) 565-5200.
Mustaine revealed last year that a lot of the songwriting process for MEGADETH's 2013 album, "Super Collider", was affected by the fact that he had just found out his mother-in-law had Alzheimer's disease. He told Loudwire: "Until it happens to you, you really have no idea. And I think that when I saw how upset our family became and yet how we are able to provide the resources for her, it made me think about all the families going through this that don't have the resources to take care of a loved one. It also made me really appreciate our fans, because without them, I would not be able to take care of things the way I am. It really brings it all home. And then beyond that, I just did what any good artist does. I put my emotions into my music. That's the pain you hear in the music. It's real. People can say, 'We don’t want to hear this kind of shit,' but to me, this shit is important."
According to Mustaine, the "Super Collider" track "Forget To Remember" was written specifically about some experiences with memory and forgetting that have come very close to home.
"The sad thing about Alzheimer's disease is it's like watching an ice sculpture of somebody you love melt in front of your eyes; it's really, really painful," he told the "Shockwaves" podcast. "So the song has a double entendre where there's a guy and he talks to a girl in the song and it's kind of like the movie 'The Notebook' where the character in the movie, the female, comes in and out of Alzheimer's and she is present and she is back in La La Land again. So you don't really know in this song if it's a girl that is intentionally trying to forget a relationship with a guy or if it's somebody who has Alzheimer's disease, which, really, is what it's about. I worded it so that it could be either way."
MEGADETH Mainman DAVE MUSTAINE’s Stool Being Auctioned For Charity
A stool hand-assembled by Dave Mustaine of MEGADETH while recording the band's 2007 album "United Abominations" is being auctioned to benefit three children's charities as part of the TeamRock Monster Rock Auction, a charitable project launched by the Heavy Metal Truants.
The stool, which was donated by "United Abominations" producer Andy Sneap, bears a note of authenticity signed by Mustaine himself.
As previously reported, MEGADETH is continuing work on material for the band's next album, tentatively due in 2015.
"We're taking our time with this one," Mustaine told Loaded Radio in a recent interview. "The last record we've done, we felt we were really on a positive upswing with [producer] Johnny K and we were excited to get in and do the record. But looking back over time, all the records that we had a lot of success with, personally…. Because, I mean, at the end of the day, if you don't like what you're doing, then what's the point? But the ones that we really got the most enjoyment out of was the ones that took the longest to write. We would sit with the songs and let them digest and assimilate and become part of us, instead of, 'OK, that's a great song. Let's go.' Or versus, 'You know what? Would it be better if we [played] this part one more time or cut that one in half or sped this up a little bit. There's so many variables."
MEGADETH latest album, 2013's "Super Collider", sold 29,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.
MARTY FRIEDMAN Explains Decision To Leave MEGADETH: ‘I Just Couldn’t Go On Anymore’
In a brand new interview with Wondering Sound, former MEGADETH guitarist Marty Friedman explained his decision to leave the band in 1999 in order to make the kind of music that he was passionate about: Japanese pop music, or J-Pop, which Friedman calls "embarrassingly happy."
"I found myself touring with MEGADETH, and in my hotel room I'd be blasting this Japanese music all the time. What's wrong with this picture?" he said.
As his interest in J-pop grew, Friedman started enjoying MEGADETH less. "I thought I was doing myself a disservice just playing the same old stuff and not really enjoying it," he told Wondering Sound. "Making money from fans who want to see you play when you're not into it didn't really sit right with me."
According to Marty, he simply outgrew metal, explaining that MEGADETH's music began to bore him, and he singled out the band's popular ballad "A Tout Le Monde" as an example.
"The melody's like duh duh duh duh, duh duh duh duh. It's kind of the same thing over and over again," he told NPR in a separate interview. "I'd go play the show at night with MEGADETH. And I'd be like, you know, what what I'm listening to is just so much more exciting than what I'm playing as my gig."
Friedman told his MEGADETH bandmates that he would leave the group at the conclusion of a 16-month-long tour, but "only stayed three more months." He explained to Wondering Sound: "It was just too much. I'm the kind of guy who can't fake it that well. It wasn't very nice, but I just couldn't go on anymore."
Focusing on the J-Pop genre, Friedman noted that going for the opposite of metal was the whole point.
"There's not a whole lot of happy music going on," he told NPR. "Especially in the heavy metal world, where everybody's just trying to out-lame each other, you know, with darkness and monsters and crap like that."
Marty's new solo album, "Inferno", sold around 2,100 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 186 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD was released on May 26 via Prosthetic Records (except in Japan, where the album was made available through Universal Music).
"Hyper Doom" video:
MUSTAINE: Getting FRIEDMAN And MENZA Back In MEGADETH Makes As Much Sense As Putting Rotten Tooth Back In Your Mouth
Loaded Radio's Scott Penfold recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On the status of the songwriting sessions for MEGADETH's follow-up to 2013's "Super Collider":
Mustaine: "We're taking our time with this one. The last record we've done, we felt we were really on a positive upswing with [producer] Johnny K and we were excited to get in and do the record. But looking back over time, all the records that we had a lot of success with, personally…. Because, I mean, at the end of the day, if you don't like what you're doing, then what's the point? But the ones that we really got the most enjoyment out of was the ones that took the longest to write. We would sit with the songs and let them digest and assimilate and become part of us, instead of, 'OK, that's a great song. Let's go.' Or versus, 'You know what? Would it be better if we [played] this part one more time or cut that one in half or sped this up a little bit. There's so many variables."
On whether he still gets pressure to get guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza back in MEGADETH:
Mustaine: "Yeah, but that makes as much sense as somebody saying, 'Put a rotten tooth back in your mouth.' Don't get me wrong, but I've seen stuff that Menza's been saying [in interviews and online postings], and it's unfortunate. And I know that Marty's happy doing what he's doing. And frankly, if I wanted to get them back in the band, I would have worked it out, but I don't want 'em in the band. I think that Shawn [Drover, current MEGADETH drummer] is, all around, if you add all the parts up, is way more what I want in my life and my band, and the same thing with Chris [Broderick, current MEGADETH guitarist]. We all have our peculiarities. I'm strange by the definition myself, and I'm sure you are too, but that's what makes us unique and awesome and cool and everything like that. Because if we were all the same, one of us would be unnecessary. I kind of like the fact that you never know what you're gonna get with these guys; they're funny, their sense of humor is really dry, and they love the fans. There's no 'I'm in it for myself' bullcrap and 'I can't wait to do my solo albums' kind of stuff that'll tear a bunch of bands apart. If you look back at my career, I've been doing this for 33 years, almost, and I've only done one thing outside of MEGADETH, and that was the MD.45 thing, and that was because I loved FEAR; I thought FEAR was one of the greatest punk bands from America ever. I'm sure people will disagree, but I don't care."
On whether there has been any more talk of further "Big Four" shows with METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX:
Mustaine: "The thing about reconciliation is… it kind of is like that story about the monk that was walking down the river and saw a woman out in the middle and the tide was coming and he rolled up his garment and went out and got her and set her down on the side of the river bank and continued his journey. And about a mile later, another monk standing next to him said, 'Isn't it against our vows to have touched a woman?' And he goes, 'You know, I set her down a mile ago, yet you still carry her.' And, to me, that's… a lot of these people, they're still carrying the woman when it comes down to this whole thing about us and METALLICA having some kind of a grudge. We don't. In fact, I just recently contacted James [Hetfield] when people were attacking him about the whole PETA thing. And I just told him, I said, 'Look, man, you're my brother and I love you. Just be strong and it'll blow over.' Coming from a guy that's no stranger to controversy. I still love James a lot. That's part of the reason why there was so much emotion about it… I mean, it's kind of like when you really like a girl and you go up to ask her to dance and she says 'no' and you walk away and you say, 'Well, F you.'"
On joining METALLICA on stage in December 2011 at one of four intimate shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco as part of the band's week-long celebration of its 30th anniversary as a group for fan club members only:
Mustaine: "Well, they gave me an invitation and I thought it was really awesome. And I had asked them, 'Do you want me to just play rhythm?' Because, you know, Kirk's [Hammett] in the band. And Lars [Ulrich] said, 'No. Play your stuff.' And I went, 'Alright. Now we're talking.' So I went up there and I did my thing. And it was great. I imagine it must have been really awkward for Kirk watching me play the songs the way that they were supposed to be played in the beginning, but that's open for his artistic interpretation. If he doesn't wanna play it the way that I played it, hey, that's cool."
MEGADETH’s DAVID ELLEFSON: My Brother’s Passing Brought DAVE MUSTAINE And I Closer Together
MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson says that his brother's recent passing after battling cancer brought Ellefson and the band's leader, Dave Mustaine, "closer together."
MEGADETH canceled a number of shows last month so that David could spend time with the rest of his family as they mourned the loss of Eliot Elelfson, who died on May 19 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In a brand new interview with Lithium Magazine, David spoke about the support he has received from his longtime bandmate following his brother's cancer diagnosis, explaining: "The band was actually ready to go onstage in Buenos Aires on May 1. We were in the dressing room and Dave came up to me and said, 'Hey, man, how's your brother doing?' And I just broke down and started crying and said, 'It's not good. I just got the call today.' And, man, he rallied around me in a way that no one else did or could because he has known me for so long. He's known my family. He knew my brothers, my mother and he knew my father before he passed away. So we are as close as two brothers can be, sometimes even closer, without being blood relatives.
"And it's cool and interesting how in that moment, what I just went through with my own brother passing away, in a lot of ways brought Dave and I closer together. He really rallied around me like the brother I never had, and the brother I don't have anymore. It says a lot about the bond between us and within the band.
"As much as there's a lot of big stuff that goes on around MEGADETH, there's also a lot of closed-door, intimate moments where it's just the two of us or the four of us alone in a room. Especially before we go onstage, we have this 30-minute lockdown where no one comes in and no one goes out. It's just the four of us. And I tell you, my brother's passing brought all four of us in MEGADETH closer together too. And in a weird way, it was kind of a cool gift that my brother gave us on his way out."
MEGADETH Cancels HELLFEST
MEGADETH cancels HELLFEST and all their June tour dates.
Former MEGADETH Drummer NICK MENZA Says He Was Forced To Change Title Of His Forthcoming Book
Former MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza was interviewed on the May 15 edition of "Rock 'N' SeXXXy UnCensored", the Internet radio show hosted by adult film star Amber Lynn. You can now listen to the program at this location.
Speaking about his forthcoming book, which is being written with J. Marshall Craig best known for his critically acclaimed work as a writer for Eric Burdon's "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", THE ROLLING STONES keyboardist Chuck Leavell's "Between Rock And A Home Place" and the West Coast hip-hop history "Guilty By Association", Menza said: "My book is about me and my life. It includes all kinds of stuff, from my childhood up until just as of recently. And I'm actually adding another chapter to it, probably, because it's taking so long to finalize everything — legal stuff, the cover artwork, the picture that's gonna be used… we're not really sure yet."
He continued: "I don't know what I can tell you about it. There's a lot of funny things in it. It's all true stuff. There's some government conspiracies and alien coverups and all kinds of stuff in there. Now that I'm into space exploration and research stuff — that's kind of what I'm into right now. I've always been into aliens and stuff like that. We are are the aliens and that's why we're here. All the evolution of everything is from alien technology.
"Before, back in the Stone Ages, like when we were just regular humans, we didn't have brains in us and then the aliens came down and they intervened and they put brains in our heads and now we're all smart and we're starting to figure things out, ascending to the next level and a higher level of conscious awareness and that sort of stuff.
"If you listen to your brain, your brain's always gonna get you in trouble. If you listen to your heart and you follow the path of your heart, it will lead you and it will never lead you down the wrong path. So always follow your heart. That's what I tell people. Follow your heart, go with your heart. Don't listen to your brain, 'cause your brain's gonna kill you.
"You know what's weird? When people that don't even know each other, they get into a room, the hearts are already communicating with each other before you even speak words. When you feel something from another person or something like that. That's why I say I can't just be with a girl that I don't have a connection with. You know right away when you meet someone: 'Yes, I would' or 'No, I wouldn't.' And that's how that works. If you're emanating a lot of love out of your body, you'll attract people that love, and that's how that works. With any job, or any place you go, people communicate. It's, like, the heart's code. They're, like, all talking to each other. There's a book out called 'The Heart's Code'. It's really interesting. If you haven't read it, you should check it out."
Originally announced as "Megalife", Nick's book will now be titled "Menzalife". He explained: "It got changed just as of recently, because I can't use 'Megalife'; someone's already using that name and it's trademarked. No big deal. It's still the same content inside. It's gonna be for sale at the stores and stuff like that. A publisher is gonna put it out. I don't have a deal as of yet, but the book is really cool."
Menza's first performance was at the age of two on stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival when legendary jazz percussionist Jack DeJohnette (Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson) placed Nick on his kit. Thirty years later, he was stepping out on stage in front of thousands of screaming fans every night.
Menza, son of legendary jazz saxophonist Don Menza, was at the top of his game when MEGADETH started a world tour in support of its album, "Cryptic Writings", but began to suffer knee problems and escalating pain. Doctors diagnosed him with a tumor. Surgery waylaid the drummer briefly, but he was relieved to learn the tumor was benign and was eager to rejoin his bandmates, who had continued their tour with a replacement drummer. But deteriorating relations within the band exploded and Menza was replaced permanent