Kiko Loureiro wanted his successor in MEGADETH to be the band’s former guitarist Marty Friedman
In a recent interview with Guitar World magazine, Kiko Loureiro, the guitarist who announced his departure from MEGADETH in September, disclosed that he suggested to Dave Mustaine that his successor be one of the band’s former members, Marty Friedman. However, the role ultimately went to Finnish guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari, who officially joined MEGADETH in November after initially filling in for Loureiro.
“Actually, I even mentioned to management and Dave that I thought bringing Marty Friedman back would be amazing,” Kiko told Guitar World. “I have no idea if they’re talking about it or talking to him, but I did say that. But again, I have no idea beyond that, and I don’t want to make anything more complicated.”
Reflecting on his nine-year tenure with MEGADETH, Loureiro expressed gratitude for the warm reception from the band’s fans.
“The fans never said anything bad about me or complained, which was amazing,” he said. “But I’m a fan, and I always understood that Marty was a part of those iconic albums like ‘Rust In Peace’ and ‘Countdown To Extinction’. I understood that Marty was the guy who helped create that sound and style, you know? From the moment I joined MEGADETH, I knew the fans could show me love, but I would never win their hearts over Marty.”
Teemu Mäntysaari, aged 36 and scouted by Loureiro, hails from Tampere, Finland, and began playing the guitar at the age of 12. Besides his role in MEGADETH, Mäntysaari joined WINTERSUN in 2004 and has been a member of SMACKBOUND since 2015.
Kiko Loureiro officially joined MEGADETH in April 2015, filling the void left by Chris Broderick‘s departure.
At the Wacken Open Air festival last year, Marty Friedman shared the stage with MEGADETH, performing four songs, including “Trust,” “Tornado Of Souls,” “Symphony Of Destruction,” and “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due.” Similarly, at Budokan, Friedman joined MEGADETH for three songs towards the end of their main set, including “Countdown To Extinction,” “Tornado Of Souls,” and “Symphony Of Destruction.”
After his Tokyo reunion with MEGADETH, Marty sat down with The Aquarian Weekly and discussed his reunion with his old band: “What I think is great about MEGADETH is that being a legacy act, there’s also new kids discovering them, and then they discover you and look to see what you’re doing now, so they get that experience of Marty Friedman as well.
“I’ve always been rooting for MEGADETH and they really did great,” he continued. “A lot of the things that they did in my absence led them to a very, very good place, and a lot because of Dave‘s [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] effort and the bandmembers’ efforts. When they made it to Budokan, I was just so glad to hear that. Then they offered me to play and it was just the cherry on top. I had such a great time playing with them. It was something that the fans enjoyed as much as I did.”
Last September, Marty was asked by This Day In Metal what it was like to rejoin MEGADETH on stage again for two performances in 2023. He responded: ”It was wonderful. We have a wonderful history together, so when something special like that came up, it was kind of a definite thing that I wanted to do.
“And we both enjoyed it immensely. And I just hope the fans enjoyed it as much as we did. For us, it was just a really nice, nice thing to do to kind of just put an exclamation point on the thing that we did in the history of the band. And, of course, I’m the biggest fan of whatever they do in my absence and just rooting them on the whole way.”