Home Featured MEGADETH’s DAVE ELLEFSON Unleashes Cover Of JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Freewheel Burning’

MEGADETH’s DAVE ELLEFSON Unleashes Cover Of JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Freewheel Burning’

dave ellefson freewheel burning, MEGADETH’s DAVE ELLEFSON Unleashes Cover Of JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Freewheel Burning’

As you may or may not have heard, MEGADETH bassist/co-founder David Ellefson’s solo band ELLEFSON will release the album “No Cover” on October 2 via Combat Records.  The LP features a bunch of cover songs, including classic tracks from MOTÖRHEAD, W.A.S.P., DEF LEPPARD, CHEAP TRICK, QUEEN, JUDAS PRIEST, TWISTED SISTER, FASTWAY, FIGHT, DEAD KENNEDYS, and more.  The album also has some killer cover art by Melody Myers, who has previously worked with ALTITUDES AND ATTITUDE and ESCAPE THE FATE, among others.

You can now actually check out ELLEFSON’s cover of the JUDAS PRIEST classic “Freewheel Burning” just below this article.  And it’s pretty bad ass.

“Freewheel Burning” recording lineup:

* David Ellefson – Bass
* Thom Hazaert, Jason McMaster – Lead Vocals
* Andy Martongelli, Gus G., Andy James – Guitar
* Dave McClain – Drums

“No Cover” sees ELLEFSON, featuring Ellefson, Hazaert, guitarists Andy Martongelli and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and drummer Paolo Caridi, joined by a TON of legendary guests, including:

* Charlie Benante (ANTHRAX)
* Eddie Ojeda (TWISTED SISTER)
* Dave Lombardo (ex-SLAYER, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES)
* Brandon Yeagley (CROBOT)
* Dirk Verbeuren (MEGADETH)
* Frank Hannon and Troy Lucketta (TESLA)
* Mark Slaughter (SLAUGHTER)
* Jason McMaster (DANGEROUS TOYS, ex-WATCHTOWER, EVIL UNITED)
* Greg Handevidt (KUBLAI KHAN, ex-MEGADETH)
* Chuck Behler (ex-MEGADETH)
* Gus G. (FIREWIND, OZZY OSBOURNE)
* John Aquilino (ICON)
* Doro Pesch
* Dave McClain (SACRED REICH, Ex-MACHINE HEAD)
* Dave Alvin (WHITE TRASH)
* Todd Kerns (SLASH FEATURING MYLES KENNEDY AND THE CONSPIRATORS)
* Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE)
* Jacob Bunton (Mick Mars)
* Al Jourgensen (MINISTRY)
* Russ Parrish (FIGHT, STEEL PANTHER)
* DEAD BY WEDNESDAY

Produced by Ellefson and Hazaert, with Martongelli, and engineers Alessio Garavello, Matt LaPlant (NONPOINT, LIL’ JON, SKINDRED), and John Aquilino, and mixed by Alessio Garavello, Randy Burns, and more, the process is described by Ellefson as a collaborative tribute, and a loving homage, to some of his favorite artists.

“No Cover” track listing:

01. Freewheel Burning (JUDAS PRIEST) (featuring Jason McMaster, Gus G, Andy James, Dave McClain)
02. Tear It Loose (TWISTED SISTER) (featuring Eddie Ojeda, Dave McClain)
03. Love Me Like A Reptile (MOTÖRHEAD) (featuring Doro Pesch, Greg Handevidt, Chuck Behler)
04. Holiday In Cambodia (DEAD KENNEDYS) (featuring Charlie Benante)
05. Rebel Yell (BILLY IDOL)
06. Wasted (DEF LEPPARD) (featuring Frank Hannon, Jacob Bunton, Dave McClain, Bumblefoot)
07. Riff Raff (AC/DC) (featuring Jason McMaster, Dave Lombardo)
08. Nailed To The Gun (FIGHT) (featuring Andrew Freeman, Russ Parrish, Jimmy DeGrasso)
09. Not Fragile (BACHMAN-TURNER OVERDRIVE) (featuring John Aquilino)
10. Say What You Will (FASTWAY) (featuring Troy Lucketta, Mark Slaughter)
11. Love Machine (W.A.S.P.) (featuring Dirk Verbeuren, Dave Alvin)
12. Love Hurts (NAZARETH) (featuring Brandon Yeagley, Chuck Behler, Tyson Leslie)
13. Sheer Heart Attack (QUEEN) (featuring Bumblefoot, Doro Pesch, Charlie Benante)
14. Sweet FA (SWEET) (featuring Todd Kerns, Bumblefoot, Shani Kimelman)
15. TBA
16. TBA
17. Auf Wiedersehen (CHEAP TRICK) (featuring Al Jourgensen, Brandon Yeagley, Charlie Benante)

Bonus tracks

18. Eat The Rich (KROKUS) (featuring DEAD BY WEDNESDAY)

You can pre-order now on CD, LP and cassette, or in a deluxe bundle with an exclusive t-shirt.

Ellefson says: “Before any of us started writing our own songs, we all began playing cover songs by our heroes during our formative years as musicians. So it’s fun to go back in time and revisit those songs which helped us to become the artists we are today, especially when, ironically, many of those artists have now become peers and friends.

“During the process of recording some covers for B-sides and bonus tracks for the upcoming ELLEFSON solo LP, Thom and I just said, ‘This is a blast. Let’s just do a whole album of covers.’ Literally, within two weeks, we had the songs recorded, and began calling our friends to join us, many of whom we had just performed with on the Megacruise back in October. From there, the album just fell into place.”

He continues: “A lot of our buddies have been playing covers and quarantine jams on the Internet during the pandemic, so this is really just an extension of that, but we took it the next level and actually recorded a full studio album. We’ve been working remotely anyway, as we’re all over the globe, so it was easy to incorporate some guests jumping in with some outstanding performances of their own. It’s been a really fun nod to making great music with our friends, who are kick-ass players, and many legends in their own right, which is the whole reason we got into this in the first place.”

Says Hazaert: “It’s all songs and artists that really mutually influenced both myself and David, especially a lot of early ‘metal’ and harder classic rock. Some stuff I picked, some stuff he picked, but for the most part is was all artists that we both loved. What’s funny, as there’s a bit of an age gap, we were sometimes more influenced by different eras of the same bands. But it was really him saying, ‘Let’s do this song,’ and me saying, ‘Yes!!! And let’s do this song.’ And before we knew it, we had over 15 songs. And it’s a lot of album tracks, deep cuts, early tracks, stuff people might not expect, which was what was so fun.”

He adds: “It was also great that we were able to work in a lot of nods to David’s history, getting Chuck Behler to play with us, bringing in original MEGADETH guitarist Greg Handevidt to play on ‘Love Me Like A Reptile’, a song they used to play in cover bands together before they moved to L.A. (which we wrote about in ‘More Life With Deth’), and Randy Burns is going to mix a track or two. As a singer, these are literally bands I’ve listened to, and covered all my life, and for me, getting to play with Eddie Ojeda, the TESLA guys, Charlie Benante, Jason McMaster, Mark Slaughter, etc, and sing these songs that mean so much to me. I mean, literally, the entire record is my bucket list of people I’d love to play with, and some of my favorite bands. So, it’s truly an honor to put together something so fun, and really as effortless as this was. It truly is a love letter to rock n’ roll, an homage to what made us, musically, who we are today.”

ELLEFSON is also set to tentatively release their debut full-length studio LP in the spring of 2021.

Check the cover of ‘Freewheel Burning’ below…

dave ellefson freewheel burning, MEGADETH’s DAVE ELLEFSON Unleashes Cover Of JUDAS PRIEST’s ‘Freewheel Burning’