MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine says that “there had been enough stuff that had led up to” his decision to fire longtime bassist David Ellefson last year.
In a new talk with Kerrang! Radio at U.K.’s Download festival this month, Mustaine said about bassist James LoMenzo‘s return to MEGADETH: “The bass is important, and James LoMenzo is by far, I think, one of the deepest bass players that I’ve had a chance to play with, including [late METALLICA bassist] Cliff [Burton]. Cliff was fantastic, and he was a very deep bass player as far as talent goes. And James has a wealth of knowledge — he’s played with a lot of people: Ozzy [Osbourne]; he’s played with me before — and he’s not a slouch by any means. He’s been to the top of the mountain. And the one thing that he has that we really haven’t experienced a lot of is superb singing.”
Dave also touched on his decision to remove and re-record David Ellefson‘s bass tracks from MEGADETH‘s forthcoming album “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” and why LoMenzo wasn’t the one to lay down the new bass lines (TESTAMENT bassist Steve DiGiorgio was hired for the job), saying: “It’s really unfortunate that [James] wasn’t on the record, but at the time when everything happened, all I wanted to do was just move on. The time had come. And there had been enough stuff that had led up to where it just was time.”
You can check out the full interview at this location.
Mustaine recently discussed his firing of David Ellefson in talk with Metal Hammer magazine, saying: “I have made mistakes myself and so I know what it feels like to have people gunning for you. But what we had to remember is that MEGADETH has a lot of moving parts to it. There are four band members; you’ve got their families, their management companies, the agencies, all of their technicians and on and on and on.
“I can tell you I’ve made decisions in the past that were detrimental to the security of the band and I know what harm that caused,” he continued. “But I don’t want to be saying anything about anyone who is unable to defend themselves.”
“God, it’s so hard to tap-dance around this…
“Let me just say this — it was a hard decision that had to be made,” Mustaine added. “There were a lot of people involved and I had to make a decision, because unfortunately, when you’re the leader, you’re the one that has to suck it up and face the music.
“All I wanted to do was make a clean break, and not hurt anyone, not hurt the fans and not hurt him. I just wanted to move on, and I hope the gentleman concerned is doing okay. I imagine there was some adjustment that had to take place when it happened.
“It was hard for me when I lost my job,” Mustaine said, apparently referring to getting kicked out of METALLICA in 1983. “But I’ve forgiven him before when he sued me and I’ll forgive him a thousand times. I just won’t play music with him anymore.”
David Ellefson was MEGADETH‘s bassist from the band’s inception in 1983 through to 2002, when he was replaced by James LoMenzo for the first time, and again from 2010 until 2021.