Megadeth

[haVoc 0]

Has anyone else heard the new stuff? You can hear on VH1.com Here

 

I liked it. Certainly better then St. Anger..

 

BTW, Megadeth is on Headbanger's Ball tonight.

[Red Baron 0]

New album out very, very soon.

 

Now waiting for tour dates

[Nevermortal 0]

Hello me, meet the real me.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

The end of the road

 

On Sept 7th, BW&BK’s Mitch Lafon sat down with MEGADETH’s Dave Mustaine to talk about his new album, The System Has Failed, and more. Yesterday, we brought you part one of three in this exclusive interview. Today, we present part II…

 

 

 

Mitch - You had mentioned that the original plan was to have this as a solo album. Are you happy that it fits into the Megadeth catalogue? That it’s a Megadeth album.

 

 

 

Dave - Yeah. I think that it’s pretty obvious that when you listen to it; it sounds like a Megadeth record. But knowing that this was a solo record, it gives you an indication of where I’m going and for anybody who is concerned about what is Dave gonna do… my advice is don’t be concerned. This is what it is. The lyrics might be a little different because they’re not going to be so Megadeth-esque, it’s going to be a little different. Not much. And the fact that it went from being a solo record to a Megadeth record is because I was brought up really old fashioned. You said you were going to do something and you do it. That’s why I sold off all my guitars. People were owed money when Megadeth disbanded and I was not about to see people who had been my friends over the years be left holding the ball. It would be the wrong thing to do - for them to be left with a big debt like that and I was capable of paying them. So, each line-up had a debt. I sent back everybody’s stuff, everything that belonged to that particular band line-up, I liquidated, paid the bills, anything that was left over I split four ways. Pretty fair right? I went like that through all the gear and then when there was nothing left except what I needed to tour with, all I had left was my collection of guitars. People were still owed money so I sold my guitars and paid them off. Now, should I have done that? Yeah. Should I have been the only one that did it? No.

 

 

 

Mitch - But you gotta lead by example sometimes…

 

 

 

Dave - Well sometimes you can’t lead people.

 

 

 

Mitch - You also mentioned that this was sort of a contractual obligation. Does this mean that the next album is going to be a Mustaine album?

 

 

 

Dave - This is the last Megadeth record, last Megadeth tour.

 

 

 

Mitch - Would you go as far as calling it a farewell tour?

 

 

 

Dave - It is. It’s the end of the road. Bye, sayonara, the last rotation, the last orbit, funeral waltz. Whatever you wanna call it.

 

 

 

Mitch - You’re not gonna do like KISS and come back fifteen times…

 

 

 

Dave - You know what? I can honestly say that if people want this farewell tour to continue to circulate - so be it, but there’s not going to be another Megadeth record. I mean I don’t know what KISS is doing; I’m not really into KISS anymore. I mean I was a little bit when I was a kid but it’s not really my cup of tea anymore so I don’t know what they’re doing.

 

 

 

Mitch - They just keep touring and touring and they keep calling it the farewell tour but it started in ’98 so…

 

 

 

Dave - Well that’s a pretty damn good farewell tour (laughing), I don’t see myself doing that though because I imagine at some point you’re going to exhaust all your market.

 

 

 

Mitch - Now are you afraid to go out alone as Mustaine and give up the franchise? Not sad at all to let it go, I mean you’ve been with it for so many years…

 

 

 

Dave - No. I don’t see where fear plays a role in this because if you’ve known me and my history, I’m not really intimidated by much. I’ve been through a lot of stuff that not a lot of people would be able to make it through. I don’t know if it’s ignorance, if it’s stubbornness, if it’s being blind to reality or just having drive like nobody else. I like to think that it’s perseverance coupled with drive. People think I’m really arrogant and they don’t know me. They don’t know my inner fears of wanting to just make it right and my fear of failure and the perfectionist in me that makes me doubt myself. Arrogance can be mistook very easily from somebody who is confident. I’m very confident in what I do, but I also know that there are guitar players out there that are better than me—not many but I know there’s a lot. Same thing with I know there are a lot of bands out there that are more successful than me. Have they created a guitar style? No. Are they legendary? Probably not. I mean I could stop today and be satisfied with my accomplishments. Do I want to? No, I don’t. I like playing. If it gets to the point where it interferes with my family again like it did before, then it’s over. And that’s why I’m going to be doing very small legs. It could take six years to tour the world the way I’m going to be doing it (laughing). The first leg is going to be four weeks, it’s only 17 dates in four weeks, which is, you know, you’re doing 17 shows in 28 days. So, It’s a little bit of a spread there and I’m not playing again until next year so, it may take a while. I want to come back to Montreal because the city matters to me. That’s why I did that kind of quasi-benefit thing we did during the ice storm. That’s the thing that kind of pains me when some Canadians think poorly about Americans. We’re not all assholes. Most of us are.

 

 

 

Mitch – Well, I think Canadians are judging the politics more than the individual person.

 

 

 

Dave - You see America is a company that’s built on self-advancement. And for other people who aren’t quite as concerned with self-advancement or as driven by monetary or material things, it can be a very grotesque nation. I’m an American. I’m proud to be an American. If there was any other country that I’d want to live in it would probably be in the U.K. because I feel very comfortable there. Would I live in Canada? In a heartbeat. I feel very much at home here. It’s a little more difficult for me being over on the French side than over on the other side.

 

 

 

Mitch - Of course. Toronto and Vancouver are nice.

 

 

 

Dave - It’s not that it’s nicer it’s just a little bit easier for me to feel comfortable when I’m around people who are speaking English versus, you know, you’re talking to somebody and then all of a sudden right in front of you they start talking to somebody else who you know speaks English and they speak English and they start speaking in a different language. That’s offensive to me. Cuz if we’re all speaking English, unless you don’t want me to know what you’re saying… And it’s not necessarily me. It’s just etiquette in general. It’s like when you get in an airplane and the little bastard behind you keeps kicking your seat the whole time. That’s what they call ‘jetiquette’ and I mean, you get in first class and what do they give you? Different peanuts. There’s no first class in first class anymore. We were flying from LA here in Air Canada first class yesterday and this dude sitting across from us had shorts on and he’s getting his luggage and I’m telling you his ass is hanging out. You could see about six inches of his crack and my manager elbows me and goes look at this and I look at him and go “Oh my God. What a pig, pull your shorts up!” and I was like I can’t believe I said that that loud but you know, I’m not afraid of anybody. So I figured if he said something to me I would say ‘you know what - I’m sorry’. I just said what I saw. I mean if you’re going to be in first class you should know to dress better than that first off and second off, pull your fuckin’ pants up! And he’s sneezing without putting his hand over his face…I mean, I could ride in coach. I’m not too big to ride in coach cuz if I was too big to ride in coach I’d be too small to ride in first class. But I also know that when you’re in the company of certain types of people there is a certain behavior that goes along with it…it’s just the point. It’s respect for your fellow man and I think that’s why this record being called The System Has Failed is so pertinent because the system has failed. If you go back to the two basic commandments of loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. The entire planet would sort itself out. And it would take some time because there’s so much hate bred into so many different races. I mean I personally believe that the Third World War has silently started in Iran and it’s frightening. When Iran said they were going to be separating uranium and making yellow cake out of it and using it for dual purposes, one of the dual purposes is energy and the other is fucking bombs! Iran doesn’t need a nuclear weapon. We don’t really need nuclear weapons either but as somebody who is a self-appointed world police who is trying to bring law and order to the world. I mean I don’t think that any good-natured Canadian person could look at what happened in Russia and not feel something about that. That is fucked up and when that asshole at the Toronto game Canada vs. Russia and they had the moment of silence…

 

 

 

Mitch - And some guy was hooting and hollering…

 

 

 

Dave - That was wrong. That was wrong. Someone should have bashed his teeth in…. And I said that if I was president of the United States—I’ll never get elected so don’t worry – but if I was, one of the things I would do is I’d make mandatory military service because it would breed character into the youth of America and the other thing would be to pay the teachers what the politicians get and the politicians what the teachers get. I can’t believe that a society would take these little living children that are an extension of ourselves which are programmable, kind of like a little hard drive and they would pay the teachers who are kinda like IT specialists to download our little hard drives to pay them peanuts like that. The guys that work on my gear in my studio. I pay'em well. I don’t pay them too much; I don’t pay them too little. I pay them enough so that I never hear a word from them…I believe in America, that if you’re a public servant you should serve the public. I’m not voting for Kerry. There’s no way. He’s a multi-millionaire and he’s married to a billionaire heiress. The whole thing about him is that this is just another feather in his cap. And who gives a fuck if you were in Vietnam? Everybody that was in Vietnam should get the same recognition that you’re bleeding about. I mean my God! Every time you see him… Herman Munster. Have you ever seen The Munsters? That’s him! He really is. There’s a lot of stuff that’s wrong with Bush too. What are the choices? Nader? I myself try as hard as I can when I’m around people to carry around positive energy and to do the right thing. I still got a dirty mouth; I still suffer with greed and pride. I try to be as down to earth as I possibly can be and that, I think, is what sets me apart from other musicians and that’s why I’ve had longevity. I still like eating macaroni and cheese! That’s one of my favorite things to eat! Just give me a hamburger, frozen peas with butter sauce, macaroni and cheese and I’m good…cause I’m simple. That’s one of the things for me when I say the system has failed… it has! The schools, the military, the government, the legal system… Do you remember ten years ago when a certain football player chopped two peoples’ heads off and not go to jail? The system has failed!

 

 

 

They haven’t found Bin Laden yet, but they will. The thing with terrorism is take the fucking mask off and come fight us face to face… one on one and see if we can knock your ass off your little sandals. The population is Saudi Arabia – half of it is twenty years or younger and male. They’re promised they’ll go to heaven and have seven or is it seventy-seven virgin wives? What red-blooded male isn’t going to want to die and go to heaven? You never see one of these clerics blowing themselves up. They get one of these guys to do it. It’s like Patton said ‘you don’t die for your country. You get someone else to die for your country. It’s sad. I don’t understand how – if you worship a God and it’s about love – how you can kill somebody? That’s why I said in ‘Holy Wars’ - “brother will kill brother spilling blood across the land killing for religion is something I just don’t understand.” I just don’t understand. I believe there are rules in the Old Testament about an eye for an eye. If a man kills another man, he needs to be put to death, but that’s by people in position of authority… random acts of senseless violence? What for? Because you want Chechnya to be free. How can it ever be free if you’re killing the people that can vote for freedom? Why invoke terror into the lives of people? If I lived there and they held an election I wouldn’t vote for them. No, you killed one of my kids…

 

 

 

Mitch - Do you think that it’s going to work itself out in Iraq?

 

 

 

Dave - Here’s my prediction. I think Bush will be re-elected and I think they’re going to capture Osama Bin Laden sometime in the next year. I think that they’re going to have an election in Iraq; it’s going to be good for the country. As soon as the election takes place a lot of the insurgency is going to quell because terrorism tries to invoke fear into people before an election. That’s why they blew up the trains in Spain. They wanted to show that ‘this’ government is a failure and as soon as the trains blew up that government was completely changed and Spain was out of Iraq. The reason Russia, Germany and France didn’t go into Iraq was because of the oil fields in the North. They stood to lose billions of dollars…. There goes your interview…

 

 

 

Mitch – This has been a lot more interesting than talking about Lars Ulrich & Metallica. Let’s skip him for a change.

 

 

 

Dave – That would be nice…

 

 

 

Mitch – Let’s talk about the remasters…

 

 

 

Check back tomorrow for part III of Mitch's interview with Dave Mustaine.

[Placebo Effect 0]

I've had the album downloaded for a couple weeks now. Haven't been able to really listen to it due to my schedule being all sorts of fucked up and my car currently lacking a CD player.

[Dace59 0]

I've got it downloaed as well. Eh, it's far better than St. Anger but I'm not feeling it that much.

[jimmy no nose 0]

I thought Die Dead Enough was a great single. Unfortunately it ended up being my favorite song on the CD. The CD was weird for me in that it sounded a lot better the first time I heard than it did each time after. Back in the Day is the other song after Die Dead Enough on the album that stands up to a lot of listens.

[mister foozel 0]

comes out on tuesday, definitely picking it up, ive heard blackmail th universe, kick the chair, and die dead enough and theyre all really good songs, especially blackmail the universe

 

revolver gave it 4 out of 4 stars, along with other revies ive read

 

so it should be a stellar album,

 

it'll be nice for some good music to hit the stores for a change

[Slayer 0]

I didn't even realize this is the first album without Ellefson (after reading that Iced Earth's bassist was joining for the SHF tour)

 

Where'd he go?

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Some of you say 'it's better than St.Anger' like it's hard to achieve or something.

[Guest GreatOne]

Damn, no Clash of the Titans II I guess............

[Styles 0]

I didn't even realize this is the first album without Ellefson (after reading that Iced Earth's bassist was joining for the SHF tour)

 

Where'd he go?

Suing Mustaine over royalties...

[Styles 0]

Its on sale this first week at Best Buy for 9.99. Chris Poland's solos shred. some of these like Kick the Chair and Truth Be Told could be on Rust in Peace. I love this fucking album. Go get it, everyone.

[Paul Stanley 0]

I say the new Megadeth is so-so. I figure Mustain will go back with the two Tallica members (you know who) once they boot out Lars.

 

 

And complaints about the KISS Farewell thing, they had ONE FUCKING FAREWELL TOUR, and have done two tours since that, that dont even have 'FAREWELL' in it. Yet the Eagles have Farewell I, II, III tours along with Cher and such others and they don't get crap for it?

 

 

F CHER.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

What the hell does KISS have to do with this conversation?

[haVoc 0]

KISS was mentioned in the interview posted above.

 

And I like this album. Favorite songs are Kick The Chair, Truth Be Told and My Kingdom.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Apologies

[mister foozel 0]

KISS was mentioned in the interview posted above.

 

And I like this album. Favorite songs are Kick The Chair, Truth Be Told and My Kingdom.

back in the day is wicked too

 

fuckin wicked

[haVoc 0]

From Blabbermouth:

 

"MEGADETH's "The System Has Failed" has sold 45,935 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at No. 18 on The Billboard 200 chart. This number falls a bit short of the 61,113 first-week tally registered by its predecessor, "The World Needs A Hero", which entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 16 back in May 2001 (the album has since sold 214,212 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan). Other notable new "hard music" releases for the week and their first-week sales numbers are as follows:

 

FU MANCHU – "Start the Machine: 1,415

DEAD TO FALL – "Villainy & Virtue": 1,878

BOWLING FOR SOUP – "A Hangover You Don't Deserve": 22,501 (#37)

DATSUNS – "Outta Sight/Outta Mind": 866"

 

I guess that isn't bad for a 20 year old trash band. I think it's funny they sold more then Bowling for Soup who have that song "1985" all over the radio and video channels.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Wow. Fu Manchu's still around?