MUSTAINE: 'So Many People Misinterpret What I Say When It Comes To Politics That I'd Just Rather Stick To Music'

David Swan of Australia's Faster Louder recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Faster Louder: Your new album, "Super Collider", didn't receive a great reception from critics and the press. Why do you think that was?

Mustaine: I don't know where you're getting your information, but the record came in at No. 6 on the Billboard charts. If that's bad, then shit… give me more bad. I've heard a lot of good stuff. You know, people are going to say bad stuff about our songs, I know that a lot of people disliked the track "Super Collider", and I read some stuff about the Alzheimer's stuff. But that's my mother-in-law. She's dying from the disease, it's kinda sad, but I don't mind talking about it. That's what musicians do. We take pain and suffering, and we sing about it. That's what we do. I don't expect people to be sentimental about what I'm going through, it's not why I even did it. I didn't write a song for people to feel sorry for me, I couldn't care less. But when you watch somebody die in front of you like that, I don't know if you know anyone that has Alzheimer's but it's painful.

Faster Louder: Do you have any thoughts on the U.S. government shutdown, and how Obama's handled it?

Mustaine: You know, I do but I think that so many people misinterpret what I say when it comes to politics that I'd just rather stick to music. I mean, if you and I were sitting down and having a brew or a steak or something, I could say, yeah, we could talk about it, and I could explain what I mean, but it's just so weird when people misinterpret what you say.

Faster Louder: OK. In terms of your religion, obviously you're a born-again Christian. Was there a single defining moment for you that brought that about?

Mustaine: There wasn't a moment that turned me into one, because I think that would be kind of trivializing the whole thing that happened. It's no secret that I had died, and came back from the dead, that's something that's pretty crazy when you think about it. I often question why that happened, and the only thing I can think of is that I have a higher purpose instead of just making music and getting myself in trouble from the statements I make.

Faster Louder: You've said you don't want to push your faith onto others, but at the same time you refused to play on the same bill with "satanic" bands like the black metal band ROTTING CHRIST. Is that hypocritical?

Mustaine: What happened was when I first had made a decision back in 2002, I said "Just for now." You see, people forget those three words: Just. For. Now. I said, "Just for now, I'm not going to play with any bands that have junkies in them, or any bands that have any black metal." And, you see, people forget the junkie part, but I said that because I was trying to get my life back in order. I was struggling with my past and everything. And it turned into selective journalism — people picking stuff they want to pick to make a point out of it. I'm trying to shoot straight with you, friend. I don't know you at all, but when you try to pick stuff that's salacious, that's kind of sad. And what happens a lot of times, people will try to get me to say stuff, instead of saying, "Hey, here's a guy with a lot of history that can tell me a lot about the genre." They try to fuck around and be funny.

Read the entire interview at Faster Louder.