DAVE MUSTAINE: 2006 Is Final Year MEGADETH Will Headline GIGANTOUR

September 8, 2006

Michael Deeds of McClatchy Newspapers recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

On Gigantour:

"The time that I'm going to be out beating the drum on the road is nearing an end. I want to be able to pass the torch. I don't want to go off into retirement and not be able to share everything I've learned ... not give some of it back. It's time for the whole thing to go full circle.”

"The whole spirit of Gigantour is what I think a metal festival should be like. You should be able to go to this if you're a young kid and not have somebody beat the hell out of you in the pit. You should be able to go there if you're a girl and not get raped like what happened at Woodstock in 1999. You should be able to go there, big or small, if you're a guy, and be able to let it all hang out and get what you need from these metal bands."

"It's definitely a guitar players' thing. And some of the guys, they play guitar in extreme metal or death metal bands and stuff like that, and the singing isn't quite necessarily my style of singing. But one thing's undeniable: The guitar playing is fantastic. That's all I care about."

Mustaine tells McClatchy Newspapers that this is the final year MEGADETH will headline Gigantour, although the group may return during future outings as a special performer. The time has come to turn down the volume — as in number — of MEGADETH concerts. Mustaine says he isn't interested in becoming an old, out-of-touch rocker.

"I don't want to be made fun of like that," Mustaine says. "I hear the Ozzy jokes. ... There's a lot of guys out there that are going to be able to carry the torch of the new generation of heavy metal."

On retirement:

"Yeah, well, I'm sure that if you asked my kids, they would beg to differ. I'll consider that. I need to remember that the road is very narrow, and there's a lot of people traveling it right now. I've been very fortunate. It's pretty much time for me to step aside. I can still be on the road. I just don't need to be in the fast lane anymore."

(Thanks: Andrew)

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