DAVE MUSTAINE: 'I Know Who JAMES HETFIELD Really Is'

Dennis Rowehl of Germany's Autona magazine recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. Watch the seven-minute chat below.

A couple of excerpts from the interview were transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET and can be found below.

Autona: Dave, congratulations, the new [MEGADETH] album, "Endgame", is pretty amazing. I really like it. It's gonna be released in Germany on 9/11, so it's a very symbolic date. If you think about everything what's going on [in the world right now] — all this destruction of the environment, terrorists and stuff like this — what do you think? Are we all screwed? Or is there any reason to be optimistic?

Mustaine: I think there's plenty of reason to be optimistic, 'cause we're still here. And I think that some people in government, one of the things that they do is they try and tell people how to live instead of living their life and making it attractive to people, you know what I mean?! So for me, like if I was telling people, "You've gotta like heavy metal," instead of me liking it and them hearing it and saying, "Hey, you know what, I like that." People tend to say, "You know what?! I don't want you telling me what to do." So, for me, as far as traveling internationally, I go to a lot of different countries and I see a lot of injustice. I see a lot of stuff that's terrible. Some of the countries and some of the poorer countries that we play in, it's terrible, and my heart hurts because I live in a country where there's freedom and liberty, a lot like here [in Germany, where the interview was conducted]; Germany's a democracy, although our countries are a little different. You know, my mom's full-blooded German, so even though I'm an American and even though I don't have any German attributes, I like being here, and it's just because it reminds me of my mom. So, the fans that are here are great, the people from the label are great, um, you know, the music scene over here is different. It changes, but one thing's for sure, it's the heavy metal fan base, they're loyal. If they don't like you, they'll let you know it. But the other thing, too, is that I think they're really forgiving; if you are a metal band and you make a mistake, and you say something, you know, "Hey, we made a mistake," I think that that's something that people can respect. And I know myself that I've experienced a lot of forgiveness from my fans, from cancelling shows, sometimes not playing songs they want to hear. I can't play all 120-plus songs that I have in my catalogue in one night. I mean, you know what?! You would get bored after the 30th song, trust me. You know. Somebody would have to go pee.

Autona: Yesterday, I just listened to the "Rust In Peace" album again and the song "Hangar 18", so I've got a very personal question. Have you ever met an alien or have you ever seen an UFO or something like that?

Mustaine: I'm not the one that was in the band that believed in Martians; that was [former MEGADETH drummer] Nick Menza. I wrote that song... It used to be called "N2RHQ" — it was like the numbers on the side of a plane. 'Cause I'd seen a plane before and it said "N2R," and then I went, "Hmmm..." And that's how I came up with the songtitle — it was a plane, and it was the number on the side of a plane. All planes have numbers on the side, just like cars do. And I thought, "Wow, 'N2RHQ.'" And it was a future-tech thing; it was kind of sci-fi where I would go some place in the future into space — not that I saw an alien. So Menza... he's the guy that believes in UFOs. If you look at his web site, or if you listen to any of his solo music, it kind of shows you where he's at in his life, what he believes. And Nick... he said something that I found really juvenile and offensive; he told me that Jesus was an alien and that's why he could levitate. And that was the end of me taking Nick serious after that, 'cause I mean, I believed in God ever since I was a kid. The first line of "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?!" says, "What do you mean I don't believe in God? I talk to him every day." So people that heard I became a Christian, they were like, "Oh, my God, he's gonna suck." Well, me being a Christian really ruined the [new MEGADETH] record, didn't it? I don't think so.

Autona: If you were on an uninhabited island — just you, James Hetfield [METALLICA guitarist/vocalist] and possibly [actress/model] Carmen Electra... What would happen if you had to stay there for 30 days?

Mustaine: I don't know.... I think we would probably... [Interviewer suggests, "Play cards."] Not play cards. I guess James would probably watch me and Carmen swim away and leave him on the island. I don't know... That's a weird question; I don't know why you ask that. You could have used a hundred people but James. I don't have a problem with James; James doesn't bother me. He doesn't intimidate me. I know a different James Hetfield than you do, but that's because I know who he really is. Everybody else is, "James, the big guitar player, the tattooed guy with the big arms," and stuff like that. We were kids when we met; I know who he is. Being around Carmen Electra? I would have to say she's a very, very beautiful girl — short — but, you know, she was [married to] Dave Navarro and Dennis Rodman. Why would I wanna touch her after that? [Makes puking noise]"