DAVE MUSTAINE Lays Down Vocals On Reworked MD.45 Album: Song Available For Download

A reworked version of the MD.45 track "The Day the Music Died", featuring lead vocals by MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine, has been made available for download in MP3 format at this location. "The Day the Music Died" will be included on the upcoming reissue of the MD.45 album, "The Craving", due for release during the coming months.

A collaboration between Mustaine and former FEAR singer Lee Ving, MD.45's 1996 debut, "The Craving", was a critically panned affair that featured a musical style once described by Mustaine as "the New Wave of British Heavy Metal crossed with a punk singer, and whatever influences the two of us have melted into one." Although Mustaine produced the CD and wrote about half of it, he did not sing on the original recordings, with Ving handling the vocal duties on the album completely by himself.

In other MEGADETH-related news, the following message was posted by Mustaine yesterday in the group's forum:

"Two years ago I set out on my own only to find that the things that I loved the most were right under my nose. I needed to find my 'love for my family' again, because although I loved them, I did not show this with my actions.

"In the two years since, my family, who were deprived of their daddy and husband, has come to support the idea of me playing for you again. I don't know if many of you can relate to this due to us all being different, and me being somewhat older than most of you. Also, being married and having two children changes things too.

"Having said that, I can still remember the day when I played the new record for [wife] Pam and she was screaming because it was so good. She never really got into MEGA because it was like 'the other woman,' if you know what I mean.

"Anyway, the last two years have been really good, and I am better for it.

"Before I tried to reform the band I had been staying in touch with Nick [Menza] often, and would talk to Junior when he needed something or we saw each other here in town.

"Although I don't dislike him, in fact I respect his playing tremendously — especially after hearing the MD.45 songs again — I had no intention of talking to [Jimmy] DeGrasso after the break-up due to what his girlfriend said, and I have no hard feelings for Pitrelli, and he is not part of the remixing, so that was that.

"NEWSFLASH: Here is your surprise!

"I am making arrangements now to have the ex-band members fly out to meet here in Tempe, to hear what I have done with their parts, and to celebrate now that the remixing is finally over. Bo will be filming their arrival, pre-listening questionnaire, reactions during playback, and post-listening questions.

"I hope to get everyone to meet with Bo to do this, however, [Chris] Poland is on tour and Bo will have to go meet him on the road, [Marty] Friedman is not available or interested, and Gar [Samuelson]'s involvement will hopefully be spoken for by Chris.

"I hope to even get some quotes from Kelly Lemieux and Lee Ving for the MD.45 tapes. And to be clear, I could have had Lee come out here and re-do the vocal parts for MD.45, but like I said, this would have been ignoring the critics reviews, and I think he would rather I do whatever is best for the project. I really dig Lee and he is hella smart!

"I do not intend on being here for this filming, but that does not mean I won't. It just means that I am not planning on being part of it. I really want to see Chuck [Behler] and Jeff [Young] again, as well as Nick [Menza].

"Now, I am going out to LA on the 12th of this month to meet with my agent Keith Sarkisian at William Morris, my publicists Mitchell Schneider, my merchandiser Donn Delson of Band Merch, my friend Tim Godwin at Line 6, Todd Steinman of M80 Fan Club for the possible rebirth of a MEGADETH and/or Dave Mustaine fan club, John Kalodner from my record company Sanctuary, and Matt and Gooch from ESP Guitars — the most awesome guitar company!!

"I am getting prepared to start doing interviews again, and what this means is that very shortly you will have the answer that you have been waiting for regarding the reunion and what really happened.

"I have sent the MD.45 song 'The Day The Music Died' to Dave McRobb to put up for your listening enjoyment as a celebration of today and a glimpse of what the future is holding for us all. This song is not mastered yet, so it still has a little farther to go until it is done. But as far as we are concerned out here in Tempe, it is a punk metal record and deserves a raw element to it.

"I hope you like it, God knows how much I love you and want to turn you all 'on' with this New Year ahead."