DAVE MUSTAINE On 'Big Four' Tour Rumors: 'A Couple Of Things Would Have To Be Ironed Out' First

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was interviewed on this past Friday's (September 11) edition of Eddie Trunk's "Friday Night Rocks" radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his recent creative roll:

"I've had a really good run right now. There's a lot of things that go on in my life that a lot of people don't see — stuff that we don't actually end up doing. But this is a great period. The touring right now is exciting; we've got a lot of dates coming up in North America, in the Pacific Rim... We're looking at stuff next year over in Europe. But one of the most important things out of all of this is the fact that MEGADETH and SLAYER are touring [together] again... Even though there's a lot of stuff that's going around [in the press] about people saying stuff [presumably referring to recent interviews with SLAYER in which they said some less-than-flattering things about Mustaine — Ed.], I'm not saying anything; I think they're a great band. My life has changed; I'm a different person. As far as talking smack about bands, sometimes I do 'cause it's an accident — it kinds of just falls out. But it's a really good thing for us to get together and hopefully become friends again and have a great tour, because we [MEGADETH and SLAYER] are half of the [so-called] 'Big Four' [of '80s thrash metal]. I don't know what the boys in ANTHRAX are doing right now, and as far as METALLICA is concerned, they just had a new record come out, so it's a really a very exciting time for speed and thrash metal."

On the "feud" with SLAYER:

"I think to get into this, it's just beating a dead horse. Honestly, I'd rather talk about the new [MEGADETH] record. Of course, I had my part in [the feud]. I probably started it. I certainly wanna have a part in ending it. I really look forward to being friends with those guys again, and the past is the past; it was 19 years ago."

On where Gigantour (MEGADETH's travelling metal festival) stands right now:

"Gigantour is something that has to be done right, because the whole premise of it is great musicianship and affordability for the fans so that they can actually enjoy a festival again instead of going and listening to music and getting porked on at the same time. For me, I look at what's going on with us and with what we were just talking about — playing with SLAYER — and the possibility of that coming around the world. It's possible — anything is possible — and if we were to do something, it would not be Gigantour, it would be continuing under different kinds of names that keep it mutually respectful, because SLAYER has their own festival — the 'Unholy Alliance' or something. But as far as what our intentions are, it would be great to be able to continue playing with bands that really help encourage us to play our best. SLAYER is a great live band, and they really... in a very... I don't even know how to say this without saying it wrong... but in a very youthful way, when you've got that kind of talent around you, it kind of raises the bar, and it's good for us. After we were doing those dates, I went back and said, 'You know what would be really cool?!" We do the same set just about every single night with a little bit of some variation based on how long it is; there are staples we have to play. And I thought, 'Wouldn't it be really cool just to kind of break free from all that stuff and just pick the three songs — 'Symphony of Destruction', 'Holy Wars' and 'Peace Sells'; those are the three we have to play — and then the rest of it, just let it rip and see what happens. I'm not saying go out there and play 'Boogie With Stew' or something that nobody's ever gonna know what it is, but we do have a lot of material over the past. Shawn [Drover; drums] knows all of it, I know all of it; James [Lomenzo, bass] is learning it, Chris [Broderick, guitar] is learning it. The greatest thing about this is that the ability of the other players in the past was kind of what held us from going back into the catalog; some players were more synonymous with other players, like Glen [Drover] really sounded a lot like Chris Poland. But the cool thing about Chris [Broderick] — Chris is by far the best guitar player I've ever played with; no digging at anybody. If you've heard the [new MEGADETH] record, you know I'm not talking out my butt; the guy is by far the most talented guitar player I've ever played with. You know, I'm rated No. 1 in the world right now [referring to Joel McIver's recent book, 'The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists' — Ed.], but I've gotta tell you — he's better than I am."

On the rumors of a "Big Four" tour (METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX):

"I don't know... I think anything is possible. But the whole beauty of what we did with the 'Clash Of The Titans' [U.S. tour in 1991] was the three of us [MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX], we really had a common thread that ran through all of us and we were very close in a lot of different areas. Of course, METALLICA's success really put them in a kind of unapproachable position where they were just so high in stature, we kind of were all left behind, if you know what I mean. But not saying that in a bad way, because I'm totally satiated with my success right now; I'm very happy with what I've done in my life. Going into what the 'Clash Of The Titans' was, we all had this mutual respect, and we all rotated. And the lineup was always the same — ANTHRAX played before MEGADETH, and MEGADETH always played before SLAYER. So whoever was headlining, the rotation swapped. Like, if SLAYER was headlining, it would be ANTHRAX, me, then SLAYER. If I was headlining, SLAYER would open, then ANTHRAX, then me. Now, I don't know that, because of the stature of METALLICA versus [the other three bands], if it would really be a balanced kind of four-way show, you know what I'm saying? . . . [But] I'm not gonna rule anything out. And as much as I'm trying to tap-dance around in this, it's just gossip and rumors. It would be foolish of me as a businessman to not take that opportunity, and it would be dumb of me as a bandleader to not do that for the guys in my group and for the fans of the band. But again, I don't wanna play in the round [which seems to be METALLICA's preferred stage set-up nowadays], and I don't see us going into an arena and the guys in METALLICA changing their stage for me. I think that there's a couple of things that, if that was gonna happen, they would have to be ironed out, and there's a lot of stuff. I mean, besides the personal stuff, which is always gonna be there. It's just a matter of how we're progressing in our spiritual walk that we can deal with those things from the past and not perpetuate it going forward. I don't wanna keep breaking open those old wounds; I would rather that they stay healed. I've made my best attempts at passing around olive branches and I think that it's not gonna get any better unless there's something on the horizon for me just by continuing to be supportive of these other guys and look at who I am and be happy with that."

On whether he and former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson have mended their differences:

"Well, I forgave him, but I'll never play with him again. I talked to him a little while ago about coming back and playing with us when I first took MEGADETH out of the ashes, and then there was a period after that where we discussed it again. It's just not right, [and] it'll never be right. The guy, his butt grew together when I called him Junior, and I'm thinking, 'What the hell is wrong with that?' If it's that nit-picky where you can't even call somebody a nickname he's had for 20 frickin' years, it's like, things have changed. I mean, like I said, he's a good bass player. I'm sure his band... whatever it's called... I think it's F5 or something. There's several F5s, though. So he's the one in the band without the girl singer. But I'm sure that if it's meant to be for him, he's gonna be successful again; if not, I know he's happy doing his thing [working as an as an artist relations representative] with Peavey [manufacturer of musical equipment, gear and accessories]. The bottom line is I still respect and appreciate what he did for me being the bass player in MEGADETH for so long. Although what he did to me was very, very hurtful — especially airing all of the stuff that happened, because a lot of the stuff wasn't true; some of it was true, and I made mistakes — I'm human; I make mistakes — and I made amends for it. But even still, having made amends, it didn't matter; I was still in this lawsuit [that Ellefson filed against Mustaine shortly after Mustaine announced that he was reforming MEGADETH with a new lineup]. And that was kind of hurtful. But the bottom line is I went out to Arizona and I met him, and I said, 'I forgive you.' When I became a Christian, I really, really [didn't wanna] be another one of these idiots that are Christians who walk around and they embarrass themselves. I don't tell people how to live their lives, I don't tell people, 'You need to go to church,' 'cause that's not my place; I've got enough wrong with me right now where I would be a complete hypocrite. But I did know that if I continued to hold on to that bitterness for him, who would be hurting? Me. Because [Ellefson] doesn't care if I forgive him or not. I mean, I'm sure it made him feel better, because when he lost, he lost a lot — he lost me, he lost the band, he lost a lot of fans, he lost a lot of money... He had to pay all my court costs and everything. But the bottom line, again, I forgave him. Now, does that mean we're gonna swap spit and Christmas cards and stuff like that? No."

On whether it's true that he recently went through a divorce or is going through one right now:

"I'm trying not to talk about that, brother. I'm living alone right now, so I think you can read between the lines. I just don't wanna say anything bad about Pam [Dave's wife], because she was with me for 18 years and we had some areas before that... we were separated and I was living alone and we tried to get back together to make it work. She's a very decent person and we're just in one of those periods right now where I don't know if it's gonna end or if it's gonna continue . . . I can tell you this much: MEGADETH is alive and well. I've had problems my whole life, so this is just another period where I'm just looking for where the sun is shining, and I'm gonna find it; I always do."