DAVE MUSTAINE On Choosing Musicians For MEGADETH: 'I've Never Hired Anyone That Was A Friend'

In a new interview with Clash Music, Dave Mustaine was asked if there are any musicians who were in MEGADETH that he wanted to highlight as ones that he felt hadn't gotten enough public credit for their skills or contributions. He responded: "All of them were great. When you have great musicians, the next thing that comes along is asking, 'Are they great people?' 'Do you have a great friendship?' I've never hired anyone that was a friend.

"I always say in interviews or meet-and-greets, when people ask me about what advice I'd give to new bands, I say, 'Stay in school', because you need to be smart," he continued. "I tell people you need to stay in school but also learn certain things they don't teach you, like check books and compound interest. The other thing I say is 'don't hire your friends'. Because if you have to let a person go, you're going to lose a friend too.

"I've always hired people and got into a business relationship and over time become friends with some. Then, when the work stops, it depends on where we are. Say you work in a restaurant; if someone leaves McDonald's to go work in Taco Bell, I don't think they spend a lot of time calling the guys in McDonald's to say what's up. But if you have a friendship or pre-existing friendship, it's different."

Back in 2023, Mustaine told Consequence that "there hasn't been that many" lineup changes in MEGADETH "when you think about how many some of these bands go through. A lot of popular bands will go through lineup changes and sometimes it's really bad for the band," he explained. "Other times, it's necessary. So, I try not to hold it against guys that are in bands when they have personnel issues. Sometimes, you just end up having a different perspective, and when you guys start off doing stuff, it's very much like a marriage, and you want to have the same vision — but it doesn't always stay that way. So, compared to some bands, yeah, we've had several lineup changes, but not as many as others have. And the lineup that we have right now, I think is magic."

He continued: "I can tell you at any given time, we may have had a period where there was a more popular person on drums or a more popular person on bass or a more popular person on lead guitar. But the magic that the band is operating under right now is so different."

In 2012, Mustaine addressed the reasons for MEGADETH's many lineup changes, telling AL.com: "That's the problem when you start a band. You have to pick the right guys. But things happen. … We have our lineup and everything's working, and one guy says, 'I want more money.' Or 'I want to write more songs.' The truth of the matter is that it's hard to write songs. You have your whole life to write your first album. After that, it's hard."

In a 2024 interview with Portugal's Underground's Voice, MEGADETH drummer Dirk Verbeuren was asked how he has dealt with some of the recent lineup changes in the band, specifically with the departure of guitarist Kiko Loureiro and addition of Teemu Mäntysaari, as well as the return of bassist James LoMenzo following the dismissal of David Ellefson. He responded: "It's life. Things happen. It's difficult being in a band, especially for an amount of time. And it's like any job. Oftentimes they say, [being] in a band, it's kind of like a marriage. And sometimes it doesn't work out. People have things happen in their life. Like in Kiko's case, for example, he had family things happening that demanded that he should be there for his family. And we tour a lot, and it just became very difficult for him to really enjoy and be present on tour, because of the stuff that was happening back at home. So I think we all believe that he made the right decision, because family comes first, of course; his children come first. But that's how it is. And luckily, we found Teemu, who's an incredible guitar player. Kiko recommended him, and Teemu came towards the end of Kiko's time in the band. Teemu came and joined along and watched the show and went over all the details and stuff. And so when we finally started playing with him, he was already very familiar with how we operate. And he's been amazing. He's an amazing guitar player, he's a great person to be around. So it's been really nice. And the same with James. James, of course, he has been in MEGADETH for many years before, between 2006 and 2010, so when James came back, it was very natural as well. And he's an expert — he's been doing this for many years playing with a lot of different people. And [he's] a great person as well. I love James a lot."

MEGADETH's just-released self-titled album is on track to become the highest-charting album in the U.K. of the band's career. The Mustaine-led group's seventeenth — and final — studio effort is likely to land in the second place, according to the Official Charts Company, right behind Louis Tomlinson's "How Did I Get Here?" in the top spot.

"Megadeth" was released on January 23, 2026. The follow-up to 2022's "The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!" was made available via Mustaine's Tradecraft imprint on Frontiers Label Group's new BLKIIBLK label.

For its final album, MEGADETH once again worked with Chris Rakestraw, a producer, mixer and engineer who previously worked on MEGADETH's last two LPs, the aforementioned "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" and 2016's "Dystopia".

Press photo credit: Ross Halfin