DAVE MUSTAINE On CHRIS ADLER's Future With MEGADETH: 'The Drum Position Is His If He Wants It'

Rohit of the South Orange, New Jersey radio station WSOU recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.

Asked about the availability of drummer Chris Adler for future tours with MEGADETH, Mustaine said: "Well, Chris is still definitely in LAMB OF GOD, and he wants to play with us as much as he can. I think that question can be answered best by him. We're really happy that the guys in LAMB OF GOD aren't protesting him playing with us. We don't wanna cause any problems in that camp, with the attention that this is bringing. 'Cause it's a big deal, man. Everybody's talking about [MEGADETH's new album, 'Dystopia']; everybody's talking about the four of us. So we don't wanna cause any problems. It'd be great if Chris could do every single date, but there's gonna be some that he can't. And for those dates, we've already got another drummer that Chris actually told me he picked; this guy named Tony Laureano. And Tony is one of the top ten extreme metal drummers. He played with NILE and DIMMU BORGIR. He's a great guy. And he's got a couple of solo things that he's doing, but, fortunately for us, it works out that he's available for the shows that Chris is out with LAMB OF GOD."

Mustaine also talked about the possibility of Adler playing on the next MEGADETH studio album. "I think it's too early to say that, but my hunch is that the answer would probably be yes," he said. "I think Chris wants to do it. I have no reason not to have him do it. I thought it was really inspiring being around him and his positive energy and really optimistic outlook towards life and music in general. It was good for me, it was good for the band, and, yeah, if he wants to do the next record… I mean, the drum position is his if he wants it until we get into a position where we have to make a decision otherwise. And fortunately, by the support of the fanbase that we have, we've already put in all those dozens of years travelling around in vans to motor homes, and so on and so forth, playing every single place you can possibly play to build a name for yourself. So now we can be a little bit more selective with where we play and we don't have to go out quite so much, and it's working out."

He added: "I am conflicted, because I think that I'd like to play more, as much fun as it is for us to… the four of us to play together, but we all are family men too, and we love our families. It would be great in a perfect world if we had four nice buses rolling up to each city and do stuff like that, but that's not very realistic."

In a recent interview, Adler stated about his status with MEGADETH: "Their drum tech, Tony [Laureano], is a fantastic drummer. He played in DIMMU [BORGIR] for a while. [He's] a super-talented guy. So I think they are pretty flexible and able to, kind of, work around me a little bit, and Dave's [Mustaine, MEGADETH mainman] willing to. That's what Dave told me from the beginning. I said, 'I'm gonna be busy as shit for the next twelve to eighteen months with LAMB OF GOD, and I will do everything I can to play as many shows with you as I possibly can, but there may be a point where I have to ask you to wait.' And he said, 'I'll wait for you.' So I think he enjoyed working with me, and we'll just kind of see where it goes."