DAVE MUSTAINE: 'There Was A Really Legitimate Reason' For Every MEGADETH Lineup Change

In a new interview with The Big Takeover, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine was asked if he, when he was starting out in the Los Angeles music scene more than four decades ago, had any inkling that he would have the kind of career that he ended up having. He responded: "In my heart, I had hoped that I could continue playing for as long as I live. The question was, how long was I going to live? We were all in this [L.A.] scene at the time that everybody was living super fast and dangerous. People like [MÖTLEY CRÜE singer] Vince Neil getting in a car crash and the drummer for HANOI ROCKS losing his life, that whole period around then — everybody was just dangerous. We had to get away from that. All I wanted to do was just play my guitar. I didn't want to hang. I was not one of those guys that would go over to people's houses and party all night. If I was doing anything, I would do it by myself in the house and play guitar. Not that I was alone in my house, but you know."

He continued: "For me, I didn't have a Plan B. And I didn't want to have a Plan B because my Plan A was all that mattered. And I wasn't going to take no for an answer. Growing up homeless, growing up a poor kid, that does something to you. So yeah, being a poor kid and going from house to house to house, and wearing hand-me-down clothes all the time, and living in a car for as long as I did, that changed me. And that's what I think drove me to want to be successful because I didn't want to be that guy. I didn't want to be stuck in a situation of being homeless and living in a car. I was not going to settle for that. So that's why I worked as hard as I did. Some people will say I was callous with the [MEGADETH] lineup changes and stuff like that, but with every one of the lineup changes we had, there was a really legitimate reason that we made a change."

A little over a year ago, 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. 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."

Back 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 recent 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 latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album. Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprised 45,000, SEA units comprised 3,000 and TEA units comprised a negligible sum.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

MEGADETH's "Destroy All Enemies" North American tour, produced by Live Nation kicked off in Rogers, Arkansas on August 2 and runs throughout the month before wrapping in Nashville, Tennessee on September 28. Support on the 33-city trek, which includes stops in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston and St. Louis, is coming from MUDVAYNE and ALL THAT REMAINS. The tour begins

Mäntysaari joined MEGADETH last September after Loureiro, announced earlier that month that he would sit out the next leg of MEGADETH's "Crush The World" tour in order to stay home with his children back in Finland. It was later revealed that Mäntysaari would continue to play guitar for MEGADETH for the foreseeable future, with Loureiro seemingly having no plans to return.

The 37-year-old Mäntysaari was born in Tampere, Finland and began playing guitar at the age of 12. In 2004, he joined the band WINTERSUN. He has also been a member of SMACKBOUND since 2015.

MEGADETH played its first concert with Mäntysaari on September 6, 2023 at Revel in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Loureiro officially joined MEGADETH in April 2015, about five months after Chris Broderick's exit from the group.