DAVE MUSTAINE: 'This Is By Far The Scariest Time That America Has Been In My Lifetime'

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was interviewed on a recent installment of HATEBREED frontman Jamey Jasta's official podcast, "The Jasta Show". You can now listen to the chat using the SoundCloud widget below.

Asked if the current two-party political system in the U.S. can really work, Mustaine said: "It's not a two-party system. I think that's just the way that they want the masses to look at it. There's four actual parties that people are aware of, if you say the names, and a fifth party that most people don't know about. There's the Independents, who run up the middle. There's the Libertarians, who probably… That's kind of like how a Rand Paul kind of guy is. I think you and I probably have a lot more along the lines of what a Libertarian is, because… For me, some of the Democratic stuff is a little too loosey-goosey, some of the Republican stuff is too tight-ass. And I've always been kind of right up the middle. I voted for both parties. I covered the Democratic national convention for Rock The Vote. I got a bill passed into law — the Motor Voter clause. So I've been involved in politics since '92.'

He continued: "I think that's one of the things that makes my heart ache is that so many people go through life… They just don't participate in stuff like this. And there's so many people who cast aspersions towards me because I am involved in writing about politics, and say, like, I should leave the country or I should die or I should this or I should that. And it's, like, you know, fucker? I've seen ten presidents in my lifetime, and this is by far probably the scariest time that America has been in my lifetime. I lived it; I have comparisons. Other people can say, 'I don't know what it was like back then.'"

Mustaine added: "Would I have wanted to live in the '50s and have to have my hair greased back every single day? Fuck no! It was hard enough growing up in the '60s. But what I'm saying is that part of the political process is if you don't say anything, people make decisions for you. And I don't want people making decisions for me. If the people, as a whole, make a decision, that's different."

Dave also talked about the fact that the media shapes how we interpret and observe political information, such as election coverage and other political events. He said: "You've gotta ask yourself, too, how much of this is real, how much of all of this political process has been bought off. I saw something that went around a couple of years ago that all the networks are owned by six people. When I saw that, I was kind of, like, 'Oh!' No wonder it's so easy to twist things. I read '1984' and how they can manipulate the news to make you think whatever you want. I mean, we don't know that any of this shit that we see is real. Unless you were there… I imagine the guys in EAGLES OF DEATH METAL, that situation [the November 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris], being there is very sobering, to be in the middle of that stuff. But a lot of the other stuff that happens, you just kind of wonder, how much of this is propaganda?"

MEGADETH's latest album, "Dystopia", debuted at No. 3 on The Billboard 200, having shifted 49,000 equivalent album units in the week ending January 28.

In terms of pure album sales, "Dystopia" opened with 48,000 copies, marking MEGADETH's highest-charting album since 1992's "Countdown To Extinction" debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the chart dated August 1 of that year. "Dystopia" also logged the group's best sales week since 2007, when "United Abominations" landed at No. 8 with first-week sales of 54,000.

In addition to Mustaine, MEGADETH's current lineup includes longtime bassist David Ellefson, LAMB OF GOD drummer Chris Adler and Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro, best known for his work with ANGRA.