DAVE MUSTAINE: When People Bring Up METALLICA, It's Like Reliving A Car Crash

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine recently spoke to the U.K.'s Kerrang! magazine about the group's new album, "The System Has Failed", and his former bandmates in METALLICA, among other topics. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Kerrang!: A lot of the reviews of your new album, "The System Has Failed", suggest MEGADETH sound dated.

Dave Mustaine: "If anybody gave this album a bad review, they're obviously bitter about something. There's a lot of people that are prejudiced towards my music because of my previous affiliation with another group and that's just fucking stupid. This record sounds very modern, the production on it is very dark and the sound is really good. There's a lot of people out there who don't like me and they say stupid stuff like, 'I heard you were...' Find out for yourself. Most of the interviews I do with people end up laughing about stuff like that. I try to be open and honest about myself and for the most part the people who talk shit about me have never met me."

Kerrang!: That said, you often come across as bitter in interviews, particularly towards METALLICA. A lot of people wonder why you dont just forget about it.

Dave Mustaine: "Well a lot of people weren't in it. It's like getting into a car crash; every time you close your eyes you relive the car crash and every time someone brings up the name of that band it's like reliving a car crash. But when 'The System Has Failed' came out I made a promise to myself that I was moving on with my career. This is the last MEGADETH album and the last MEGADETH tour. I'm gonna support this last tour and play the very best I can and then I'm gonna go off with my solo career. Maybe there'll be some people who say 'Thank God MEGADETH is done', but I'm not done. But getting over it? I have to do this on my terms. I can't go up to someone who's been raped and say 'Get over it!' How insensitive is that? A lot of the stuff that I've gone through in my life was when I was a very young person, being alone in the world. I was living on my own since I was 15 and I had no one there to help me process my thinking."

Kerrang!: Well, it's always entertaining to read...

Dave Mustaine: "Yeah. And there's still stuff that'll make me mad, but the feud is over if there's no band."

Kerrang!: But there hasnt really been a band for years. MEGADETH became Dave Mustaine a long time ago.

Dave Mustaine: "Yeah, I agree with that. Unfortunately there's a lot of people that are disillusioned and hoped that their involvement was more significant than that. I respect that and I'm grateful for all of the participation from everybody from the musicians down to the lowliest road crew guy since the very beginning. They've all had a tremendous part in my life and my career, helping me be successful and getting me drugs and pussy. I don't look at any of them with any disdain."

Kerrang!: I remember being kicked out of a backstage corridor in Germany because I was drinking a beer and "Dave Mustaine was coming through". Why should I get treated like that because you dont drink any more?

Dave Mustaine: "But that wasn't me doing that, bro. That was management doing it because they didn't want me to fall off the wagon. At that time I was going through a period where I didn't wanna stop drinking and people forced me to stop drinking. It was kinda like holding in a piss; it was the most uncomfortable and dreadful period of my career. I'm 43, if I wanna fucking do an opium suppository I will."