DAVID ELLEFSON: How I Re-Embraced My Faith At Age 25

In a new interview with Stefs Rock Show, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, who grew up attending Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Jackson, Minnesota, spoke about how he re-embraced his faith at the age of 25, after going through a 12-step recovery program. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Look, I grew up a Lutheran kid. So nothing fanatical. I mean, I didn't have this sort of, as we would know it today, kind of this evangelical, born-again kind of thing. That was not my experience. I grew up in the Midwest, farming community, and everybody worked six days a week and then Sunday, they took off and went to church. I mean, that's just what it was. So that was just how I was raised. And it was nothing fanatical by any means. But it was around. And so when I moved to — well, really, once I started drinking at age 15, that was the end of any real interest in church. And then I moved to Hollywood at age 18. I was, like, 'Yeah, we're definitely done with the church thing.' And Hollywood, California is a very different melting pot of a lot of different stuff. And whatever.

"It's funny, my pastor even did a study, or gave to the congregation a study that from about age 16 to 26, people kind of check out of church," he continued. "That's when we're kind of off on our own, finding our own way. So I guess I probably kind of fit the model. And then I got sober when I was 25, in 1990, and that trajectory out of the drug-and-alcohol lifestyle back into sobriety, that's what really kind of brought me back to going, 'Oh, I guess the church thing ain't so bad.' And then it was just kind of an easy thing to sort of bring back into my life. Especially once you start having a family, you're kind of, like, 'All right, well, what's sort of the barometer of right [and] wrong? What are the rules here for raising your kids?' So, that's my story. And it was just always kind of a background story until I wrote my memoir, 'My Life With Deth'. And my co-author, Joel McIver, when we were writing it, I had just gone back to MEGADETH in 2010, and Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader] was writing a book — his memoir was coming out — and Joel hit me right away. And he said, 'Listen, you need to tell your story 'cause you and Dave are the bookends of the MEGADETH story.' And he said, 'This would a great time for you to tell your story.' And as I was writing it, I was, like, 'All right, well, I don't want to like some religious story,' 'cause that's not really my life. I'm a rock and roller. But I was raised around it."

When Ellefson later settled down in Arizona, he started a contemporary worship service at a church in Scottsdale. He called it MEGA Life, partially a play on MEGADETH. In 2012, Ellefson began studying for the ministry through an extension program of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.

In an October 2019 interview with Photo Groupie, Ellefson was asked why so many heavy metal musicians are Christians when the genre is often seen as the devil's music. He responded: "Well, to me, it's real simple: Christianity is just doing God's will and God's will is whatever 'to thy own self be true' you're wired to do. The good Lord, our creator, however you want to define Him, has given us each unique skills to play a certain role here in our time on Earth. I think that if you're living out what those skills and gifts are you, then you're doing God's will. To me, it's really that simple. I think religion has complicated that deeply, and I think that it has extra steps that aren't necessary. I think anyone of us can find our creator in moments of quiet and silence, and that's usually when we tap into that inner strength and inner resource. I've discovered that resource is ultimately God, because he's the creator of darkness. If I pick up a guitar, and as loud as it may or may not be, whatever comes out is probably God's will and gift for me."

Back in 2012, Ellefson told the Great Falls Tribute that MEGADETH had no plans to incorporate its Christianity into its songwriting. "You can be a person who has faith and be principled and have an obedience to your creator and not have everything you say or do be a praise and worship song," he said.

"That's the misconception that if you're a metal guy, you only sing about the devil and if you're a church guy you only sing about the Lord. What a lame stereotype that is.

"The only reason we talk about [our faith] is because people ask us about it," he added. "The MEGADETH tour isn't some crusade. We're not on some mission."

Mustaine spoke about "spirituality" during a 2016 interview, telling Honolulu, Hawaii radio host Dave Lawrence: "A lot of people believe that I'm into religion, because I had said that I had become a Christian. So let me just say that religion's for people who are afraid of going to hell, and spirituality's for people like me who've been there. And I say that there's a whole spirit world of stuff that… There's good and bad in everybody and in all things."

Those comments echoed what Mustaine said three years earlier in a chat with the Nashville Scene. He stated at the time: "I don't think that my faith has anything to do with my lyrics. I try and keep religion out of it. Frankly, for me, I don't believe in religion. I have a personal relationship with God and with Christ, and that's it. I don't push that on anybody; it's private. I kind of leave it there. Dave's [Ellefson] real open about it."

Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH by Dave Mustaine in May 2021, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.

Shortly before Ellefson was dismissed from MEGADETH, he released a statement on Instagram denying all social media chatter that he "groomed" an underage fan. He also filed a report with the police department in Scottsdale, Arizona alleging unlawful distribution of sexually explicit images of him by unknown offenders.

During an October 2021 appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk", Ellefson wanted to address one specific "misconception" about him that had been repeatedly raised in the years since his explicit videos were posted online. He said: "There's a misconception that I'm a pastor. I am not a pastor. I did a year of seminary, and they made it real clear, 'If you are gonna continue at seminary, you need to quit MEGADETH,' so I quit seminary to be in MEGADETH. And I remember telling my mom that, when she was still alive — God rest her soul. I said, 'Hey, I withdrew out of seminary,' in good standing, to continue being in MEGADETH. And she was actually very disappointed. She was, like, 'You know what? MEGADETH is holding you back. That's too bad. You should have stayed in seminary.' Turns out maybe I should have listened to my mom; I don't know. [Laughs] Of course, mom wants the best for you.

"Who knows? Whatever," he continued. "I'm a rock and roller, man. I'm a founding member of MEGADETH. It's who I am. It's what I do. It's part of my life. It's part of my existence. So I have no regrets about any of that. But I think that was a misconception. People started throwing that around. And so I've never been an ordained pastor. Yes. I did explore that world for a time."

David went on to say that there is a perception that people of faith must set a higher standard of how they live with and treat others. "It's almost like you're this entity that's floating up toward the heavens: 'Oh, he's such a wonderful man. He's a man of faith. He's got his family. And then this happens.' It's, like, 'What the hell is this?'

"I mean, look, admittedly I've sort of trained the public to think that I'm one of the more well-behaved rock stars out there, and for the most part I have been," he continued. "But at the same time, and this isn't to claim anything other than just, oops, shit happens. That is what it is.

"In the season that I was away from MEGADETH, in the 2000s, I got involved in other things in church, and raising my family, and blah blah blah, these things, and so by nature, I kind of became more of a suburban homebody — the dad guy," David added. "And then I went back to MEGADETH in 2010. And the thing is to try to reconcile that you're not one guy at home and another guy on the road, that you're the same guy. And I think for anybody who spent any time on the road — whether you're a rock star, a traveling salesman or whoever you may be — that is the challenge, and it's a real challenge, to keep your life in order when every day your toothbrush is in a new zip code."

In 2004, Ellefson filed an $18.5-million lawsuit against Mustaine, alleging the frontman shortchanged him on profits and backed out of a deal to turn Megadeth Inc. over to him when the band broke up in 2002. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed and Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH in 2010.

Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band's inception in 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 until his latest exit.

Photo credit: Maciej Pieloch (courtesy of Napalm Records)