DAVID ELLEFSON On Former MEGADETH Guitarist CHRIS POLAND: 'He's A Unique Player'

MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson shared in a recent interview with "The Five Count" radio show what it was like to have his former bandmate, Chris Poland, guest on his new "Sleeping Giants" solo album. The guitarist was dismissed from MEGADETH in 1987 after disagreements with leader Dave Mustaine but was subsequently brought back to perform solos on the band's 2004 "The System Has Failed" LP. Poland also revealed in interviews that he was asked to rejoin MEGADETH in 1990 for the "Rust In Peace" album, but rejected Mustaine's offer.

"It was cool," said Ellefson (hear audio below). "Chris and I have remained friends over the years. He's such a unique player. It's fun to have him guest on something, especially all of these years later, and especially with this being on Combat Records, which is a label I now own, which is also me and Chris's alma mater. It was our very first label with the first two MEGADETH records."

Ellefson also discussed whether MEGADETH will be taking part in the rescheduled 2020 North American tour dates in support of Ozzy Osbourne. Osbourne canceled all 2019 performances after suffering a fall in his Los Angeles home. Due to Mustaine's recent throat cancer diagnosis, MEGADETH has also since put a hold on scheduling 2019 dates save for their planned appearance on their own Megacruise this October.

"I guess time will tell," said Ellefson. "We'll see. We're working on a new MEGADETH album as well. A little bit of that is now more in the background, but we're still working on that. I think that new album will drive our plans moving forward into 2020."

Ellefson then went on to share how MEGADETH's canceled tour plans prompted him to schedule more live dates in support of "Sleeping Giants" and his recent book, "More Life With Death", as well as his "Basstory" shows.

"Originally, we set the downbeat and release date of the book and the album because we're going to be on the Ozzy tour. That was part of the promotional strategy to come around the country and be able to talk about the book. Maybe in a serendipitous way, the Ozzy tour postponing put me kind of up to bat first with putting a real band together, a full band, to do this 'Sleeping Giants/Basstory' tour and really be on a full-blown national concert tour this summer."

MEGADETH recently announced plans to team up with FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH for a European tour in 2020. Exact cities and dates will be announced on September 9.

"Sleeping Giants", a companion LP to Ellefson's "More Life With Deth" memoir, was released July 19 via Combat Records.