DAVID ELLEFSON Says He And DAVE MUSTAINE 'Conceived MEGADETH Before The Band Was Even Created'

All Axxess Entertainment conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson at this year's Terror Con horror convention, which was held February 25-26 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about his early musical inspirations, Ellefson said: "Well, I'm from the KISS generation, which plays right into all this [that is going on at Terror Con]. When I growing up, certainly KISS… That made it much more than just guys singing and playing songs. There was this whole larger-than-life, comic-book fantasy about it all, and I thought that that was so cool. It's ironic, 'cause in thrash metal, we were kind of the opposite of that — [our look] was stretched jeans and t-shirts; a stripped down version of that. I think, with MEGADETH, we took that a step farther, because we conceived… We actually kind of conceived MEGADETH, really, before the band was even created, and I think that's why we're probably here all these years later, is that it wasn't just a random hit song that made us famous. We really strategically sat in me and Dave's [Mustaine, MEGADETH mainman] apartment with the early bandmembers and we formulated what the band is. I guess the same way you would conceive a script, a movie, and these movies would become franchises. MEGADETH was almost like that. There was 'Killing Is My Business', 'Peace Sells', and then every… It's almost like every album is like a sequel, because there's a theme. [MEGADETH's mascot] Vic Rattlehead's a part of that, the music has been very concise and very precise with what we sing and write about, and the playing has been very consistent, so I think it plays well to everything we're doing here at Terror Con."

In a January 2016 interview with the Cape Girardeau, Missouri radio station Real Rock 99.3, Mustaine took issue with a DJ's suggestion that he formed MEGADETH "together" with Ellefson. Mustaine said at the time: "No, that's not true. MEGADETH was already in its formative phase long before I even knew David Ellefson. The name MEGADETH didn't come up until after Dave and I had met. But there was another bass player before Dave."

He added: "Dave and I, we have a friendship that's been up and down over the years. I think our relationship is stable right now."

On February 12, MEGADETH was honored with a Grammy in the "Best Metal Performance" category for its 2016 album, "Dystopia".

MEGADETH recently completed a month-long U.S. tour with AMON AMARTH, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, METAL CHURCH and BUTCHER BABIES.