DAVID ELLEFSON Says MEGADETH's Tour With LAMB OF GOD Is 'A Go Until It's Not'

MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson says that his band's previously announced North American tour with LAMB OF GOD is still "a go until it's not."

The 55-date trek is currently scheduled to be split into two legs. The first leg of the tour kicks off June 12 at Jiffy Lube Live in Bristow, Virginia, and wraps August 1 at the Concord Pavilion in Concord, California. The second run launches October 2 at iTHINK Financial Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, Florida, and runs through November 13 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, Nevada.

In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, thousands of concerts and festivals have either been postponed or canceled, as social distancing and self-quarantining make performing live music and attending live shows all but impossible.

Ellefson spoke about the status of the MEGADETH/LAMB OF GOD tour in a recent interview with 95.7 The Rock. He said (see video below): "In our mind, everything is a go until it isn't. So as of today, everything is a go, but, obviously, we're taking stuff week by week to see how that's gonna play out. And there's a second leg of that in October/November, and, again, it's a go until it's not. [Laughs] And I'm sure whatever happens, we'll figure it and announcements will be made."

Ellefson also talked about MEGADETH's plans to record the follow-up to 2016's "Dystopia" album. He said: "We were originally gonna be in Nashville end of March — me and Dirk [Verbeuren, drums] were gonna be cutting bass and drum tracks to these songs. Of course, when everything started shutting down, that prohibited that from happening. But we are now scheduling that probably in about a month or so. We're gonna try to be together — obviously, all things permitting. But that is the plan. So we can get the tracks recorded. And everything's written, so we're ready to go. We're excited to get that going."

The early sessions for MEGADETH's 16th studio album took place last year in Franklin, Tennessee with co-producer Chris Rakestraw, who previously worked on "Dystopia".

MEGADETH's next LP will be the first to feature Verbeuren (ex-SOILWORK),who joined the band almost four years ago.

Guitarist Kiko Loureiro made his recording debut with MEGADETH on "Dystopia", whose title track was honored in the "Best Metal Performance" category at the 2017 Grammy Awards.