DAVID ELLEFSON's THE LUCID Raises Testicular Cancer Awareness With New Video

THE LUCID, the four-piece hard rock band featuring bassist David Ellefson (ex-MEGADETH),vocalist Vinnie Dombroski (SPONGE),guitarist Drew Fortier and drummer Mike Heller (RAVEN, FEAR FACTORY),has released a music video for the song "Maskronaut". The clip, which was directed by Michael Sarna, can be seen below. The track is taken from THE LUCID's self-titled debut album, which was released in October via SpoilerHead Records.

In conjunction with the video release, THE LUCID is aiming to raise awareness for testicular cancer after Fortier was diagnosed with the disease last month. He is currently recovering from surgery and waiting to hear results back from pathology as well as next steps.

THE LUCID, along with Brynn Arens (Flipp),has set up a Gofundme page to help Fortier with medical costs during this time.

Fortier states: "You truly never know with these things. I wanted to make this public to help raise awareness with this type of cancer because it literally came on out of nowhere. I'm thankful for all the support and I want to give a big thank you to Dr. Masterson and his team at Indiana University for being true rock stars in their field."

Ellefson adds: "We always felt 'Maskronaut' was a special song, even more so with the video. In light of recent circumstances with Drew's health, we agreed this was the right time to release something uplifting and positive heading into the summer."

"Maskronaut" was produced by Sarna and Ellefson, and apart from the band, stars Kyle and Ashleigh Abbott, along with Alyson Montez.

"The Lucid" was produced by Heller and mixed/mastered by Lasse Lammert.

Ellefson previously stated about the LP: "It's been a real blast making a record with these guys and I must say that it's refreshing to explore some new musical avenues… to step out a bit from what each of us have done stylistically in our own careers. There was an effortless synergy that came with creating these songs together which is always amazing when working with new people. I'm looking forward to everyone checking it out!"

During a November 2020 appearance on "The Chuck Schute Podcast", Ellefson stated about how he got involved with THE LUCID: "Drew sent me a track and said, 'Hey, can you throw a bass on here?' And I was writing a new ELLEFSON solo record at the time, so my studio ears were on. I was plugged in and ready to go. He sent it over and I was, like, 'Yeah, this is freaking cool, man.' I'd seen Drew play, I know his BANG TANGO history and the other stuff he's done. But this was really cool stuff that spoke to me. And then he called me up and he said, 'Hey, Vinnie is gonna come in and write some vocals and lyrics and lay down some tracks.' And it turned into a thing."

"I love [Vinnie]. I love SPONGE," David continued. "He's such a rock star. He's just a cool guy. And he writes such great lyrics — very trippy lyrics. He's the type of lyricist I'd never worked with before, so it's fun with that. And Drew is a great guitar player. Mike Heller — he's good friends with [MEGADETH drummer] Dirk Verbeuren. And Dirk's, like, 'Mike's awesome.' They're good friends. We all met in L.A. We got the songs together and we all met in L.A. in mid-July. I plugged in and banged out 10 songs in two days. And it was fun. Mike was very good in the studio; he really knows his way around."

As for THE LUCID's musical direction, Ellefson said: "It's cool stuff, and it's very different. It's, obviously, not thrash metal, hence the name LUCID. [The name] kind of feels like what the music sounds like."

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

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