Ex-MEGADETH Bassist: 'Being A Rock Star Isn't As Cool As It Used To Be'

Jesse Capps of RockConfidential.com recently conducted an interview with former MEGADETH and current F5 bassist David Ellefson. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

RockConfidential.com: I would almost bet that after dealing with your former situation you were left disheartened or maybe a little burnt out.

David Ellefson: "Yeah, I see a lot of groups that reunite after many years and they're successful because there's a new spirit about it. Maybe it's the same old songs but the people in the group have changed. They're able to come together with a new understanding of each other. The fans appreciate it in a different way. Sometimes when you have a demanding fanbase, which is a luxury, one thing that happens is that you kinda get on a factory worker production schedule. Make album and tour, make album and tour, ya know? God forbid you take too much time off. If you're out some new band is in. It's not necessarily the fans fault. It's the way of the world. It's the point-and-click, download generation that we live in. Shit happens and stuff moves along very quickly."

RockConfidential.com: You've been playin' this game for a long time. How has your opinion of the music industry changed over the years?

David Ellefson: "I think a big part of it goes back to things changing so quickly now. Being a rock star isn't as cool as it used to be. When I was a kid, if you grew your hair long and had a Flying V and a Marshall stack you were king! You know? That was a goal that we aimed for. In this day and age movie stars are rock stars and rock stars are jocks. Music is in video games and everybody is trying to cross over into all these other things. I always liked it when people specialized in things. That's kinda how I've been my whole life. I dig the craft of being a songwriter and also like going out and being a performer. Things are a lot different now. Through the last ten years of a lot of uneventful music that wasn't exciting live, it's almost as much fun to go see a kickass NBA game! It's almost like those guys are better rock stars than some of the rock stars!"

RockConfidential.com: How would you rate your level of happines right now? Are you on top of the world?

David Ellefson: "It's changed. I've always liked what I've done over the last 20 years. It was a dream come true and I worked hard at it. It wasn't like it just landed in my lap. The work was fun. I always read this one columnist in the paper, Harvey Mackay. I relate to a guy like him who says to find a job you like and you'll never have to work another day in your life! That's how I've felt about my whole life. Once I moved out to LA and really dug in to playing and developing a music career I enjoyed all aspects of it. There are some things that aren't exactly fun, but that comes with anything you do in life. I'm really happy where I'm at now. It happened without my approval but that's part of the poker game of life. Sometimes you play your poker face and sometimes you play the hand you're dealt. That's what makes it a lot of fun. I've been really happy moving into all this new stuff I'm doing. I find I sleep really well at night now."

RockConfidential.com: That's probably worth a lot more than any material object you could obtain.

David Ellefson: "Funny thing is, when I was on the road all the time I had this cough that would not go away. I went to doctors all around the world and I could not get rid of it. It's interesting that when 2002 rolled around and my former situation ended, the cough immediately went away! (laughs) The asthma left! Sometimes your body metaphysically reacts to what's going on around you - the stress, the workload, the environments. I was hitting it so hard traveling, flying in airplanes, and touring that my body was tring to tell me to stop and let up for a while. I didn't even notice it because I was in a groove. Sometimes things happen where you get really jarred. Something comes and hits you sideways and — WHAM — you're forced to take a look at everything in your life. Music is just a reflection of who you are as a person. With the F5 album and my other projects, what's happened is all these different sides of who I am are starting to come out. At one point I would've held that back. Then I realized you can't always let other people dictate what you're going to do or else you never grow. Playing real hard, extreme metal is a part of who I am. On the F5 album I was able to meet up with a fresh set of faces and have this culmination of all our efforts turn into something really new and fresh sounding."

Read the entire interview at RockConfidential.com.