Ex-MEGADETH Bassist DAVID ELLEFSON: 'Reuniting Original Lineups Is Awesome'

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

NEPAtoday: I know you're actively involved in the business side of music; you had a book out on the subject a few years ago. How green are young bands these days about the business end of music?

David Ellefson: "Well, more and more I think people seem to be a lot more in touch with it now than they were, like when I was starting out. You know, I was on the tail end of the sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll thing when I got rolling (laughs). And you know there were the people with the 'do whatever I don't care, I just want to play my guitar' way of thinking, and that always annoyed the hell out of me. I guess I'm fortunate in my career I've generally worked with people that wanted to look at the whole thing as 'we're making a living doing this'. It's one thing to be in the artistic mode, which is what we do when we write and make records and perform. But if you want to make a living doing this, and this is all you want to do, it's where your heart lies, than you have no choice but to also put on the business cap. In this day and age, especially with the Internet. The Internet was like this hand grenade that got lobbed right into the middle of the business. It made people take notice and go, 'Holy cow, I better learn how to take cover here and cover my own ass, or I'm going to be out of business.' Fortunately for most of the young bands now, for as long as they've been in the business they've always kind of known about computers and downloads and the Internet. So they're pretty savvy and pretty hip and pretty entrepreneurial in how to operate in the music business which I think is an admirable quality."

NEPAtoday: A lot of your old metal peers have been reuniting their original lineups recently. How do you feel about that kind of thing?

David Ellefson: "I think reuniting original lineups is awesome. Ultimately, that's what people want to see. You know, you see elder statesmen of classic rock doing it whether it be REO SPEEDWAGON or STYX doing it. You know, getting as many of the original members that are still around. You see them doing it, you see metal bands doing it, pop bands — DURAN DURAN, everybody's trying to do that. I think what everybody realizes at some point is that if you can make those things work it's really cool. Ultimately, that's what the fans want to see when they go see those bands. They want to relive that piece of their youth or that piece of their life when that band was doing what they do best. So, I think given the right circumstances, those things usually fare pretty well for everybody. And most importantly, the fans are happy about it."

NEPAtoday: What are you most proud of about F5?

David Ellefson: "Well, there's a few things. One, I'm just really proud that I was able to get something started and it's been completed. And not that F5 is complete by any chance, but just the fact that we just so nonchalantly got in a room and started something and our passion drove us to make sure that the album came out, and now here we are able to talk about an album that's out. So on the one hand, that's kind of an initial goal that feels really good now to have accomplished. Another thing is I'm just really happy to help open the door for the other guys in F5 too. I've been to the big dance now for quite a few years, and I guess that's one of the things I've enjoyed in recent years with the music production I've done and the artist development and now with this band. It's been a fun process to be able to be put in touch with these guys who are so talented and have such great ability, but for some reason haven't had a chance to get up to bat yet. That for me brings me a lot of personal satisfaction, especially with F5."

Read the entire interview at NEPAtoday.com.