Former MEGADETH Bassist On DAVE MUSTAINE: 'Things Are Peaceful Between Us'

Kris Melton of Rock Fist Reviews recently conducted an interview with bassist David Ellefson (MEGADETH, F5, HAIL!). A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Rock Fist Reviews: Dave Mustaine was the original guitarist for METALLICA. While MEGADETH gained fame, they never received quite the same amount of attention. Did that reality affect Dave and thus the rest of the band as well?

Ellefson: You'd have to ask him on his side of it, but for me my attitude was I was always thankful for METALLICA, because without them I probably wouldn't be here. Not only am I a fan of what METALLICA does and has done, but just as a contemporary of theirs in the scene I have great respect and admiration for how they ran their business. They were just a big, well-oiled machine. And, as a result, they got huger and huger. They really captured the minds of millions of people. And I think the first ones to the party are always the winner. I think to some degree the ones that come after that probably will never gain that much success, but that's not to say... I mean, what we did was a lot of what METALLICA did, but we did it a lot differently. We offered something different, and that ultimately became our hook. And now to think all these years later what we're revered for our own uniqueness and originality. Without uniqueness and originality you're just another band. So for that we really shined bright in our own spotlight. All these bands, ourselves included, compare successes. But when you're actually in the band yourself, I think those of us who have had success, in any walk of life, you remember the hard times as much as the good times, because it was the difficult times that you learned the most and proceeded to grow the most to.

Rock Fist Reviews: There was a very public lawsuit involving Mustaine and you over the rights to MEGADETH. After that battle, where do you two stand today?

Ellefson: Things are peaceful between us. He lives in San Diego now, I still live in Arizona so we don't see each other regularly. We don't communicate regularly. However, any recent communications we've had have been fine and there doesn't seem to be any hostilities between us. I think for me, personally, I'm glad to just be moving on with new things in my life.

Rock Fist Reviews: MEGADETH's drug use has been well documented in the past. Do you think drug issues played a part in why so many band members came and went?

Ellefson: When those issues are around, it's pretty hard to keep any consistency. It's the nature of what that lifestyle does. I have not been a part of that lifestyle for many, many years. Consistency and continuity are key in my life, and it's because I'm not in the lifestyle anymore. It's funny because some of the best rock and rollers out there, guys that I grew up listening to, like Gene Simmons of KISS, and Ted Nugent — they weren't part of the drug lifestyle either. Look at their lives and they're still around. They're still kicking ass, and they're still doing it. Most of the ones that got tangled up in that lifestyle, because they thought that's what it's about, they ultimately took their eye off their music and most of them aren't even still around to talk about it.

Rock Fist Reviews: You also work as an artist relations representative for Peavey. Do you enjoy that line of work? Is it hard tackling two different careers?

Ellefson: I do enjoy it, I think I have a good temperament for it. I'm a people person and I love to communicate with people. Because I'm dealing with a music company and we're talking about gear. You know, I haven't met a musician yet that doesn't like to talk about gear. To me it's just an extension, or arm off the same body, so to speak. For me everything I do in my life is all music-related; whether it's actually playing the music or writing it, recording it, touring it, stuff I do for Peavey, producing it, my YouTube series David Ellefson's Rock Shop, where I'm talking about it, the book I wrote; I mean, everything I do is music-related, so to me, I don't look at them as separate things, they're all just part of the same gene pool.

Rock Fist Reviews: Do you feel the need to prove yourself with F5 or do you feel as a member you're a part of a fun or liberating chapter in your life?

Ellefson: I think it's the latter. One thing I've learned, especially moving on from all the former stuff, is none of these things last forever, and I think to some degree they shouldn't. Bands are formed and created because of the people in them and at some point bands then control, dictate, and dominate the people that are in them and that's a bad place to be. It's not creative, it's not inspiring, and you almost create a prison around yourself. F5, TEMPLE OF BRUTALITY, and the work I did with SOULFLY, these new bands that I'm always getting involved in — every one of them is an opportunity. They're kind of a blank palette, a canvas for me to recreate myself and create something new for what's happening today and not always having to rely on what I did yesterday.
Read the entire interview from Rock Fist Reviews.