MEGADETH Bassist Discusses 'United Abominations' Lyrics

Mark Carras of RockMyMonkey.com recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist James Lomenzo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Rock My Monkey: This CD does have a few songs on it with very strong political lyrics. Did you have any input in that at all?

James Lomenzo: Just occasionally standing up and applauding and sitting down and keeping my mouth shut. (Laughs) This is off the typewriter of Dave Mustaine, and I got to say, you know, interestingly enough, I listened to some of the lyrics, "Amerikhastan", when he first wrote them, and my initial reaction was, "You're going to get yourself in a lot of trouble here." But then I started reading a little deeper into it, and I started to think, and I asked him this a few times, I said, "You're not really sitting on one position here, are you? You're just kind of weaving this tapestry of popular notion and ideas." He didn't agree with me on that, either, but that's kind of the way I interpreted it, anyway. So yeah, I mean, I felt very comfortable getting behind this stuff after I kind of read through it a few times and figured out exactly what was going on. For the most part I can't imagine too many people who are that continually enchanted with the current administration across the board.

Rock My Monkey: Keeping in mind that you are not the one that wrote the lyrics, but you obviously have Dave's ear a little bit more than the average fan, when Dave says, "And tattooed is 'Property of USA,' a subsidiary of Haliburton,' I'm left wondering, is he pointing out all the massive… is that a little bit of sarcasm, and he's pointing out the massive amounts of corruption that happened with the Iraq war?

James Lomenzo: I can't speak 100% for him, but I can tell you my reaction, and the snarl he gave me when I pointed that line out to him. I think he's being sarcastic. I don't think he's running the administration's flag with that one.

Rock My Monkey: Good, good, good.

James Lomenzo: I think we're pointing out corruption in that case.

Rock My Monkey: Good, good, good. Now, also to say that there was no U.N. when America attacked Iraq is obviously correct factually. However, it doesn't seem to bring up the reasons that the U.N. made very clear of why they actually spoke out against it, and said, "Yeah, we don't think you should do this." And they actually tried to convince America not to do that. Is the song saying that the U.N. should jump every time an American president wants them to, or is again, is that pointing out the obvious ignorance of this administration?

James Lomenzo: I hear your question loud and clear, and I have my idea on it. You got to go to the source. You're going to have to talk to Dave about that to see what he actually means. I would be speaking out of turn.

Rock My Monkey: Okay, so then, without your interpretation of the lyrics, how do you feel personally about that?

James Lomenzo: Well, personally I feel that, I think the administration tried to make the U.N. seem a little more irrelevant than they've been in the past. And maybe to a degree they are. Maybe it's kind of hard to get the world's attention these days, and run through an organization like that where there is some kind of base deals and corruptions being made. My opinion. That's my opinion. That's what I see. You know, the whole world is so globally… what's the word? It's all one big corporation after another kind of vying for their special interest. Nothing new here, but it's so exponential these days, that it's kind of hard to get down to the real story of who is actually benefiting from what. So this is again, man, I'm like you. I turn on the TV every once in a while and I see what's going on, and I lift up the paper and I see what's going on. And I'm trying to make sense of this just like everyone else is.

Rock My Monkey: Yeah, I'm a news addict. Now, I got to say that I do agree with the basic message of the song, that the U.N. is irrelevant. But it was like, there's a couple things on there that seemed a little Fox News-ish, if you don't mind.

James Lomenzo: Okay.

Rock My Monkey: Now, I know you can't speak for Dave. But do you think that… what do you personally think is more important with this is that people agree with the lyrics, or that I guess people are talking about it?

James Lomenzo: I think the most important thing, Mark, the most important thing is just that there's still dialogue. That everybody's thinking on their feet, and everybody's considering Dave Mustaine's viewpoint. Just consider it. Take it to their bank and see if they can gain interest on it, or if they feel they're becoming bankrupt by it. I think any conversation, anything that points us back to our current reality and our responsibilities to have to look and kind of monitor what our governments are doing is a good thing. I don't think everybody can get it right, because not everybody has all the dirt. Or all the cleanliness, if there's anything out there. But yeah, I think that any dialogue based on popular music and art is a great opportunity for people to use their own minds and figure things out for themselves. And by all means stand up and disagree, because that's part of the process, as well.

Rock My Monkey: I think that's one of the great things about this album is that it actually has gotten a lot of people talking about this subject matter. It's definitely an album that's above and beyond the typical tits and beer stuff.

James Lomenzo: (laughs) There's nothing wrong with tits and beer.

Rock My Monkey: Nothing wrong with tits and beer. I like tits and beer, but yeah. Now, do you know why, do you know what the reason is for the release date on the "Warchest" box set being pushed back to October 9th?

James Lomenzo: Just a production thing. That's all.

Rock My Monkey: Okay. Alright. Now, you guys have been kicking the night off with my favorite song on this CD, "Sleepwalker". Now, anyone who reads the lyrics to that would see very clearly that the song screams for a video to be made. Is there any plans?

James Lomenzo: You know what, we've been up and down this with Roadrunner for a while, and we've been taking their ideas and going with that, and sending back our ideas. I don't know if we're going to get to another video on this album. That would be, you know… if we could get a ground swell and a rally from our fans, and if they were as verbal as you are right now, and they said they really wanted that, of course we would supply that and would make that available. And you're probably right. That probably is a good across the board indicator of a solid, classic MEGADETH song. I think I agree with you on that.

Check out the entire interview in text and MP3 format at this location.