MEGADETH Bassist Talks About The Making Of 'TH1RT3EN'

Zach Shaw of MetalInsider.net recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

MetalInsider.net: Let's start off by talking about MEGADETH's new album "TH1RT3EN". As we all know, this is your first album with MEGADETH after you returned last year. How did it feel to return to the studio with MEGADETH after such a long time?

Ellefson: You know, I think we did the whole process the right way by coming back on the 20th-anniversary tour last year for "Rust In Peace". We all knew the songs, it gave us a chance to get acquainted, get to know each other. Obviously Chris [Broderick, guitar] and Shawn [Drover, drums] were new musicians for me to get integrated back in with. [With] me and Dave [Mustaine, guitar, vocals], it was really just an instant connection that worked out really good. And so for us to get familiar again on the canvas together and then go in and make a record was definitely the right way to do it, rather than try and tackle a new creative endeavor after not playing together for a lot of years. It would have been a much different dynamic. So going in and doing this new album was one of the most fun records I've made with MEGADETH, quite honestly. It was really pretty fun, quick process. We knew we didn't have a lot of time. We only had ten weeks to do it in between two tours. It had an energy about it, kinda like when we made the "Peace SellsBut Who's Buying?" album. We were kind of in between tours, our record label needed an album, there was a lot of excitement around MEGADETH at the time. The only difference is on "Peace Sells", we actually had all the songs written and we went and recorded. On this record, we came up the road and didn't have any songs written and started completely from scratch and knocked out an album. And it really has an energy and a vibe about it that is just seamless with what we're doing out here on the road.

MetalInsider.net: You already began to mention this, but how you would further say the experience differed from recording with Dave Mustaine now as opposed to 25 years ago when you recorded "Peace Sells"?

Ellefson: Well, a lot like "Peace Sells", Dave wrote most of the music on "TH1Rt3EN" and there's a good influence from all of us around it. I think one of the reasons it worked so quick is because everybody was like, "Look, we just need to make a great record. Let's not get caught up in your riff and my riff and your words. Let's just throw it all into a pile and let's just take the best stuff we got." And that really created a great synergy between the four of us and our producer Johnny K [DISTURBED, STAIND, MACHINE HEAD]. So when it came for everybody to get up to bat to record their parts, every musician's performance took the songs into a new creative direction and that really is a process as a band that needs to happen if it's going to be a band and not just a solo project. And that's something that really put the MEGADETH stamp on it to make it a creative journey through these ten weeks that we had to make this album.

MetalInsider.net: Speaking about record companies, Dave Mustaine has in the past been very vocal about his unhappiness with Roadrunner Records. Seeing that this is also the band's last album on the contract, can you give us any insight as to what the band might be planning after that?

Ellefson: Well, our point guy and the president of Roadrunner were at our show the other day in [Holmdel] New Jersey and they were obviously very happy about what they're hearing on the new album. This is an album that I think the metal fans will be happy with but also some of the other media outlets like radio and others that will be able to be a little more accessible into the main stream in a very MEGADETH kind of way, you know. Those are exciting times when, like with playing Yankee Stadium, all of a sudden the MLB is excited about MEGADETH. So those are some great partnerships that you can have when you have the right kind of album, the right kind of music, and certainly the right kind of tour or show like we're doing with the "Big Four". So we're a band that has been welcomed into a lot of other arenas between professional wrestling and sports, video games, and all kinds of different things. And a lot of that is predicated on our ability to write songs that crossover the metal lines here and yet still be a metal band, and that's a hard thing to do. I've found that you can't predict it, you can't force it. It has to be something that happens naturally and that has definitely happened naturally on this new album.

MetalInsider.net: With that said, would you be open then to staying on Roadrunner Records?

Ellefson: I mean, that's a whole big picture vision. At this point right now, we wanted to make sure we delivered to them a great album because whether it's our last album or it's a new beginning with them or any other label, at the end of the day the album says MEGADETH on it and that's what fans see. They don't see the record company as much as they see the name MEGADETH. So for our fans we want this to be a great record no matter what. And now we've done our part and we turn it over to them and it's time for them to do their part.

MetalInsider.net: While still on the topic of the record industry, you have been very involved and vocal about the business side, having released books like "Making Music Your Business: A Guide for Young Musicians". With the current state of the industry and labels right now, I was curious whether you thought that the do-it-yourself model is a feasible model for up and coming bands or not.

Ellefson: My experience with having started on an independent label, gone up to Capitol Records as a major label, and then ended up on sort of what they call major indies with Sanctuary and, even Roadrunner, I guess, can be considered that to some degree, the main thing is like any business you have to have funding. If you want to have a successful donut shop, eventually you're going to have to go to the bank and get some more money, right? If you're going to have a band, you're going to have to go to some sort of a wealth to get some more money for your endeavor. And that's the hardest part when you try to do DIY, is trying to make sure you've got enough money and distribution to get your music out to as many people, places as you want it you because that provides you with future opportunities. So you definitely have to be entrepreneurial today. And should it be a more of a DIY thing? I think for sure, it should. But you also have to be thinking one and two and three steps ahead in everything that you do with your touring, how you're releasing your music, your merchandising, and everything that you can. Ultimately you want as many people walking around with, in our case, a MEGADETH shirt, listening to a MEGADETH, either a CD or an MP3, because music is more than just selling a song; it's about a culture and a lifestyle. And I think those of us that have been able to develop a culture, really kind of the way the "Big Four" has become, we're a culture with our fans and everything. It's not just about the bands who have some good songs, it's about all of us together did something. And that to me when you can hit on that chord, that's something that you can probably do for the rest of your life.

Read the entire interview at MetalInsider.net.

Photo below by Stephanie Cabral