MEGADETH Bassist Wasn't Intimidated When He Joined Band

Deborah J. Draisen of GlideMagazine.com recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist James Lomenzo. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

GlideMagazine.com: Well, James, you've now joined the ranks of some very prolific players who have worked alongside Dave Mustaine. Did you feel pressured at first toward bringing your "A" game; even more so than you did for your previous projects, or about the same?

Lomenzo: No, no, no, never! You know what; I've played with so many of these icons throughout my career, prior to MEGADETH, that intimidation, that fear; it's kind of a weird concept to me — I've never had it. I was always either too stupid to think about it, or doing too much to worry about it. The one concern I did have coming in here was that, stylistically, I didn't really think that the thrash metal style was something I had really explored before,. The other projects I've been involved in, I've always played like half-tempo blues. I told Dave when I first joined the project that I didn't know if I was really the best guy for the band, that I was kind of a blues basher. He assured me that MEGADETH's music was the blues, only a lot faster, which was kind of him. So, I just plowed ahead. I was actually really dumb for agreeing to it, in a way. I mean, I was just excited to be a part of MEGADETH! I was well aware of their history and their music, but to learn twenty-eight songs in three weeks was really tough.

GlideMagazine.com: Well, since you're busy being so well-rounded, has Dave called upon your graphic arts skills at all so far?

Lomenzo: I've done a few things for him, but I leave the actual artwork to the professionals. John Lorenzi is the guy — Dave ran into him awhile back through a contest — he's been doing stellar artwork. I'm more of a designer; I've done some professional advertising. I'm good at putting elements together, and I'm good on the computer. I can create things, but I'm by no means a seasoned artist. I understand all the disciplines and I'm relatively good at it, but I love playing bass guitar — that's where all of my energy goes. Years ago when my daughter was born, I actually left the business for a batch of years and took up graphic design work. I freelanced for Disney and some high-end companies that do covers for magazines. A lot of my stuff went by on billboards for really crummy TV shows and stuff like that. It was fun; it helped me get my head together and realize how much I truly love making music rather than staring at a blank computer screen.

GlideMagazine.com: You couldn't be in a better place, James, and you are a great contributor to the band. Do you have any interesting tales from Dubai, other being mauled-by-teenage-girls?

Lomenzo: It was my first trip to the Mideast, and I thought it was a really strange place. Basically, we remained sequestered in a hotel room out in the middle of nowhere, yet the hotel was quite nice and opulent. We were about twenty miles away from the city that everybody's seen, and they were still building the place; construction everywhere. You'd see workers just walking down the road, and there were no bus stops! We met a lot of Americans citizens who were working there; "I'm a photographer," "I'm a newsperson" and I was like "Really, you can survive doing that here?" It reminded me of a summer camp that I went to. This teacher from my school had partnered with another teacher, and they decided to buy this dilapidated old summer camp and make it into a camp for musicians from all over the world. It was great, but they never thought about putting any rules into it. They split the camp in half — boys on one side, girls on the other, as if there was some kind of magical barrier in between.

GlideMagazine.com: Does your daughter maybe have a musical inkling?

Lomenzo: She loves a lot of the stuff that I love, and only because she would listen to a lot of music with us as she was growing up, and it just got under her skin. She likes the new bands, and I'll listen, too; it keeps me honest. It keeps me knowing what's going on, seeing what kids are listening to these days.

GlideMagazine.com: What do you make of the current vinyl craze; isn't it weird? For me, it is.

Lomenzo: I totally get it. My favorite activity when I visit Japan is going to this little bar. It's about twenty feet long by fifteen feet deep. The bar itself takes up the whole length of the place, from the front to the back. You hand them about twenty bucks and they give you little sandwiches and drinks. All it is is a wall full of vinyl — every record you've ever heard in your life, pretty much. You can tell them "Hey, let me hear Jeff Beck" and they'll whip it out, hand you the cover, and it's like this great basement party like we used to have when we were kids.

Read the entire interview from GlideMagazine.com