MEGADETH Guitarist BRODERICK Talks Classic 'Rust In Peace' Lineup And Current Tour

Live-Metal.net conducted an interview with MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick at Rams Head Live in Baltimore, Maryland prior to the band's ill-fated March 16, 2010 show that ended after just three songs. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

Live-Metal.net: Does it feel at all strange doing an anniversary tour for an album ["Rust In Peace"] that you didn't have any part in making?

Chris Broderick: I think if you step back, you can take that view with it. But no. I go in and I do my job. I look at what I have to play and try to do the original composer as much justice as possible. That's really my view on it. I try to present it as well as I can.

Live-Metal.net: Especially with this "Rust In Peace" tour and now with [bassist David] Ellefson back in the band, fans are always clamoring for the "Rust In Peace" lineup. Do any of these things bother you?

Chris Broderick: No. I can totally understand why people would want the original lineup back in the band, because it's kind of what they grew up with. When they think of "Rust In Peace", they think of that lineup of people. But in my mind, what is the original? Because it's gone through so many incarnations, and in a way, I think it could potentially have been some of the rebirth of MEGADETH in the first place, because each person — no matter how big or how little of a part they may have in the writing of a CD or something like that — you kind of put your fingerprint on it and you kind of give it your own little style. I know for the "Rust In Peace" thing, it's Marty's [Friedman, ex-MEGADETH guitarist] CD. But if you look at the full course of MEGADETH, you can't just see one guitarist in there.

Live-Metal.net: How did Ellefson rejoining the band affect you, personally and musically?

Chris Broderick: Well, to tell you the truth, I know [former bassist] James [Lomenzo] really well. He's a great bass player, a good guy. But when Ellefson came in, for me it was so quick. He stepped in and just started playing the songs, and it was just like when I joined. It was, "OK, let's get down to work." So we did. We just started hunkering down and playing the songs, and since then I've gotten to know Dave and he's a great guy, as well. For me, it's just one more great musician I've gotten to play with now. It's awesome.

Live-Metal.net: How much rehearsal was involved for the "Rust In Peace" album and which songs were the hardest to learn?

Chris Broderick: The amazing thing is, we had a lot of rehearsal time for this tour, and that's never happened before. Even when I joined, I was rehearsing the songs a lot, but when it came to the full band getting together, it was like one or two days. With this tour, I think we were together probably for a little over two weeks — something like that, somewhere along those lines. As far as the difficulty of the different songs, I'd have to say when I originally learned the first five songs that I know off of "Rust in Peace", like "Tornado of Souls" and "Holy Wars", as being the most difficult because one, I had no experience with Marty Friedman's playing, and two, it was so under the gun — I had so much more material to get down. Now that I've had time to experience his playing and see what he's like, to go back and learn "Poison Was the Cure" and "Lucretia", and just kind of relax with those solos, they're fun. They're just fun to play. I love "Lucretia". It's probably my favorite solo to play right now.

Read the entire interview from Live-Metal.net.

Photo below courtesy of Metal Mind Productions