MEGADETH Mainman Checks In

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine has posted the following message in the "Forums" section of the band's official web site:

"I spent the day popping in and out of the studio while the electrical work and lighting was being started for the school, and I got a chance to read some threads, have some fun replying, dispelled some myths, and got to welcome some cool new Droogs like our 'Art of War' friend. By the way, is 'a' favorite, not "the" favorite book of mine; it is top 5 for sure. There is, however, no better book to galvanize yourself as a successful business person for strategy and understanding the cutthroat nature of the business world, while gaining instruction on how to assess any given 'battlefield' and proceed with the complete confidence that you will not be defeated — you may not 'win,' but you surely won't be 'defeated.'

"My number one is still my basic text book for living life when you are a metal musician and trying to just play music, have fun and die a happy person and go to heaven.

"What I am most pleasantly surprised about is the wide range of descriptions of the new music, and the overwhelming joy that it is bringing you all. I know for some of you, your ability to experience joy when listening to music is pretty great, but there are going to be people that will be miserable, no matter what.

"For those of you that are having fun, and are excited, like me, let's try to share with those Droogs or visitors or even interlopers what it is like to be part of our online community here at Megs.com, as well as how happy we all are being able to share our own excitement.

"Some people are loving it the first listen, some are loving it on the tenth listen. The bottom line is that people are loving it, and even some of the most toughest critics, like the German metal press, and English metal press, as well as a lot of the particular music board fans that are predominantly negative, are actually finding a lot to love about 'Endgame'.

"For the silly, hopeless romantics that just love the music because it is MEGADETH, like me, I just enjoy putting the album on and setting off to work out or do my work at home or the studio. It is great driving music too.

"So, for our fortunate fans in Japan, I welcome your comments here, and I am so honored by your compliments: Japanese fans or visitors, this is going to be one helluva tour this time. We are purposely learning some of the most aggressive songs from our new record, as well as the classic thrashers from the past. Feel free to talk it up as much as you want. I know that it is not too much the Japanese way to act all nutty, but I do love to read your comments.

"This is going to be my finest hour, and I am glad to share it with you all. This is not a personal victory for me; this is a personal victory for us all! For everyone that likes it fast, loud, and rude . . . I'm back!

"To our friends in Germany who will be getting the record on September 11th, please know that I thought about you all, every time I set my guitar down after a particularly fast part. I would think, 'Man, I can't wait to play that in front of our German fans!' I hope that you find tremendous enjoyment from this record, and I thank you all for the inspiration; not only in my blood, but also being half-German in my ancestry, in my metal heart.

"The U.K. is next on the 14th I believe, and with respectable institutions like Metal Hammer reviewing our record as positively as they did, and having one of their premeire writers come out and say that, 'MEGADETH are better . . . ,' it just makes me so unbelievably eager to come back to the U.K. So much so, that I was actually going to talk to Andy Sneap about what the cost of living is in England today. Thank you and Cheers Big Ears to all of our U.K. Droogs!

"Which leaves us with our nation here in the U.S.

"I am seeing so much help and consideration from two very important people from Roadrunner U.S. in MEGADETH's life right now, and I have to mention them; Dave Rath and Chris Brown. There was a long period that I felt like there was not one single person at the label that would help us. But Chris and Dave are true mensch, and they make the U.S. label proud.

"I would like to note that things are getting better for us, and while we are still getting to know the new people there like Rick Ernst (who has been very understanding, respectful, and most importantly helpful to our cause, which is MEGADETH after all). However, I have seen nothing about radio or TV, I was reviewing all of the press that we are doing so far, and while not as much as the last record or the record before that, there has been a shrinking in magazines you can hold in your hands and more magazines going online, which just shows that the forward thinking of MEGADETH with the amount of time that we invest in our online relationships with you is also felt and agreed by our press persons at the U.S. label.

"I have had several comments that I read here, and now that I have seen how hard these folks really are working, I would like to ask you if you can't reach them first, to just send the interviews requests here to our [email protected]. If you are a magazine or fanzine and want an interview and can't reach the label, we will help you get in touch with them and get your interview. It may not be with me, but you will surely get MEGADETH if you are a legit publication.

"Same thing with radio; although I don't have a clue what is happening at radio or even what our radio person's name is. I do look forward to meeting him and seeing what his strategy is of not doing any phoners with any radio stations before the release of the record.

"Now, if you are a college radio station, and you want to talk to us, WE want to talk to you. I would LOVE to talk to all of the colleges across our great nation. In the event that there is any major radio stations and they aren't playing us, please jot down their name and number and we will try to contact them and make sure that they didn't 'accidentally' get their promo CD that was sent in the mail mixed up.

"Y'all know how much I love talking to radio, especially now that we have 'Megadeth Radio: Predictably Unpredictable' for our own 24/7 Internet radio show starting in October. If there is any programs out there that are talk radio too, sports radio, even special shows — if one of us has something in common with the show's plot. I have two words, like Tony Horton of PX90 says, 'Bring It!'

"Lastly, I want to thank all of our street team members. I especially want to thank you because I have seen how upset you are from the apparent MIA Street Team Leader. I don't know what to say, other than I will make Dog The Bounty Hunter look like a boy scout, when it comes down to finding out how our amazingly awesome field generals that want to volunteer their precious time handing out material for the promotion of our band can't reach this person. I am thinking maybe something happened and this is just a fluke. I doubt that anyone would just disappear.

"You have officially been given permission by me to contact the street team leader for your area and ask them to contact their street team leader, and so on, until we find out where the bottle neck is. If it is someone who is going to make this as much a fantastic fan driven experience as I want this to be, you can trust me, there will be a completely different attitude waiting to greet your gift of your time.

"In closing, I have had a great day, learned more wonderful things about you, and I discovered some good news about the U.S. label, and it is refreshing to see that the positive attitude of a couple believers in MEGADETH can turn a whole label around in faith in a person and in a project. My contract is up with Roadrunner, and I am convinced that MEGADETH has had its best representation internationally during the last 25 years of my career by Roadrunner.

"I really want so badly for that to happen here at home. So, I am going to ask that you send prayers and whatever way you send you support to me that I have so often felt during these times when I come to you about the record, the release, the press, the broadcasters — TV radio satellite cable, I just ask that you would help me reach as many people as possible, and that the other three guys will be able to do press every day until 'Endgame' is a success for the band, for the label, and for you. I also want this to be one of the best records that Roadrunner ever releases and with NICKELBACK and SLIPKNOT, it isn't about sales, because we may never sell as much as those two monsters, but we have something just as valuable; we have a great record!"