MEGADETH Mainman Considering Offers From Three Labels

January 27, 2006

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine spoke to Reuters reporter Gelu Sulugiuc about the group's decision to turn to an online community of artists to redesign their longtime mascot, Vic Rattlehead.

Mustaine, the band's founder, singer and guitarist, ran into licensing issues with the artist who originally drew the mascot in the early 1980s based on Mustaine's idea — a skull with jaws wired shut, steel visor and metal earplugs.

So he started a contest on Internet site deviantART (www.deviantart.com),where 2 million members post photographs, traditional and digital art, and even poetry.

"I'm just looking for somebody to revamp it," Mustaine, 44, told Reuters in a phone interview. "I'm looking for a surprise. I'm open to them having their way with it."

The contest ends on February 14, when three winners selected by Mustaine will receive one of his signature series ESP guitars. More than 600 submissions have been entered in the first week.

"There are enough fantastic submissions to the contest already, but every day more and better stuff shows up," Mustaine said.

The new mascot will appear on band merchandise and will grace the cover of MEGADETH's next record.

Mustaine, who left Sanctuary Records after his band's 2004 album "The System Has Failed", said he is considering offers from three other labels.

"This will probably be my last record contract," said the one-time METALLICA member. "It's either going to be great and I'll stay there forever or it's going to suck and I'll be so bitter with the music industry that I'll just quit and go play CAT STEVENS songs up in Tibet."

Find more on
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).