MEGADETH Mainman Discusses 'TH1RT3EN' Album On FULL METAL JACKIE's Radio Show (Audio)

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was interviewed on this past weekend's (October 14-16) edition of Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

To see a full list of stations carrying the program and when it airs, go to FullMetalJackieRadio.com.

Full Metal Jackie: There's been some stuff happening with your health recently and I just want to check in with you. Give us an update on how you're doing.

Mustaine: Pretty good. I went to a walk in spine clinic in Marina del Ray and had neck surgery done and I'm good. It's only been two weeks since the surgery but everything's healed really well and I'll be heading down to South America on November 7 to finish our South American leg and close out 2011 and get ready for next year with Gigantour.

Full Metal Jackie: Huge lineup: MOTRHEAD, VOLBEAT, LACUNA COIL and, obviously, MEGADETH. So exciting that Gigantour is being relaunched. What is it about those bands that best fits your vision for Gigantour?

Mustaine: This time around, it's a little different than when it initially started. In the beginning, Gigantour was all about guitar playing and as it's grown over the years. Because of the huge corporate-sponsored tours, I just wanted to make it have a cool factor. MOTRHEAD's a very cool band, VOLBEAT's got a new record out with a good buzz on it and LACUNA COIL's been a band that MEGADETH has worked with in the past when we had Cristina [Scabbia] sing on "A Tout Le Monde". We've had a lot of really good success with those bands in the past and really looking forward to Gigantour.

Full Metal Jackie: "TH1RT3EN" is [bassist] Dave Ellefson's first MEGADETH record album in 10 years. Which song on "TH1Rt3EN" really showcases why his style still such a huge part of MEGADETH?

Mustaine: The whole record pretty much describes David Ellefson's worth to the band although MEGADETH has always been my vision. When I left New York [after being kicked out of METALLICA in 1983], I didn't stop in Minnesota [to pick up Elelfson] on the way home. I'm very very happy to have him back in the band. The time that we spent apart, which was about eight years after we had our little falling out, with everything, I knew what caliber of a musician he was, being a producer, being a writer being a band leader. When we got back together again, I listened to his performance and he's gotten way better. It's really cool. You kind of look at bands as they mature, you get diminishing returns as the musicians lose their hair and then they lose their ability to play and then they start looking like an old prune. Dave still got his chops, [and] he's still fun to be around. Don't get me wrong I'm sure he's capable of pissing me off if he wanted to, but I'm sure that goes two ways. I'm just glad that he's gotten along with Chris [Broderick] and Shawn [Drover] because, face it, David Ellefson is the new guy in the band.

Full Metal Jackie: Dave, tell us about the song "Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)".

Mustaine: "Whose Life" was a song that when we were in the studio with [producer] Johnny [K], we only had two months to do this record, so we were forced to really really pull off a miracle and I think we did a pretty good job doing it. When we got to that particular song, we'd gotten a lot of the types of typical MEGADETH songs written and on the record, so when "Whose Life" came around, it was almost like, "Wow, this is really something different." It reminded me of back in 1992 when a lot of the punk bands and alternative bands were all vying for the same piece of property with the metal band and there was just a split second of divinity where all the music could have been anybody. I listened to the hookline and the chorus on it and it reminds me a lot of back when I was a kid, too. There was a song where this guy was saying, "You can't even run your own life, I'll be damned if you run mine," and I thought "Wow, that's probably pretty fitting still." You've got people telling us how to live our lives and at the end of the day, whose life is it anyways it's mine. I'm the one who has to do the time when stuff goes wrong. If I make a bad decision, it's my flesh that pays the bill and a lot of times in our business you know this we have people who work with us and for us and as soon as we run out of blood, they're on to the next person. And that's sad.

Full Metal Jackie: What about "TH1RT3EN" do you think will stand the test of time and make you proud when you look back and listen 10 years from now or 20 years from now?

Mustaine: Well, a lot of things have transpired with this particular record because there was a lot of good stuff that took place. When we started this record, I was absolutely, 100 percent committed to never ever work with Roadrunner ever again, but they have really turned things around and I'm really excited. I'm very optimistic about them. It doesn't mean they're going to treat other bands like they treat us, but it's definitely turned around, and it's really put a smile on my face and given us a lot of hope that we're going to have a really successful tour and that there's going to be a future with us with them. Now I don't know if that's going to happen or not, because 2012 we're all supposed to be gone. Who knows what's going to happen with our economy and our government anymore?! I can tell you this much: I look at this record and I can go into the studio and listen to it now and hear parts of it and go, "Man, I'm so glad we did that," instead of where you go into the studio and you're kind of like, "Well, okay, that part's there and I kind of wish that part wasn't there." Johnny K was really an eye-opener and David Ellefson had recommended Johnny K because I was used to using Andy Sneap and Andy wasn't available; he was working on something else at the time. So when he said Johnny K, I was like, "Johnny who?" [Laughs] And then when Johnny came out, it was like, "I love this guy."

Full Metal Jackie: In the past have there records that you've listened to after they're done and you second-guess yourself?

Mustaine: I think with any good musician, there's going to be a little bit of second-guessing yourself because you want what's best for your band. Depending on who the musician is, where they're at in their life, sometimes they've got more commitment that just being a young gun out there by themselves. For me, I got a family to take care of, I've got three other band members with families, so there's four band members and their families that are better affected by my decisions so I've got to really think about stuff. Then I look at our fans and I think, you know what?! How can I do anything to hurt our fans? How can I ever charge the kind of prices that most bands charge anymore for their T-shirts or for their records or for their tickets and stuff like that? It bugs me, because I'm an old-school guy and I got a ticket mailed to me back from "Clash Of The Titans" [in] 1991 [featuring SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX] and the ticket was $12.50, and nowadays you have to add a zero to the end of that or something for it to actually be a normal ticket price.

Full Metal Jackie: Speaking of tickets, the "Big Four" date happened in New York. Anybody that I talk to was affected by it for days even a week after. What was that experience like for you at Yankee Stadium?

Mustaine: I was hospitalized right before that and I had actually called management and canceled that show because I had to have emergency surgery So, they wrapped me up in an ambulance and tucked me in a bottom of a plane. Not really, but I got in the plane and went to New York. It's kind of uncool sitting backstage with a neck brace on and being full of two or three gallons of steroids but I did the show. The bummer was after the show there was suppose to have been a party that everybody was going to go to and I just couldn't go to it. I just could not physically bring myself to be around anybody because of the pain and I needed to get back to get the surgery and missed out on it. I looked at the new Guitar World magazine and [METALLICA frontman] James [Hetfield] was saying that those guys had something planned for me that night and I better watch my back and I know he was just kidding. I imagine it was probably something really fun and I'm disappointed I missed out on that. The concert itself was really good; there was a lot of people there, too.

Full Metal Jackie: I can't imagine what that must have felt like. I saw the pictures. What that must be like for you to stand on stage and look out at that crowd in New York.

Mustaine: Well, I didn't look very far. I mean I couldn't lift my head up very much, and like I said, I had to have surgery done on my neck and I should've done it before I went. I did my best; I think I did pretty good. The videos that we've seen on YouTube and comments from everybody, no one knew that I was in that much pain, nobody even knew I was in the hospital. I guess that's a testimony to going out and doing your job and letting the music do the talking. I've gotta tell you, if I had to do it over again, I probably just would've said forget it.

Full Metal Jackie: I really hope that you start feeling better soon and I really appreciate you getting on the phone with me in this state.

Mustaine: I do want to say this: I love my "Big Four" brothers we all have such a great friendship again right now, and now that this is behind me, I don't see there being any problems in the foreseeable future with my health. I feel great. Like I said, I drove all the way by your neck of the woods to get the surgery done, because down here in San Diego the guy was using a fishing knife and I'm like "Forget it, dude!" [Laughs] But, yeah everything's great, just ready to go.

Full Metal Jackie: Can you give me some sort of idea on Gigantour any idea when it's going to start or when we're going to hear about the dates, etc.?

Mustaine: That's really hard to say, because we're looking at routing opportunities right now, and when you do all the stupid routing stuff, it goes from one day you're looking at a building that totally makes you go up the West Coast and then one cancels and then all of a sudden you're going back East or you're heading down South for whatever reason. There's so many variables when you put together a tour. I'm not a good agent I'm barely a good band leader so when we get the dates, I'll tell you as soon as I can, I promise.