MEGADETH Mainman Says ROADRUNNER RECORDS Picked Up Option For Next Album

Mitchell Peters of Billboard.biz recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Billboard.biz: Have you ever dealt with younger bands that want too much money to play [Gigantour]?

Mustaine: There were a couple bands we talked to last year one band in particular from the Bay Area that I really dig. I asked if they wanted to do it, and the numbers they were asking for were unrealistic. I would've paid it, but I don't buy the talent, I just pick it. And that's a good thing, because I would probably overpay some of these guys. The people who pay the talent said they were worth about $2,000 per show, and they wanted somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. That's a considerable difference if you're losing that over 40 shows.

Billboard.biz: I hear there are sometimes hecklers at MEGADETH concerts. How do you deal with them?

Mustaine: You get the guys out there who pay their $35 to come and try and heckle me. If they think over the past 2,000 or 3,000 years of people having to deal with hecklers in literature, that I haven't learned how to shut people up, they haven't been to a MEGADETH concert. I know when people are trying to get my goat nowadays. I just don't answer them anymore.

Billboard.biz: When will fans see the next MEGADETH album?

Mustaine: Roadrunner Records just extended their option for a new record from us. I'm pretty underwhelmed with having to go into the studio right now, because I'm pretty exhausted. As soon as Gigantour is done, I'm pretty sure I'll be taking a much-needed hiatus for a while. But a musician never stops writing. That's like asking a cook to stop cooking.

Read the entire interview at Billboard.biz.