MEGADETH Mainman Talks About 'TH1RT3EN' Recording Process In New Video Interview

Paul Marshall of Guitar interactive magazine and Marshall TV conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine backstage at the U.K. edition of the Sonisphere festival on July 8, 2011 at Knebworth. You can now watch the chat below.

When asked about the recording process for MEGADETH's new album, "TH1RT3EN", Mustaine said, "This record actually, the process was a little different because we really didn't get a chance, [or the] luxury, of taking our time. We'd come off the road and somebody had said, 'You've got about a two-month period. Do you think you can make a record in there?' and I laughed. I thought, 'You guys, you're trying to kill me is what's going on; there's no rest for the wicked.' You can't put a horse away wet after you've run him in a race, you've gotta let him cool off. And it seemed like we just came off the last tour and just went right into the studio. But I've always believed my playing ability has been a gift, so rather than sit back and doubt what God's given me, I just went in and I trusted the process. And we made a great record and we did it in the two months allotment. On top of that, I think that we also learned a lot about ourselves as musicians. We really went to a new level with our playing ability and we've got a great new partner with [producer] Johnny K. I mean, I was satisfied with our last co-producer, with Andy Sneap, and Andy really took us and he even admits as far as he could take us, and it was great because we wanted to go back to the big leagues where we were, and we feel that Johnny is, obviously, a big-league producer; not that Andy isn't don't get me wrong. But we feel that this record is definitely one of our best. It's a great feeling, because, you know, finishing some of the last record, I can honestly say, in my heart I knew that it wouldn't contend with some of the great records in the past, just because of the timing, the label that we were on and stuff like that. Lineup changes and stuff But I really think that everything just lined up for this record."

"TH1RT3EN" is tentatively due in November via Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded at Mustaine's Vic's Garage studio in San Marcos, California with producer Johnny K (full name: John Karkazis),who has previously worked with DISTURBED, SEVENDUST, MACHINE HEAD and STAIND, among others. The artwork will once again be created by artist John Lorenzi, who was responsible for the artwork on the last two MEGADETH studio albums, 2007's "United Abominations" and 2009's "Endgame", as well as the band's 2007 box set, "Warchest".

Regarding what fans can expect from MEGADETH's next album, bassist David Ellefson told Martin Carlsson of Expressen TV, "Let's put it this way: It's funny that 20 years ago, we came off 'Rust In Peace' and we went in and made 'Countdown To Extinction'. So, to me, that's kind of what this album feels like. We did 'Sudden Death' [for a title in the 'Guitar Hero' franchise, 'Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock'] and then this new song, 'Never Dead', which is a very violent riff. That was the first song we did, and we finished it top to bottom because we had to get it into this video game called 'NeverDead'. So that's a pretty good indication of what the new record is gonna be. But it's a little wider than That's why I liken it to probably a little more to 'Countdown To Extinction', 'cause there's a couple of songs that aren't just full-on, in-your-face thrashing. However, most of it is. So you guys are gonna be excited. You'll like it. You'll dig it. You'll have fun [listening to it]."

Fan-filmed video footage of MEGADETH performing a brand new song, "Public Enemy No. 1" on July 9 at the Sonisphere festival in Amnville, France can be seen below.

Interview:

"Public Enemy No. 1" performance on July 9 at Sonisphere festival, Amnville, France