MEGADETH: No Official Decision Has Yet Been Made Regarding DAVE MUSTAINE's Involvement In 'Megacruise'
September 21, 2019MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson says that no "official decision" has yet been made regarding Dave Mustaine's involvement in the upcoming Megacruise.
The 58-year-old MEGADETH leader revealed his cancer diagnosis on June 17 on social media. He has since issued an update, saying that his doctors "are feeling very positive" regarding the progress of his treatment.
Although most of MEGADETH's previously announced 2019 tour dates have been canceled as Mustaine battles the disease, the MEGADETH-curated Megacruise — which is set to take place October 13-19 — will still depart as scheduled, and the band will be a part of it in some form.
Ellefson was asked about MEGADETH's participation in the Megacruise during an appearance on SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation" earlier in the week. He responded: "I called [Dave] on [September 13] — it was his birthday — and we had a nice little chat. We talk every couple of weeks. I just really try to let him go through his treatments. He sounded good. Obviously, he is in recovery now for the next several weeks, next couple of months. We put on sale the MEGADETH/FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH tour across Europe starting in January, so the focus now is for Dave to just be fully rested and ready for that.
"There has not been an official decision [or] announcement made on exactly what we're gonna do with Megacruise as far as the MEGADETH side of it," he continued. "I know me and Kiko [Loureiro, guitar] and Dirk [Verbeuren, drums] will certainly be there. We're hoping Dave is well enough to be there and be part of it, but, of course, the wise heads will have to prevail on that one, with his health being number one priority. But, yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to it, man. It's gonna be great. There's such a great host of bands on that and all kinds of great events and things that are gonna be happening, so it's certainly gonna be a killer cruise."
Mustaine and Ellefson are the two remaining original members of MEGADETH, which was formed in 1983, following Mustaine's dismissal from METALLICA.
MEGADETH is considered to be one of the "Big Four" bands of 1980s thrash metal — a list that includes METALLICA, ANTHRAX and SLAYER.
MEGADETH has recently spent time in the studio working on material for the follow-up to 2016's "Dystopia" album.
Comments Disclaimer And Information