MEGADETH's CHRIS BRODERICK: DAVE MUSTAINE Is 'The Captain Of The Ship'

Simon Sweetman of Stuff.co.nz recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH guitarist Chris Broderick. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On Dave Mustaine being MEGADETH's leader:

Broderick: "It's Dave's band. He makes the rules, I have no problem with that — anyone that stays committed to one band for this long deserves to make the rules; he's the captain of the ship. Besides, it was always his vision, MEGADETH is his band."

On joining MEGADETH in late 2007:

Broderick: "That was incredible, really, just surreal. I mean here I was being asked to learn these parts from a band I had grown up listening to; not just listening to actually, worshipping. I mean, every kid with a guitar dreams of jamming with their heroes, right? And this was me — getting to play the parts to songs that I had obsessed over. It was daunting and wonderful, you want to play these songs with all the love and attention you can, you want to be respectful to the original parts but you also want to put your own stamp on them where you can."

On how "looking back" to some of MEGADETH's earlier albums has helped Mustaine — and therefore the band — move forward:

Broderick: "There's definitely been some reconciling of the past — and it's been a great way for me to come into the band, learning and playing all of these songs I grew up with. I knew so many of them — but when you have to learn a whole catalogue like that it's pretty intense. We've played around the world with the 'Rust In Peace' shows and then did the 'Big Four' [tour dates]. Now we return to playing new material and 'TH1RT3EN' reminds me of so many of the MEGADETH albums from the past. I mean, I hear bits from so many of the band's albums — but it's cool; we've locked in to a sound that is informed by the past. And I think for Dave, especially, it's been really important to work through his catalogue. In 'TH1RT3EN', I think there is definitely a lot of the sound of 'Killing Is My Business', in places and also 'Peace Sells', 'Countdown To Extinction', 'Rust in Peace' and 'Youthanasia'. It's all in there. All part of the patchwork and the legacy continues with the new album. That's the hope..."

On the return of MEGADETH bassist Dave Ellefson:

Broderick: "Obviously I wasn't in the band the first time around when he was but he's an important part of the sound of classic MEGADETH and there's just so much history — and he's another part of that; an important part of the band's sound."

On whether fans will hear any of his ideas on future MEGADETH albums:

Broderick: "Oh, Dave is still very much the boss there — but he's receptive to my ideas; I make suggestions, I get to suggest options. But I also take orders. That's the nature of the job and the role — it's his band. If he told me to play something a certain way instead of what I was doing — well, then I'd do that. Dave gets to decide. And I respect that. Hell, I just think I'm fucking lucky to be playing in a band I love. A band I fucking loved when I was a teenager, when I was growing up and hoping to make music more than just a hobby. So it's all still pretty amazing to me that I get to be in this band and contribute my playing."

On the new MEGADETH album, "TH1RT3EN":

Broderick: "'TH1RT3EN' is very much a renaissance for MEGADETH, I can't say it's a comeback because we've not gone away. But we're as good as ever — I say that with all respect to all past members of the band. We're rocking hard and heavy and I am very proud that there's been something of a return to the thrash elements — and there are a lot of Bay Area bands now that are feeling informed by the work that MEGADETH and METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX created in the 1980s. That side of metal is back — and I'm very pleased about that. It's great hearing some of the kids in L.A. and San Francisco really hitting it hard. For a while there metal was a dirty word and I never understood that."

Read the entire interview from Stuff.co.nz.