MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE: 'I'll Be In The HALL OF FAME One Way Or The Other, I Know That'

A few hours before MEGADETH delivered the headline performance of the Epiphone Revolver Golden Gods Awards this past Tuesday night (April 7) at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, HeadbangersBlog.com met up with frontman Dave Mustaine to talk about the ceremony, why there has never been a popular metal awards show in the U.S., how MySpace is ruining music, what the next MEGADETH album is gonna sound like and his recent interaction with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich before METALLICA was nominated into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You can stream the entire 21-minute chat below.

Commented Mustaine: "I'm happy with where I'm at right now. I'm sitting on a great record; I love the new record. It's more along the lines of the middle of 'Rust In Peace' and middle of 'Countdown To Extinction'. It's definitely the conclusion of 'United Abominations', if not one up on it. It's definitely... I keep saying 'it's definitely'... I'm excited about it."

When asked if there have been been any real obstacles that he's had to navigate during the new album's its creation, Mustaine replied, "We've had some things, like the visa... The record label was supposed to take care of [British producer] Andy Sneap's visa — that's what Andy says — and it didn't take place, and consquently he couldn't go over [to MEGADETH's Vic's Garage recording studio in San Marcos, California] in time and we had to push the record back, and back and back and back. There's a lot of stuff like that that's disappointing but you just have to bite the bullet. For me, I know I'm sitting [on a] great [album], so what's six months? It's not gonna be the end of the world. If anything, all it's gonna do is it's just gonna make it even that much better, because I have the time to assimilate the music and really let it digest."

He continued, "This is one of the most exciting stretches of my life. Shit, I was just talking to [METALLICA drummer Lars] Ulrich the other day on the phone, and asking me to go to [METALLICA's Rock And Roll] Hall Of Fame [induction] — and although we have differing opinions on what person should be inducted for it or not, and it didn't turn out that he felt that I should be inducted, so I passed — but I talked to him. And people are asking about us doing dates with SLAYER again....

"It's really peculiar. At one point, I wanted to pass the olive branch around to all of my enemies and get all of my feuds over after Darrell ['Dimebag' Darrell Abbott, late PANTERA/DAMAGEPLAN guitarist] had died, but you never really expect to... When you think about it, you never really know what it's gonna look like when it happens; you never really know what to expect."

HeadbangersBlog.com: Was that interaction with Lars civil? Did you feel kind of taken advantage of or mistreated?

Mustaine: "It was civil. It's one of those things where more will be revealed, I guess. I'll be in the Hall Of Fame one way or the other. I know that."