MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE Says Fans Should 'Pray' For 'Big Four' U.S. Tour

Jon Wiederhorn of AOL's Noisecreep recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Noisecreep: Why is there only one "Big Four" U.S. show [featuring METALLICA, MEGADETH, SLAYER and ANTHRAX] confirmed?

Mustaine: That, I don't know. But I do know this — and it's not me speaking on behalf of any of the Big Four collectively or individually — it started off as one date before, and then it ended up being several. So I would say for people that pray, do so. For people that don't, start.

Noisecreep: It seems inevitable.

Mustaine: I think a lot of it was contingent on me, because [in the '80s and '90s] I was going through a lot of personal stuff that really put an unnecessary wall between all of us. A lot of it has been publicized, a lot of it wasn't. Most of it was the much heralded and worn stories of drugs and alcoholism. But there was also the other side — the black magic and witchcraft I had gotten into when I was a kid. Fortunately, I'm saved now so I don't have to deal with that. But God, man, I was going through so much turmoil from what I had done. And it it's just the consequences of poor choices. People would go, "Man, he has the worst luck in the world." No, not really. I had practiced black magic and was friends with Satan, so those things kind of happen when you make bad choices. And once I started looking at things differently — once [PANTERA guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott] had been murdered, unfortunately — it helped me put things in perspective between all of us in the "Big Four."

Noisecreep: It's fortunate that you have been able to put bad blood from the past behind you.

Mustaine: We had to, because back then before everyone started talking smack, we were kids. We were all friends, just little dudes. We were teenagers and fresh 20 year olds. And who would have thought we would have changed to the world, especially to the degree that we did? Our bands individually and collectively have appeared in tons of movies and television shows with our music, posters and T-shirts. Even the names of the bands turning up in the movies is a real thrill. In "Wayne's World", Dana Carvey asks Kim Basinger, "You got any MEGADETH?" That shows you've become more than a band, you've become an institution. And for us to be able to look back now and say, "Hey guys, can we just go back to being four bands that just love to play metal music and have fun? Let's not let all the pressures of life and being successful and being way older now interfere with the thing that binds us all together, which is our love for metal music."

Read the entire interview from Noisecreep.