MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE: 'I Try To Always Be As Solid As I Can With People'

In a new interview with the WSOU 89.5 FM radio station, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine was asked what keeps him and his bandmates motivated to write and record new music four decades into the group's career. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET) "I don't know. I think it's just the music has a feeling that it gives us when we play it. And seeing how the fans can get happiness out of what we're doing, that's a wonderful thing to experience — making people happy in this crazy world we're living in right now. People are so ready to go crazy. They're so fragile. They're ready to cry at the drop of the hat, quit their jobs, sue people.

"What happened to… I don't understand," he continued. "You blink your eyes when you wake up and it's like you're in a bad dream. For me, I try to always be as solid as I can with people so that they know, 'Well, with Dave you don't have to really ask what he means. He'll tell ya.' I'm a straight shooter.

"I've seen a lot of stuff in my life with the music industry and stuff," Mustaine added. "And it's kind of come down to this: touring is the last frontier for musicians because you don't sell records. We did great — we were really fortunate — but what about the other bands that aren't selling records. It's hard to explain. So you have to go out on the road. What if you don't have a following like MEGADETH does? And clearly not every city is a big city for any of us, because we're playing Camden [in New Jersey] tonight, and when we played here last time, there was fifteen thousand people here. We're playing here under FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH and I think there was less than five thousand tickets sold this morning. I don't know what that means. I don't know if people, they don't want to see four bands. Or if they don't wanna see MEGADETH again because they saw MEGADETH a few months ago, or in the last year or so. I just know for me, I keep writing music because it makes me feel good. And I've always had a couple of things that were on my bucket list, I guess you could say, like, obviously, the Grammy, which I got. It's funny, because now that I have the Grammy, it just sits on the shelf with the other awards. And it's kind of like human nature — the things that you can't have you want the most."

According to Billboard, MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marked MEGADETH's eighth top 10-charting album. Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprise 45,000, SEA units comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

"The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" consolidates a furious return to form that began with the Grammy-winning "Dystopia", while pushing forward musically and marking Mustaine's recent triumph over throat cancer. Reuniting Dave with co-producer Chris Rakestraw (DANZIG, PARKWAY DRIVE),who together helmed 2016's "Dystopia", the album was recorded at Mustaine's home studio in Nashville, Tennessee, with guitarist Kiko Loureiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren. Bassist Steve DiGiorgio temporarily stepped in to record the album. With the kick-off of MEGADETH's recent tour, MEGADETH alumnus James LoMenzo rejoined the MEGADETH family as permanent bass player.