MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE Is 'A Great American Success Story'

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was recently interviewed by Fox News entertainment producer Ashley Dvorkin. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow.

On the lyrical themes covered on MEGADETH's latest album, "Dystopia":

Mustaine: "If you're a musician who writes happy love songs and stuff like that, if that makes your boat float, that's great. I like talking about things that affect me. I came from a broken family, broken home, latchkey kid, I was on food stamps, that whole thing, so I know what it's like to have the odds stacked against you. But I'm also a great American success story of perseverance and that you can overcome stuff. And I think a lot of that is what I share in the songs — like, [no matter] how bad it gets, you can always change things if you're willing to apply yourself to it."

On how MEGADETH managed to survive in the music business for more than three decades:

Mustaine: "There's a lot of real cheeky sayings, like 'It's a lot easier to turn a no into a yes,' which helped a lot. Also, don't ever sign anything unless you have an attorney look at it, which is another simple thing to do. But I think the most important thing is going back to 'The Sermon On The Mount' [collection of sayings and teachings of Jesus], with the golden rule: treat people the way you wanna be treated. I see a lot of people that are musicians that just act like idiots and treat people really awful, and I see that and I think, 'God, you didn't have to do that. You didn't have to treat people like that.' And I think a lot of that comes with new people in the music business. They think they have that self-righteous entitlement where they walk above everybody else. And, you know, 35 years later, I think I'm pretty grounded."

On April 8, Universal Music / Tradecraft / T-Boy Records will issue "Dystopia" as a limited-edition vinyl picture disc featuring the album's vivid dark and chilling artwork which takes the bands long-time mascot Vic Rattlehead to a whole new level and drops him into a bleak, futuristic dystopian universe.

The "Dystopia" picture disc can be ordered individually at all participating retail and online outlets or at UMv as part of a specially priced pack with other picture disc titles including "Peace Sells…But Who's Buying?", "So Far, So Good…So What!", "Rust In Peace", "Countdown To Extinction" and "Youthanasia".

Featuring eleven tracks, "Dystopia" was released on January 22 on CD, LP, and digitally, as well as a special Deluxe Virtual Reality CD package.