MEGADETH's DAVID ELLEFSON: Faith Is 'About Finding A Strength That Lies Beyond Our Own Finite Abilities'

Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Classic Rock Revisited: Some people can't get over the fact that the bass player for MEGADETH is a Christian guy who does not drink or smoke. Are you far enough removed from all of this that you can see the irony?

David: Of course. The truth is I've been raised in a Christian household from the beginning. I was baptized at one month old and I've been in the fold since then, even though I don't exactly remember the ceremony.

Classic Rock Revisited: When did you know you had to do this in book form and did you have any apprehension knowing that many people might freak out a bit?

David: Sure, I was apprehensive about putting a lot of stuff in it because I have teenage kids, as well as many friends and family not in the music business, those who would not appreciate the tales of decadence and debauchery. So, once I told my story to Joel [McIver] and looked at it on paper, there were certain things that became clearer as to what should be told, and what should be left out. I was not going to write this gruesome "tell-all" just to make a buck. The most important thing was that it is a story of a kid who was "called" into rock 'n' roll. Not because I needed the approval, the girls, or the drugs, but because the genuine desire was put upon me, for some strange reason.

Classic Rock Revisited: When did first know that you could not continue to use drugs like your buddy [Dave] Mustaine and survive? What made you fail faster, so to speak?

David: Everyone has their breaking point and mine came before I was 25 years of age. I had had enough and saw that if I kept going on the path I was going that my life wasn't going to get better; it was going to get worse. For me, it was obvious that the party was over, even in rock 'n' roll. If I was going to pursue the things important to me, I was going to have to step up and change how I was living my life.

Classic Rock Revisited: Do you find strength in prayer and meditation? Must you subscribe to a certain faith to find salvation or is God bigger than any one church?

David: I absolutely do. I was once told by a dear friend that I have three powers available to me at all times: the power of prayer, the power of example, or the power to jump in and make a mess of things with my own will power. Based on my own experience, clearly, he was right. To me, faith isn't about church; it's about finding a strength that lies beyond our own finite abilities. Church is just a fellowship of like-minded believers, much like a rock concert is a fellowship of like-minded believers. Plus, we all want to know where we came from. Scientists confirm we are all made up of atoms, but who made the atom? I guess that is the answer we all seek at some point in our lives.

Read the entire interview at Classic Rock Revisited.