MEGADETH's JAMES LOMENZO: 'DAVID ELLEFSON Defined The Sound Of This Band With His Bass Playing'

In a recent interview with 518Scene.com, MEGADETH bassist James LoMenzo was asked how he would compare playing with guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari and drummer Dirk Verbeuren in the band's current lineup to his experience of sharing the stage with previous MEGADETH musicians. He responded: "Well, you know I've been in an awful lot of bands, as anybody who's ever tracked my career knows. Everybody plays different. Everybody has a certain thing that they uniquely do. Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH guitarist/vocalist] is always going to sound like Dave. As a matter of fact, I always say as soon as he lifts up his guitar and puts it on, it really doesn't matter who's playing in the band, because that's the stamp; that's the familiar sound. That said though, everybody is really completely reverent to the past in a very important way. We try to make the music as authentic as we possibly can. You can't play it exactly — I will not be able to play exactly like [former MEGADETH bassist] David Ellefson, and Teemu will not be able to play exactly like the 20 guitar players before him, but we try and get the essence of it and try and get those parts sewn up really tight, so they come at the right time and they fire at the right time."

James continued: "Dirk is just a fantastic drummer. I've played with tons of great drummers, but Dirk is really special in the context of this band. He plays reverently to the music, but he has a certain kind of concussion to his playing that's immediate and very powerful and very strong and right on the money. As a matter of fact, when I rejoined the band, he was the first guy I played with before anybody else showed up. Just out of motor memory we went through a bunch of songs, without any guitars or vocals. I was prepared with the music and he had been playing it for a while, and man it was just astounding how tight we were immediately. That's a testimony to him, maybe not as much as myself, because my job throughout my career has been to get into a band and get on board real quick and play the music well. But it seemed to me that when I started playing the stuff with him, it almost made me sound like I was playing it better, so I'm a big Dirk Verbeuren fan."

Asked to elaborate on how his playing approach is different to that of Ellefson, James said: "As far as rock and roll and metal bands go, I'm an originalist; I love the original band. So as much of an honor and how great it is to be part of this, I still have that little thing, that little fan guy thing, going with the real band. But we are very different in our trajectory. In my estimation, David Ellefson has defined the sound of this band with his bass playing as much as everybody else who's been in the band, so I try to be very respectful and reverent to that."

Last fall, LoMenzo, who joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group's studio albums, 2007's "United Abominations" and 2009's "Endgame", told Yamaha Guitars' "Artist Breakthrough Stories" series that he "felt a bit like a fish out of water" after he first hooked up with the Mustaine-led outfit. "I understood the music, I could play it, but I was, like, 'How do you deliver this? What do you do with it?'" he admitted.

"The challenge of this music is to be able to perform it in such a way that it looks to the audience the same way that they feel when they listen to it.

"In MEGADETH, I have spaces to make grander gestures. I can pump that fist to the guy who's pumping his fist to me at the right time and look him in the eye and let him know that I see you and I know you love this and I love it too. There's something that is so transformative about that in the moment, which makes metal really work. And I think that's metal's best thing. It's like building that community, building that church instantaneously with the audience, and vice versa.

"The community of metal is unwavering. The audience has broadened since the last time I was here."

LoMenzo was MEGADETH's bass player in the mid-2000s but was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with returning original MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson. After Ellefson was kicked out of MEGADETH in May 2021, LoMenzo stepped back in as a touring member for the 2021 leg of "The Metal Tour Of The Year". In May 2022, it was announced that Lomenzo was officially rejoining the MEGADETH family.

In November 2022, LoMenzo reflected on his initial departure from MEGADETH in an interview with Ashdown Engineering. He said at the time: "After three or four years in MEGADETH, David Ellefson returned. And I, like you, was pretty excited about that, because I had always been a fan of MEGADETH anyway. I'm one of those crazy guys that's, like, I want it to be the original band. I always want it to be the original band; it's kind of the way I grew up. But in lieu of that, I had to take the charge of the bass spot when he couldn't be there. So when he came back, I was fine with it. I've done two great albums — 'United Abominations' and 'Endgame'; we've done two world tours, been all over the place. And so at that point, I was kind of excited to maybe try something new. And so I went back home. I started a video production company. I started doing these local jams where all my famous friends would come by and jam with me. It was great. And eventually I ended up in [rock legend] John Fogerty's band."

On the topic of how he rejoined MEGADETH, James said: "How do I end up back in MEGADETH? It's like that 'Godfather' movie — 'Just when I thought I got out, they pull me back in again.' No… But anyway… When they needed a bass player — it became apparent — I thought to myself, 'They'll probably call me up.' But I also thought to myself, 'It's been a while since I played that kind of music, so maybe it'll be great. It'll be all right. Maybe not.' Sure enough, the phone rings, and Dave [Mustaine] is, like, 'We've gotta do this 'Metal Tour Of The Year'. James, I know you're the guy who can do it. I would love to have you here. If you would just commit to just doing this tour, that would be great.' And I thought, 'Well, that's kind of weird. He doesn't want me to rejoin the band.' But then I thought about it. He knew I had another band, and he was telling me, 'I don't want you to screw up whatever you've got going.' I was being loyal to John. So we went out on the tour, and gosh, it was just the best time. I was so enamored with the band that he put together that I was blown away. And Dave, gosh, he's just delivering the goods every day. The great thing about Dave is he's been through a lot. He recovered from cancer. He's had problems with his back. Over the years, he's had more things than most professional wrestlers would have, and he shows no sign of it — he just gets up there and plays and just gives it his all. So after that tour, I was sitting there going, 'Man, I think I might like to stay here for a while.' And so, luckily, as luck would have it, not too long after that, Dave calls me up at home and he goes, 'You know, we would love to have you be part of the band officially if you wanna stay.' And I thought, 'That's exactly what I was thinking, man. Let's do it.'

In addition to MEGADETH and Fogerty, LoMenzo has played with Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde and WHITE LION.

LoMenzo played his first show with MEGADETH in nearly 12 years in August 2021 in Austin, Texas. The concert took place three months following Ellefson's dismissal from MEGADETH after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving him were posted on Twitter.