NEVERMORE Frontman: DAVE MUSTAINE 'Overreacted' By Refusing To Share Stage With ROTTING CHRIST

Greece's Metal-Temple.com webzine recently conducted an interview with NEVERMORE frontman Warrel Dane. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal-Temple.com: You're going to participate in Gigantour. What do you think of the other bands that will be taking part?

Warrel Dane: "In the beginning it was quite strange because I thought that these groups couldn't be on the same stage but after a while I realized that these different bands could bring so different audiences and maybe new people will listen to our music that didn't know us until now and maybe will become our fans too. When you see the [groups who are taking part in the tour] you can't understand how bands like THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN and NEVERMORE [can] play together. But THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, even though they are different from us, they play very good music, they are one of the most promising new metal bands. All the bands are very good at their style and exactly the fact that we are different will help us all. At the beginning there was so much fighting about who will play after whom and how much, who will have the biggest [setlist] and it had been decided that we all play 30 minutes. No more arguments about that and it is a very good solution."

Metal-Temple.com: I don't know if you heard about this, but Dave Mustaine [MEGADETH] didn’t want ROTTING CHRIST to support them due to his spiritual beliefs...

Warrel Dane: "Yeah, I know what you mean, I've heard about that. There is not much to tell. Everybody is free to believe anything he wants to; I just think that Dave misunderstood the whole subject. I have met the guys from ROTTING CHRIST and I don't think that they are Satanists or something. I think that Dave overreacted on this."

Metal-Temple.com: What happened last time you were here [Thessaloniki, Greece – March 26, 2005] with Jim Sheppard (bass) when you had to perform without a bassist?

Warrel Dane: "I would really like to say some things about that because the whole subject was misunderstood. At that night Jim was at the hospital and he almost died...! It wasn’t funny at all. It was so hard for us to know that our best friend was at the hospital completely alone. I was at the hospital all the time because what he really needed was a friend. The only reason that I came back to the venue and played was for our Greek audience that we care so much. But you can't imagine how difficult it was for us to know that Jim was alone at the hospital without anyone around him that could talk English, not knowing the place at all. But we all had to go to the scene and play for the Greek audience that is so supportive. The promoter told us that if we don't play, people would burn down the place. We did it for our fans and I really want people to understand that. I am telling this because I [found out] that people said some bad stuff..."

Read the entire interview at this location.