NICK MENZA Doesn't Want To Be Known Just As The 'Drummer Of MEGADETH' Anymore

Metal Babe Mayhem recently conducted an interview with former MEGADETH drummer Nick Menza. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Babe Mayhem: I just overheard you talking about a cartoon you have in the works. Tell me about that.

Nick: It's called the "Atomic Disintegrator". It's like a part man, part android, part cyborg, superhero dude who tries to save the planet, and things that are going on in the planet. I wanna have a whole series that I get on Adult Swim cartoon network. I'd like to have a comic book with it, and a band behind it so I can write a song for each episode. Right now I'm doing all the music myself. So it's just me. But I'm gonna try and get a band of guys together so I can go out and play live with them.

Metal Babe Mayhem: Tell me about "Megalife". Where are you at in the process of your first book?

Nick: I'm in the process of having a publishing deal. It's something that I've been turning away from for the past 13 years. MEGADETH this, MEGADETH that… I don't want to be the "drummer of MEGADETH" anymore. I would still be in the band. I would have never quit. I was fired, obviously. Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH mainman] was kinda like doing a whole thing, like there will never be a reunion and all this shit. I'm not saying there could never be a reunion. I put the ball in his court. There is a chapter in the book about MEGADETH, of course. There's a lot of government conspiracy, alien cover-ups… A lot of sarcasm. The book's about me. It's about my life. My "megalife."

Metal Babe Mayhem: What is your ultimate goal as far as getting the book out?

Nick: No real goal… Just something that my buddy J. Marshall Craig, asked me about. He said, "Dude, let's write a book." I go, about what? About a bunch of lies, drugs, and sex on the road? And he goes, "No, no, no. Your life, your story… People wanna hear your end of the story." I was like, that's boring dude, how boring for them.

Metal Babe Mayhem: I don't think so at all. I'm interested… I heard about it on Blabbermouth, and there's excitement building already for it.

Nick: It's all truth's and it's all my life. Like I said, there is a chapter in there about MEGADETH. About my time with them. It starts out at the age of two when I got put on somebody's drum set at the Montreux Jazz Festival and I played my first drum solo.

Metal Babe Mayhem: What else have you been working on musically?

Nick: I do all kinds of stuff. I do a lot of production, engineering… I play guitar, bass, keyboards, sing… I pretty much do everything. Drums, obviously, are my main instrument. The music business is so weird now, it's really hard to like, say, "Oh, I'm a musician and I make a living at being a musician." I always say that any job you can get in the music business and get paid for is golden. So I do a lot of music that I hate, for money, because I need to feed my kids. I have a 13-year-old, and a seven-year-old boy. And they're Black Ops leaders. I need to feed them, put clothes on them, and keep them healthy. So I do all kinds of stuff from gospel to hip-hop to metal to jazz, to whatever music I can do. It doesn't matter. Any job… I'll take it. I don't care. I'm not like "Mr. Integrity," like, "I only play metal." That's all I do. So I like doing any music, really. If it's good, I'll take the job on.

Metal Babe Mayhem: Do you have a CD in the works?

Nick: Yeah, the ATOMIC DISINIGRATOR CD's gonna come out.

Metal Babe Mayhem: So you're going to put the CD out with the cartoon.

Nick: Yes. I had the band idea first. I realized no one's selling records anymore so I figured, you know what, why not have something else tied to it. Like a comic book, cartoon, or pilot movie. And try and market it that way. Nobody is really selling records anymore, you know, not like it used to be.

Metal Babe Mayhem: Yeah, with the downloads.

Nick: Yeah. Not like it used to be. So there's got to be another way to strategize how you're gonna put yourself out there. I keep saying, it's all about self-promoting. What do you have to offer that people want to look at? I do art, I do paintings, I do cymbals. I do anything, you know. If I don't know how to do it I'll say I know how to do it and I'll figure out a way to do it. They go, "What instruments do you play?" I play all instruments. They go "Everything?" I go, "Yeah, I play everything." And they go, "You play the cello?" And I go, "No, but I'll play it on the guitar and I'll midi it and I'll get the sound as if the cello in there." I'll do whatever. Whatever I can do.

Read the entire interview at Metal Babe Mayhem.