TEEMU MÄNTYSAARI: MEGADETH Fans 'Have Been Super Welcoming And Very Warm From The Very Beginning'

During the Tuska Forum by Bleeding Metal at this past weekend's Tuska festival in Helsinki, Finland, MEGADETH guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari was asked what it has been like to tour and record with the Dave Mustaine-led outfit for nearly three years. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, of course, it all happened very fast in the beginning. I was called as a replacement [for previous MEGADETH guitarist Kiko Loureiro], and then soon the guys realized that I'm gonna be needed later for a longer time. And then we toured for a little bit, for about a year, and then we already started recording the new album. So everything was kind of almost like a snowball effect. Everything happened very fast, and I didn't really have too much time to process or too much time to reflect. And, yeah, just going for the next thing and then the next thing and the next thing, and here we are finally [playing] in Finland."

Asked how he has been able to balance his admiration and respect for the previous guitarists in MEGADETH and his creative ambition, Teemu said: "Yeah, of course, knowing MEGADETH for a long time and knowing the band's legacy and the long history and my huge respect for all the previous guitarists in the band, I kind of decided early on that I'm not gonna stress about anybody else's opinion about comparing me to somebody else, but just try to be myself and do the best that I can and knowing that there's gonna be people who love one of the old guys and it's gonna be hard to convince them with the new guy. But, yeah, just trying to do my best and really pay respect to the music — the old catalog and then, of course, the new music that we've been recording and playing live."

Regarding how he has been received by the MEGADETH fans, Teemu said: "Yeah, I have to say the MEGADETH fans have been super welcoming and very warm from the very beginning, so I'm super humbled to, to be in this position. Very happy to play for the fans."

Also at this past weekend's Tuska festival, Mustaine told Finland's Radio City about Mäntysaari: "Yeah, I'm excited. I'm really excited for Teemu because he's never played here [in Finland] with us. And Teemu is a national treasure here — the first Finnish man to ever have a Number One record in America. So I get a lot of pleasure out of seeing him have success. 'Cause he's such a wonderful person and is a perfect example of the Finnish spirit of people — they're nice, they're intelligent, they're wonderful people. And he's been the missing link that we've been looking for for many, many years."

Reflecting on what it was like for him to initially play alongside Teemu, Dave said: "Well, he was very, very shy when we first hired him, because you go from being in a smaller band into a bigger band, obviously there's gonna be a little bit of an adapting period. But MEGADETH is not a little bigger band — it's a lot fucking bigger. So, I promised him, I said, 'Your life's gonna change. And it's gonna change to where you're gonna be the happiest you've ever been, beyond your wildest dreams.' And that's happened. We're [super tight] on stage. We play like we've been playing together forever. And I think that his guitar soloing on the new album [2026's 'Megadeth'] really helped excite me too. The album's got over 40 solos on it, I think — I think it was 45 or 47 solos on the album, and they're all really involved, complex solos. So it's a great guitar players' record, and the songwriting part is very melodic, where I think a lot of people gravitated toward. It was Number One in 11 countries, so we did something right."

Back in August 2024, Mustaine was asked by Chuck Armstrong of Loudwire Nights how the dynamic within the band had changed since Teemu's addition the year before. Mustaine responded: "Well, we are a band again. It doesn't feel like me and some side players or some session guys. Not that it felt like that with any of the previous lineups, but that was one of the fears that I had. I feel like Kiko did us a really huge courtesy by helping us find Teemu because with Kiko needing to step down… I thought I was gonna finish my career out with Kiko, and when things came up with him, he couldn't tour anymore because he needed to be home for his kids. So I see he's touring again, which I'm happy that he's still playing. But he had to go home. And when he did, he introduced us to Teemu. And it was an even closer connection between me and Teemu than Kiko and I had. We'll [Kiko and I] always be friends, but this new relationship I have is — it harkens me back to the days when we had Marty Friedman in the band and the four of us actually felt like a band."

Mäntysaari was born in Tampere, Finland and began playing guitar at the age of 12. In 2004, he joined the band WINTERSUN. He has also been a member of SMACKBOUND since 2015.

Earlier in August 2024, Mustaine was asked by Kyle Meredith what Mäntysaari had brought to MEGADETH that wasn't there before. Mustaine responded: "God, he's such an amazing talent. And as far as being a human is concerned, he's a really humble guy. He's fun to be around because he's kind of — there's this 'greenness' to him, if that's a word, greenness. He makes it really fun because he's gone from being in a band that was pretty well known to being in MEGADETH. And so everything's very new for him at this level. And for us, we get to kind of enjoy ourselves, because we sometimes forget where we're at and then you see other people that, 'Wow, the bread is round and so is the meat,' that kind of shit. And it just makes him really happy, and it just reminds you of how good you have it."

Regarding how much a lineup change like that actually alters the musical DNA of the band, Dave said: "Well, it depends on who the new player is. If they're willing to learn the parts, then the songs either, they stay where they are or they get better. And a lot of times when you have a new player, like when Teemu came in, he played everything identical to the original players. So, he's been one of the best guitar players to step in and play somebody else's stuff."

In June 2024, Mustaine told Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece about Teemu: "He knew more about the band and understands the metal backbone of so many of these songs more than some of the other people would understand it."

He continued: "When you're a metal guy, I think you understand metal compositions more than somebody who, say for example, knows progressive rock like [former MEGADETH guitarist] Chris Broderick does, or somebody who knows bossa nova, which Kiko does, or somebody that plays jazzy, like [former MEGADETH guitarist] Glen Drover would play, maybe Al Pitrelli. These guys all have their strengths."

Mustaine added: "I've often thought, although I've never said it, I do believe that when somebody gets singled out by me, that's pretty much it for them. They've been indoctrinated into the world of great guitar players, and from that moment on, their life will change."

In October 2023, Mustaine told Shaggy of the 94.9 and 104.5 The Pick radio station in Idaho Falls, Idaho about Teemu's addition to MEGADETH: "People are losing their minds over how things are going right now 'cause we have a really good chemistry together."

In September 2023, Mustaine was equally full of praise for Mäntysaari, telling Wes Styles in a separate interview: "He's really great. And I'm super excited with what Teemu has brought. And it's uncanny because he plays a lot like Marty. And it's really exciting. At certain times I just close my eyes during the set and I just hear these songs played, whether like Kiko in the past or Teemu now, it just sounds really magic because these guys have learned these songs and they're not just going out there and just banging their guitar around; they actually learned the solos from some of the virtuosos that I've played with over my career."

In addition to Mustaine and Mäntysaari, MEGADETH's current lineup includes former SOILWORK drummer Dirk Verbeuren and bassist James LoMenzo.