There’s optimism and then there’s Chris Poland, former guitarist of Megadeth, levels of optimism. The guitarist has been playing with fellow ex-Megadeth members David Ellefson and Jeff Young from time to time with the Kings of Thrash and he thinks it’s about time Dave Mustaine join ’em on stage.
Nevermind that Dave runs the actual band that the Kings of Thrash keeps covering, or the fact that he really doesn’t like Ellefson, or that he’s either fired or been involved in lawsuits with all three of those guys.
While speaking with Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. of the YouTube channel Rock Interview Series, Poland said he would happily “allow” Mustaine to jump up on stage and play some songs with Kings of Thrash.
“Fuck, I would. Yeah, I would. Are you kidding? I mean, please, that would be pretty cool. But Dave’s probably kind of like Miles Davis. Miles Davis never looked back; he only looked forward. And I know he’s playing certain songs from certain records, but I don’t think he wants to go that far back. And that’d be a lot for him to learn. But I guess he wrote it; he could probably play that in about five minutes.”
Here are some other things that “would be pretty cool:”
- Peter Steele coming back from the dead for one more Type O Negative album;
- Lars Ulrich announcing his retirement and being replaced by Dave Lombardo on drums;
- Vince Neil taking vocal lessons and actually getting better;
- Danzig directing an actually decent horror movie or putting out a good sounding Elvis cover album;
- The list goes on…
Poland went on to talk about how he was shocked at how intricate the guitar parts were that he wrote while in Megadeth, and how it took him some time to learn. He also praised Young for his ability to play Mustaine’s parts and his own without exerting much effort, while also touting Chaz Leon’s ability to play Mustaine’s parts while singing.
“I only thought Dave could do that… You can learn the parts, but you’re gonna learn the parts and sing it while you’re playing it? I used to wonder how Dave did it when I was in the band, when we were playing those hard, hard songs like that. And Chaz — not a problem. Everybody in [KINGS OF THRASH], it’s all for one and one for all, man. There’s no egos anywhere. Everybody’s just, like, ‘Let’s go.’”
While it’s extremely unlikely that Mustaine will ever play with the Kings of Thrash, it’s very likely that you can check them out at a venue near you. The band is set to kick off its tour next week, so if you want to catch ’em live, you can head to one of the following dates:
KINGS OF THRASH ON TOUR:
2/16 — Joliet, IL — The Forge
2/17 — Minneapolis, MN — Varsity Theater
2/19 — Madison, WI — Majestic Theatre
2/20 — Indianapolis, IN — The Vogue
2/21 — Columbia, MO — Blue Note
2/22 — Columbus, OH — King Of Clubs
2/24 — Flint, MI — The Machine Shop
2/25 — Cincinnati, OH — Legends Bar And Venue
2/27 — Cleveland, OH — Beachland Ballroom And Tavern
2/28 — Warrendale, PA — Jergels
3/1 — Buffalo, NY — Town Ballroom
3/3 — Poughkeepsie, NY — The Chance
3/4 — Sayreville, NJ — Starland Ballroom
3/5 — Harrisburg, PA — Midtown Arts Center
3/7 — Ardmore, PA — Ardmore Music Hall
3/8 — New York, NY — Gramercy Theatre
3/10 — Charlottesville, VA — Jefferson Theatre
3/11 — Greensboro, NC — Hangar 1819
3/12 — Asheville, NC — The Orange Peel
3/14 — Charleston, SC — Music Farm
3/15 — Atlanta, GA — The Masquerade (Hell)