The ongoing psuedo-back-and-forth between Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine and former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson continues, as the latter elaborates on what it was like dealing with a bandmate consumed by vengeance and jealousy.
Speaking with Stefan Adika, of Artists on Record, E,lefson said Dave’s past grudges against Metallica sometimes got in the way of the band.
“I was always encouraging Dave, going, ‘Dude, don’t look over there. It’s blinders. What we’re doing is cool, man.’ I mean, look, Lars was coming to our shows, paying attention to what we were doing.
“He was definitely a fan of Dave’s work and he was a friend of Dave. I think it probably bummed him out that he had to let him go. He had to make a choice.
“But he continued to come to the gigs, he hung out, he was always friends with Dave. So it’s, like, ‘Look, these guys haven’t forgotten you. They used your songs, they put your name on it, and they paid you. I mean, they don’t hate you.’
“There’s a lot of other bands where it’s like, ‘Fuck that guy. We’re gonna steal his songs. We’re not gonna credit him. And we’re not gonna pay him. Fuck you. Sue us.’ That’s how it usually goes in the music business.
“So the fact that those guys did the right thing every step of the way, I think is awesome. Because otherwise… Dave — using a Beatles analogy — he could have been the Pete Best of Metallica: the most forgotten, never-heard-of-again member of Metallica, had they not put his name on those records. That validated him.
“They gave him a chance for a second chance by putting his name on those records, using those compositions, and then again, [by] paying him.”
Mustaine was one of the original guitarists in Metallica. Though he’s credited for writing a number of the titanic band’s songs, he was jettisoned from the group because of his drinking habits – which is saying much given how much Metallica drank back then.
When it comes to drama kings in metal, it’s almost hard to deny the situation between Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson is fast becoming the most vocal one of the bunch. Ellefson was fired from Megadeth earlier this year for his involvement in a salacious scandal involving a woman that wasn’t his wife and some explicit videos the bassist shot of himself.