Old habits die hard. Usually that phrase refers to things like wanting a cigarette after you’ve quit for a few years or driving to your old apartment even though you moved. In the case of former Megadeth member David Ellefson and forever Megadeth main man Dave Mustaine, it’s bitching about your former bandmates.
In a new interview with Heavy Talk, Ellefson opened up once again about his firing last year from Megadeth.
“I got one call: ‘You’re fired.’ [Laughs] And I said, ‘What the fuck, man?’ I said, ‘Some shitty fucking people just dropped a bomb on my house. And that’s it? It’s not even true. It’s fucking bullshit. And this is how you treat me?’ It was non-negotiable. I mean, I asked. I said, ‘I’m gonna take care of it. Let me just deal with it. And it will fucking be done. We’ll be ready to go on the road in two months, and everything will be fine.’ And it was. Because it was just false allegations and bullshit. But [Dave] didn’t wanna know about it. I think he was getting pressure from some other people around him. And it’s too bad it went that way. Because it was really nothing. I took care of it. And then once the word came out that I was fired, then it turned into this big fucking thing, which, quite honestly, was very damaging and very hurtful and not fair. I’m glad I don’t have that fucking amends on my shoulder, because that was fucked up.”
Ellefson then returns to everyone’s favorite dead horse: Mustaine’s removal from Metallica 40 years ago.
“Look, I have no choice but to have to forgive it so I can move on. I really don’t,” he continued. “So I don’t know what more to say about it other than that. Look, at some point… The damage was done. So you move on. We’re all human, and it is what it is. You can’t lament it. I’ve watched how he’s treated his dismissal from Metallica, still bitching about it 40 years later, and I think it looks fucking pathetic. And it’s, like, ‘You know what? Fix you shit and move on.’ And that’s how I’ve chosen to deal with it: fix your shit and move on.”
But, really, guys, he’s done talking about it.
“I certainly didn’t see it ending like that. And part of me, I always kind of go, ‘Is it really the end of the story?’ I mean, look at how it ended in 2002. In 2004 and [200]5, we were in litigation over business matters and stuff, and I ended up going back to the band. So I’d rather not disrespect it and be pissed about it. These are things that you work out privately, not publicly. And the press liked to have a field day with it because it was good clickbait there for a season. But the truth of it is Dave and I aren’t talking about it anymore, and that’s why I’m not talking about it anymore. At some point, you move on. You let the music do the talking now.”
Dieth’s To Hell and Back is out on June 2, so Ellefson will probably have more to say before then.