MEGADETH Interview

We all know our captain Dave Mustaine, Thrash Metal legend and pioneer, and creator of some of the greatest heavy metal riffs ever written. (You know the shirt, Mustaine – Wrote ‘Em All.) Also, the creator of MEGADETH BEER, Mustaine Vineyards wine, and the driving creative force behind the ever-evolving Mega-Machine for over 35 years. And, of course, rounding out the Mega-Lineup, co-founder and bassist David Ellefson, a thrash legend in his own right, as well as author, producer, and proprietor of Ellefson Coffee Co, EMP LABEL GROUP and the relaunched COMBAT RECORDS, as well as the latest additions, guitarist Kiko Louireiro and drummer Dirk Verbeuren. Together, they round out the current lineup of MEGADETH, the pioneering “Big 4” Metal band who, on iconic albums like Peace Sells.. But Who’s Buying, So Far.. So Good.. So What!, and Rust In Peace, literally created the benchmark for Heavy Metal with Mustaine’s riffs and snarling vocals, Ellefson’s punishing signature bass sound, and a string of equally legendary guitarists and drummers including Chris Poland, Marty Friedman, and the late Nick Menza and Gar Samuelson.

In 2016 MEGADETH released Dystopia, their 15 th studio album, and set out on a whirlwind album cycle, including a massive World Tour, and a Grammy win for the title track “Dystopia”. In 2019 the band retreated to Nashville to work on the follow-up to Dystopia, when the Metal World was rocked to its core with the announcement of Mustaine’s diagnosis with throat cancer, which became a Worldwide headline on every major news outlet from CBS to FOX NEWS. The band, and fans the World over, rallied around Mustaine, and breathed a collective sigh of relief with the announcement he had completed his treatments, and was slowly but surely on the mend, given a 90% chance of recovery, and that the band planned to be back in action by 2020.

On the eve of the sailing of The MEGA- CRUISE, Thom Hazaert sat down with David, Kiko, and Dirk, to talk past, present, and future of MEGADETH.

DAVID ELLEFSON

When 18 year old David Ellefson, fresh out of High School in Jackson, MN, loaded up his van and made his way to Hollywood (with his buddy Greg Handevidt in tow), little did he know that, almost immediately, destiny would change the course of his life forever, as he would meet a determined young songwriter and guitarist named Dave Mustaine, fresh out of a band called Metallica, that David had incidentally never heard of, and they would go on to create one of the most enduring legacies in Rock history.

As one of the pioneering Metal bands known as the “Big 4”, alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax, the iconic musical canon Mustaine and Ellefson created together on legendary albums like Peace Sells.. But Who’s Buying?, Rust in Peace, and Countdown To Extinction, would lead them to over a dozen Grammy Nominations, a long-overdue win for 2016’s Dystopia, selling over 50 million albums, and, in the process, becoming one of the most

enduring and revered Heavy Metal acts of all time.

In 2019, Ellefson released his second Memoir, More Life With Deth, which I had the distinct honor and privilege of co-writing with him, as well as his debut solo release Sleeping Giants, a “companion” album to the book, featuring several new tracks including collaborations with not only yours truly, but a true “who’s who” of Metal luminaries including Mark Tremonti, Dave McClain and Joey Radziwill of Sacred Reich, Andy Martongelli, Steve Conley and Eric AK of Flotsam and Jetsam, and former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, as well as the title track “Sleeping Giants”, a genrebending collaboration with legendary hip-hop MC Darryl “DMC” McDaniels.

In addition to all of that, (as if it wasn’t enough) Ellefson has built his own EMPire, with his record labels EMP Label Group, and the recent relaunch of famed Metal label Combat Records, his coffee brand Ellefson Coffee Co, and seemingly endless lines of new

the next album, so I think we were in a really good position to be able to just, sort of, park that on the side of the road, to let Dave go through his treatments, and now recovery. We certainly appreciate everyone’s thoughts and continued prayers as we head, hopefully toward the finish line, and hopefully soon, we’ll be completely out of the Woods.

Thom: That’s awesome. So, are you excited for the cruise?

David: I am. I’ve been invited to do a handful of cruises in recent years, so I’ve really gotten comfortable doing them. And I have a lot of fun doing them. I always try to make myself available and to be approachable to the fans, sort of the de facto diplomat for Megadeth over all these years anyway, so it’s gonna be fun to kinda have one branded around Megadeth and all that we do, and it’ll feel right at home, with a real, full-blown Thrash Metal cruise.

Thom: It’s great. It’s a great lineup. Who are you looking forward to seeing on the boat?

David: Well, pretty much everybody there. We’re all friends, we’ve all grown up together. Some of us were like, a generation before, or ahead. It’ll be great to see Doro, we haven’t performed together since she toured with Megadeth on the So, Far, So Good, So What tour, in 1988. Testament, of course, have been long time friends, and we’ve done a lot of stuff together, pretty much through the 90’s, and beyond. And of course, Lamb of God, they pack a big punch, and literally in a lot of ways, they revived the Thrash Metal scene in the 2000s, which I think gave a lot of breath back into everything that we all do in Thrash, but with a new face and kind of a new sound. So I think that the cruise has got a little bit of everything. It’s got the vintage, it’s got the classic, and it’s also got the new guys as well.

Thom: Yeah, it’s a powerhouse lineup for sure. We actually talked a little bit about that tour with Warlock on So, Far, So Good, in our new book MORE LIFE WITH DETH, and a lot about that actual period of Megadeth. So it’s super cool that they are on the cruise.

signature products from Jackson, SIT, EMG Pickups, ISP, Gruv Gear, and even an upcoming collaboration with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett’s pedal company, KHDK.

Thom Hazaert: Hey buddy. Super excited to finally get to chat about the Megacruise! But before we get to that, of course, I gotta ask, how is Dave doing? Obviously, there’s a lot of concern for his health, with the cancer diagnosis and his treatments and recovery, and right now, when it comes to Megadeth, I think that is first and foremost on everyone’s minds.

David Ellefson: You know Dave, I think, is doing really well. He’s tough. He’s a soldier, he’s a fighter, and he’s also a General. He’s been a soldier in the troops himself, and he’s also a General as the leader. And I think having all these things to look forward to, the Megacruise, and the Five Finger Death Punch/Megadeth/Bad Wolves tour that we’re doing in Europe in January.

I think, those things have all been super helpful with Dave’s fight against cancer..

Thom Hazaert: Dirk and Kiko said as much too, about how through this whole thing, just his work ethic, and his mindset, and how you guys kept working through it, and just, even from the beginning, with the diagnosis, just how determined and positive he is. And as hard, and as terrifying as that has to be be to deal with, it’s definitely an inspiration to anyone going through something like this. Especially, with the timing, with as much as Megadeth has going on.

David Ellefson: We’ve started to make really good progress on

David: We did. And I think the other funny thing about this cruise is, is because we’re all there, and as much as everybody is scheduled to perform in their respective slot, there’s also these kinda really genuine, and unguarded moments that happen, as friendship, sometimes musical moments happen, very casual jam sessions, and with this cast and crew here, I can only imagine, who knows what might actually break out with the pirates that are on this ship.

Thom: Right. And speaking to that, not to give too much away, but by the time people see this, it will pretty much be happening anyway, I think me and you are gonna end up doing a little bit of our thing on the boat, with the SLEEPING GIANTS stuff, and some jam, clinic-type stuff, and you’re working to sort of put together some of those jam-type things on the boat, which is sort of what you do, with Metal Allegiance, and it’s kinda become sort of a de facto David Ellefson thing, where you just kinda curate these kind of really killer jams, and get people together to do these, sort of, once in a lifetime kinda things.

David: Yeah, all they gotta do is give me the word, and I hit the ground running. I love doing it, because I’ve never really been a guy who likes to just stand there and play music by myself. To me, it’s always about being in the room with your friends, making killer music, and playing for the fans. You know, what better place to do that, than with the captive audience of being on a boat, where we’re all out there thrashing the high seas together.

Thom: Speaking of historic collaborations, I guess this interview is in the first person that it’s me and you, and I’m obviously involved in this too, but we’re going over to Europe to do a pretty historic show as well, with K.K. Downing, and some of the other guys from Judas Priest, K.K., Les Binks, and Tim “Ripper” Owens. Tell me

about that, like I don’t know already. Haha.

David: Well the whole thing started with Andy Martongelli, a great player from Italy who I met through Kiko, and then we hired him to play with me and Frank Bello as part of Altitudes and Attitude earlier this year, when we went over and did some dates with SLASH. By way of that, Andy played on some stuff on the Sleeping Giants record, and that opened up the door for us to go down and do some shows over in Europe with the MORE LIVE WITH DETH Sleeping Giants solo performances, across Italy and Switzerland, which we’re doing in November. And as that was starting to shape up, I realized our book publisher Jawbone Press is located in the UK, and we should really try to get up there and do some shows or book signings, at least in London, and I mentioned that to Jawbone, which is how the show at the Camden Underworld came about.

Along with that, I happened to think that K.K. Downing has been such a great friend, and generous contributor to More Life With Deth, with his stories that he told in the book, and even his participation in the audiobook. And It just hit me, maybe I should hit up K.K. and see if we could arrange a book signing event up there, maybe do something together as his memoir just came out last year.

And that conversation went from, him graciously opening the doors to the Steel Mill in Wolverhampton for us to do a book signing event, to a conversation about a jam session, which turned into now a full-blown concert, doing Sleeping Giants, and also a whole bunch of former members of Judas Priest. And it’s gonna be, I think, sort of the cherry on top at the end of a fantastic year of 2019 with David Ellefson, K.K. Downing and friends, doing this historic event at K.K.’s Steel Mill.

Thom: Right. And I’m proud to be one of those friends, so thank you. But, really how cool is it, we talked so much in More Life With Deth about what a huge Judas Priest fan you were, and how that Unleashed in the East, that “Les Binks era” was your Judas Priest, and how influential it was, not only to you, but the entire Thrash scene, and to be able to now go and do something so cool, with these guys, and do something so cool and historic.

David: It’s amazing. I not only grew up on Judas Priest, but then Judas Priest and Megadeth continued to grow up together. And even recently, just last year, performed shows together on their Firepower tour, and our Dystopia tour in 2018. So, we’ve just continued to be really good friends. And I’m not gonna lie, as I’m digging into these songs for this setlist in November, it makes me realize that a lot of the stuff that Dave and I have done together in Megadeth, and even having long, detailed discussions with my friend Kerry King, back in the early ‘80s about our fascination with the song structure and riffs, and the guitar orchestration of Judas Priest, we in the Big 4, have definitely inherited the awesome musical legacy of Judas Priest, and we’ve just so clearly woven their style into ours, and granted we’ve taken that and made it our own, as we’ve become our own bands, but there’s no denying that, with, especially the early Judas Priest stuff. Quite honestly, there’s kinda like 3 phases of Judas Priest, well 4 actually, there’s kinda the early days, the pre-Les Binks era, then the Les Binks era, the Dave Holland era, and then the Scott Travis era.

Thom: Yeah, which each one is a really distinct, musical period. That’s so funny ‘cuz that era, the Unleashed in the East Binks era, that really kinda is the origination of that part of, not only the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but kinda really the origins of Thrash Metal. You listen to the A side of Unleashed in the East, that is pretty much the blueprint for the Big 4, right there.

David: Yeah. And Judas Priest was so precise, and technical, and hi-fi, and there is no bigger fan of Ian Hill than me. I am his #1 fan. I love the guy as a person, he’s such a gentleman, such a fan of his bass playing, and how he, even his style, he had to change his bass playing within Judas Priest. It transitioned a lot with every drummer that came along. And I’m very aware of that myself, because I’ve had to do that. You know, every drummer and lineup change that Megadeth went through, usually a new drummer was also synonymous with a new guitar player change within

Megadeth, so I’ve had to go through those different sort of artistic transitions we’ve had, so I kinda can really appreciate how Ian, as a founding member of Judas Priest, and how he and K.K. really being the founding original members of the band, I can really be empathetic to all the transitions that they’ve gone through throughout the years.

And I think that’s one of the things that K.K. and I now, for he and I to get together, and for me to really dig down deep into the fabric of his music, and what he created, and how he writes, you know, it’s like getting inside of the mind of one of my favorite composers ever, and getting to share not only laughs and good times, but now to share that musical exploration with him, it’s just a bucket list moment, and it’s one I never saw coming.

Thom: Not to turn this into a huge tangent, but the other cool thing about that evolution of Judas Priest that you were talking about, Priest influenced kinda the Big 4, and Thrash, but inversely, you guys, and Metallica, and the thrash stuff, started influencing Priest as they got into the Scott Travis era, and Painkiller.

David: Absolutely. In fact, you look at, Slayer covered “Dissident Aggressor”, which was a very early Judas Priest song from Sin After Sin, and, which again, hearkens back to Kerry and I’s conversations about Judas Priest, back when he was filling in for Megadeth in 1984. And, you’re right, I think by Painkiller, and K.K. talked about that in his memoir, he talks about with the Painkiller album, how they were very aware of what was happening around them, you know, the big MTV years with Judas Priest were gonna change, and there was a new crop of Thrash bands coming up behind them, which clearly was the Big 4, and especially the Big 3, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax, had very much stayed true to our very fast and aggressive roots, and stayed true to the hallmark of our origins. You know K.K. talks about that. And by the time that we got on the Painkiller/Rust in Peace tour, and Testament was on that too with Souls of Black, one of their real, big-time stepping up game-changing albums for them, and it was kinda the young bucks, Testament, kinda the new favorite at the ball Megadeth, and of course, the iconic Judas Priest. That tour really, in a lot of ways, represented what was happening in 1990, with the classic Metal, and the newest stuff that was happening.

It’s funny ‘cuz I always say in Megadeth, the bass is an anchor, and very featured instrument throughout our history, and in Judas Priest, the drummers are kinda the hallmark of the new era that they enter in. It’s often hinged around their drummers.

Thom: Absolutely. So, you mentioned your new, and first-ever, solo release, Sleeping Giants, which came out in July on Combat. Obviously, I know about it, since I sing on a lot of it, and co-produced the thing, hahaha, but why don’t you pretend I’m not here, and tell everyone else about it.

David: Last year, I went out on a BASSTORY tour, and I needed someone to jump up and sing a few songs. My partner Thom Hazaert, who I wrote More Life With Deth with, was there and started jumping up and singing some stuff, Megadeth songs, Guns N’ Roses songs, as Bumblefoot was also out playing guitar with us, Black Sabbath. Then we did an event, Playback Independent Music Expo, last December in Tampa, and as part of that we did an all-star Jam version of Basstory, again with Thom and Bumblefoot, Head from Korn, Troy Sanders from Mastodon, Kyle Sanders from Hellyeah, Dirk Verbeuren, Jason Bieler from Saigon Kick, Opus and Dave Sharpe from Dead By Wednesday, who had been the backing band on BASSTORY. And during the time in Tampa, in between shows, we went into MasterSound studios in and wrote and recorded the track “Vultures”, which eventually Max Norman, who produced and mixed several Megadeth albums, ended up mixing. Our original plan was just to include it maybe as a free download with the book, which would’ve been a cool little collaboration.

But that turned out great, so I had a few other older instrumental songs that I told Thom to write some lyrics and melodies for, and we went into The Platinum Underground in Phoenix, with our friend John Aquilino, and we basically reworked and re-recorded “Hammer Comes Down” and “Sleeping Giants”, with some of our other friends, Dave McClain and Joey Radziwill from Sacred Reich, Mark

Tremonti, Chris Poland, DMC. As those started to come together, Thom was like, “Well you have other stuff too, don’t you?”, and he suggested compiling some other F5 demos that were unreleased, and some other songwriting demos I had with John Bush, and David Glen Eisley, a remix of “Vultures” by Kristian Nairn from Game of Thrones. We put it all together, and before you know it we had a full record worth of material, sort of a “companion albums to the book.

And it really took on a life of its own. It debuted on 13 Billboard charts the weekend it was released, and saw a lot of success and airplay at radio, and we ended up doing a tour all Summer to support it, and as we talked about earlier, we’re going over to Europe in November to do it again.

Thom: Yeah it really came out great, and as I say all the time, I think it really shines an amazing light on all of your talents, as a songwriter, and a guitar player, and all of these amazing things you are, aside from just an amazing bass player. I mean being one of the most iconic bassists in the history of Metal is awesome, but I think there’s just so much more to you than just playing bass. And I think we really showcased that on Sleeping Giants. Wait, I’m supposed to be interviewing you. Haha.

davidellefson.com combatrecs.com emplabelgroup.com ellefsoncoffeeco.com

DIRK VERBEUREN is one of the most revered and celebrated drummers in the extreme Metal World, having sat on the throne for Swedish-Tech-Death monsters Soilwork for over a decade, before being tapped as the permanent drummer for Megadeth in 2016, just in time to win a Grammy and tour the World on Dystopia, and get in the mix for album #16.

Aside from Megadeth, and his own grindcore project BENT SEA, also featuring members of Napalm Death and Aborted, Dirk is an established clinician and indemand session drummer, with various recent and current projects including the latest release from CADAVER, TRONOS, an avant garde death doom collaboration with Napalm Death’s Shane Embury, also boasting contributions from Mastodon’s Troy Sanders, Faith No More’s Bill Gould, Nuclear Assault’s Dan Lilker, and more.

Thom Hazaert: So obviously, the World was Rocked this Summer with the announcement that Mustaine had cancer. You guys were in Nashville working on the new

record when the announcement came out, obviously that’s kinda ground everything to a halt in the Megadeth World. How did you feel when you found out about it, and the reaction to it, the huge Worldwide just explosive reaction everywhere to the news.

Dirk Verbeuren: I mean look, I got a call not too long before it was announced, with Dave telling me, which, of course, I was in shock, as anybody would be, and very concerned. I think we’ve all in our lives had people around us that had to battle cancer, and you don’t know if they’re gonna make it. I lost my Mom to cancer three years ago, so when he said he had that, I was shocked, and very concerned.

But he also told me that the doctors told him that the outlook was good, and that he had a good chance to make it through, so then I was a little bit relieved by that, and it was really cool to spend time with him in Tennessee, you know, for almost three months writing songs, and that was going on even after he started his treatments. He was still coming in during the first weeks of

his treatment, he was still coming in almost every day. There were a few days where he couldn’t, obviously he had to be in the hospital some days, and some days he was just really tired. But he was really still working, and really motivated to keep working on the songs, which we’re all, of course super excited about. With the reception that Dystopia had, it’s gonna be a really nice step to have this 16 th one.

So yeah, as much as it was a shock initially, I really saw being there, and working with with the guys, and especially Dave, how much of a fighter that guy is. And of course, I knew that already from his reputation and from being on the road with him for several years. But when you’re dealing with something like that, when you have to go in and get chemo and stuff, it’s no joke, I know from when my Mom was doing that. It’s not easy, and he still showed up, and it shows you how strong his passion was for this music, and for the band. He still showed up and kept working, even when he had to go take naps or whatever, because he was so exhausted. Infinite respect to that, and it kinda made me go, if he’s going into it with this fighting attitude, and this optimism, and with this strength that he has inside of him, then there’s a good chance this is all gonna turn out to be ok in the end.

Thom: Yeah, I know David said to me, “I dunno man. I kinda feel sorry for the cancer.”

Dirk: Laughing. Yeah exactly. That’s a good way to put it man. Cancer is fucking with the wrong guy.

Thom: So, you guys did get a lot of work done on the record? You were there for three months. What’s it like? Is it cool to have some impact, it sounds like you’ve had some influence from the stuff that’s gotten out, and Mustaine has posted. Obvi-

ously, you bring a little heavier drumming style to Megadeth, that they’ve never really had before.

Dirk: Yeah, there’s that, of course, I think that was already on the way over the 2 previous records too, I think both Adler and Drover brought a little bit of that as well, but, of course, I come from the Death Metal scene, that was kinda my big thing growing up, so there’s definitely some influence from that. And I’m also a songwriter, so, I write riffs, I write songs, of course I bring arranging to the table, and you know, maybe some of the stuff is sticking. We’ll see. We worked on some things that I wrote, you know, of course it’s too early to tell what’s gonna end up where, what’s gonna be kept or not, we’ve still got some writing to do, but, yeah man, it’s been fun.

It’s a very good, creative process, with some good exchanges, and good input from everybody, and I think that once we get back together to finish writing I think it’s not gonna be that much longer before we can get it done, because we do have a lot of material already. It’s actually been good to step away from it for a while, I think, it’s gonna give us a chance to kinda look at it with a fresh take. I haven’t listened to the stuff at all since I left Tennessee, and then to get back into it is gonna be kind of a first impression again, and that’s always good.

Thom: So, me and you talked before, for David and I’s new book More Life With Deth, and you actually grew up a big Megadeth fan?

Dirk: Oh Yeah. Absolutely. My first touchstone really, I would call, with extreme Metal, was Thrash. And Megadeth was a big part of that because one of the first shows I ever saw as a teenager was the CLASH OF THE TITANS tour, the European version of the tour at the end of 1990, with Megadeth, Slayer, Testament, and Suicidal Tendencies. And, at that point, I had already had Peace Sells on vinyl, and I had already heard So Far, So Good, So What, I don’t know if I had Rust In Peace yet, because at that time, where I lived, it wasn’t that easy to get music back then. But anyway, I was a huge fan, and then seeing them live, that was it.

And I think it’s really cool to see that the band is kinda circling back to that energy again. Now with the lineup with Kiko, David, and myself, I think we’ve been really trying to bring that vibe back from way back then, and even though it’s many years later, and you can’t replicate it, and we’re not trying to copy it or anything, more just the energy. We go on stage, and I personally, try to think of how it felt when I was watching the band play live in 1990.

Thom: And Dystopia, in a lot of ways, has been heralded as a huge return to form for that classic era of Megadeth.

Dirk: Yeah, I agree man. I think that, definitely, we’ve taken steps towards that, towards

the Thrash metal side of Megadeth, and to see how the fans embrace that, Worldwide, not just here in the states, but everywhere, I think that shows what people really want Megadeth to be. Of course, that shouldn’t be the one and only thing, but it’s very important for a band that’s been around 35 years, I would say that legacy is something that we also have to respect, being in the band. Of course, for me, it works great, for me it’s usually the heavier, the better, I’m all for it.

Thom: Outside of Megadeth, you’re primarily known as a Death Metal/Grindcore drummer, Soilwork, and all the other stuff you’ve done. Was it a huge transition to tone it down from playing blast beats all day, to the more groove-oriented style of a band like Megadeth?

Dirk: Yeah. It’s funny because one of the things that became apparent when I started playing in Megadeth, is that we play a LOT of shows, and they are an hour and a half, an hour and 45 minutes, and most Death Metal shows are an hour. Physically, for the musicians, and even for the audience, that’s usually enough. For grindcore and stuff, you don’t usually see those bands playing much more than an hour. In Megadeth, once you reach that hour and a half, even if you’re not playing blast beats the whole time, the physicality is really coming through. So what I quickly learned as a drummer, pacing my energy from the beginning, and kinda containing my excitement in the beginning of the show was very important, because if I let it all go and just went for it, then the last four or five songs will just be miserable. So yeah, it’s really different on a physical level.

When it comes to the drum parts, I mean, when I started drumming, I was always into the extreme stuff, but I also, at the same time, always had an open mind when it came to music. I grew up listening to the radio, to a lot of Pop music, to a lot of Rock and Punk, whatever records my parents had, and I listened to a lot of Hip-Hop, which I still do. So as much as I was playing blast beats, and I wanted to do that stuff, I was also playing along to like Chili Peppers and Primus albums, so as much as I love playing the extreme stuff, the more Rock straightforward grooves, is always something that I’ve enjoyed playing as a drummer. And with Megadeth that’s very central to the song, because a lot of times, the drums are more of a support to the song, rather than like a show-off thing. So its hard maybe to kinda find my place in that, and to be a solid foundation for the rest of the guys, and with David, of course, who is one of the best bass players in the World, in my opinion, and that allows me to really lock in with him and just kinda lay that foundation for the song to blossom. So yeah, it’s a different thing, it’s a learning experience, which is what I think is so cool for me.

Thom: Yeah, a lot of extreme drummers would probably have a hard time transitioning to something as precise and feel oriented as Megadeth. For as straight-forward as it seems, a lot of it, isn’t. There’s so much timing, and feel and nuance to it, and that is definitely challenging as a drummer.

Dirk: That’s very true. And you know, what that brings to light Thom, is that the central thing to a good musician in my opinion, is to be able to feel the music. Some people call it groove, some people call it swing, but to me how I think about that, if you’re able to feel the music, and find your place in it, and to breathe it and to live it every time you’re playing it. Not just when you’re recording, or in a specific moment, but every time. So every time you go on stage, you kinda lose yourself in it. If you start thinking too much about it, you’re gonna lose that swing. So for me, it’s really just about being me behind the drums, and that makes I happen, and I think that’s part of where the versatility comes from. You can apply that to any kind of music really. And in Megadeth, that’s more important than ever, because a lot of the songs really rely on that groove.

Thom: Megadeth obviously has had a lot of drummers, and you’ve had to learn stuff pretty much from all of them. Who are your favorite Megadeth drummers, and out of all of it, whose stuff has been the most difficult to learn and play?

Dirk: Hah. Well definitely the hardest stuff I would say is Gar’s, first of all, he only did two records with the band, but his style was something else. He came from the Jazz/ Fusion World, and you can really tell from his playing, it’s a very non-conventional approach. And as I was trying to figure out some of the stuff he did, I realized so much of what he did, some of the fills he used, was just stuff that nobody else did back then, and does even now. He just had his own thing. Plus, the fact that those albums are so fast and intricate, and probably some of the busiest drumming on any Megadeth album, add all that together, and yeah that was definitely tough.

And of course, besides that, I grew up mostly during the Nick Menza era, that’s when I was listening to the band, and that’s when I saw them play, with Nick, and so I think I have a particular attachment to that as well, Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings, of course Nick had a very different style than Gar, I would say a lot less busy playing, and a lot more groove-oriented, and again, a very unique feel, which would be hard to replicate for anybody. I don’t think anybody can really sound like Nick sounded, only he could do it.

But yeah, those two guys, just because of the era, and that was my teenage time, and when I got into the band, and those are the two that I feel the closest to. But, it’s fun learning parts from all these different drummers, that includes Chuck Behler, another awesome drummer who played on the So Far, So Good, So What! Album. Learning

all those parts, every time, as a musician, you have to do that, you have to find a way to play something that people are used to hearing a certain way, and at the same time, kinda inject a little bit of yourself in there. You grow as a musician when you do that. It’s a different thought process and a different approach from just doing it how I would do it. It’s a different way of being creative

Thom: So you’ve got lots of session stuff you do outside of Megadeth, a lot of grindcore and extreme Metal projects you’re still very active in. Tell us about some of those.

Dirk: Yeah first of all I have my own grind band, Bent Sea, which is basically my own music. I write all the stuff, I play guitar too. I basically write all the songs, and do the drums, and guitar, and my friends Sven from Aborted, and Shane Embury from Napalm Death are in the band as well. They record their parts and we go back and forth. It’s mostly a studio project, we’ve never played live, and I don’t know if we ever will, but it’s really just a way for me to make my own stuff, and play something I hear in my mind, the stuff that I grew up listening to. There’s a lot of new material with that, so there’s definitely going to be an album coming out soon, split releases and EPS, as they do in the Death/Grind world. I love the little obscure 7” releases, and all that. That’s kinda my thing.

And then on the side there’s other bands that I’m a part of Cadaver, from Norway, I just played a show with them, we recorded the new album that’s gonna come out next year. Another classic band, also from the late 80’s EARACHE era that I grew up listening to. Tronos, which is another band with Shane Embury from Napalm Death, we did an album that came out not too long ago. Again, I’m not sure if there will be any touring with that band, because everybody is super busy, but it’s just fun to be creative. I’ve always been, pretty much since I was a drummer, I’ve played with a ton of different people. It’s a way for me to be creative, if I keep my focus on one thing, I tend to get pretty bored with that. So for me it’s really good to just have different outlets, so when Megadeth is not doing something, I can be creative, and then when I come back to Megadeth, I’m excited then about that as well. And I’m always doing studio work. I’m a session drummer, my whole life, on top of being a drum teacher too. it’s a ton of fun.

Thom: Well thanks for chatting with us Dirk. Anything else you want to say to the beautiful people on the boat?

Im looking forward to the Megacruise. I’ve done a few Metal cruises, if you can imagine like a festival, but in the luxury atmosphere of a boat, being out in the ocean in the middle of nowhere. That’s what the Megacruise is going to be. I can’t wait, because I know it’s gonna be so much fun. There’s gonna be so many unique events and experiences. Basically, we’re all just gonna be walking around on the boat, the musicians, the fans. So, it’s gonna be one happy family.

dirkverbeuren.com bentsea.com

At 19, Brazilian-born Guitar God Kiko Loureiro co-founded Brazilian Power Metal band Angra, who he toured with until 2015 when he was tapped to replace Chris Broderick as the full-time guitarist in Megadeth. Kiko’s presence was felt in spades on the band’s Grammy-Winning 2016 release Dystopia, cementing his place in Mega-history, as Kiko was embraced by legions of Megadeth fans Worldwide.

Now in 2019, in-between touring the World with Megadeth, Loureiro tours with his instrumental trio, as well as performing clinics around the World, including his Kiko Loureiro Guitar Experience events, the second of which was held in Brazil in August, with the first ever US event announced in January in Los Angeles.

Thom: Obviously, the first thing we really should talk about is Dave, and the shot heard around the World, the announcement of his throat cancer diagnosis. You guys were out in Nashville writing for the record, and the huge announcement came out, and everything kinda came to a screeching halt, and Megadeth had to take some downtime so Dave could do his treatments and recuperate. How did you feel finding out, and then to see the massive outpouring of love and support for Dave.

Kiko: When I got his call, a few weeks before and we were already planning to go down and work on the album, and then he called me, maybe a few weeks before we were supposed to go, I was shocked, hearing this kind of news, but he said, “Don’t worry. It’s gonna be OK. The doctors said it’s 95% positive chance of being treated. Let’s work. I’m not gonna change anything. Everyone’s coming here, everything’s setup for the pre-production.” So we did. At the same time, I was shocked, I was relieved because he was very positive before we went to Nashville. Then everybody got there and we started working. Then a few weeks later, he started the treatment. He seemed to be cool, working fine, almost every day. Not on his chemo days, Thursdays, but besides the weekends, and his chemo days, we were working, even some Saturdays, so basically like five days a week.

It was cool. We started with his ideas, I knew some of his ideas already because I was there in January of last year working with him, so we started jamming, and

working on everything I had some ideas, some riffs that he liked, Dirk as well, Ellefson, so we started putting some things together and we stayed there for two months. Of course, later, the pace of the work was getting slower and slower because of the chemo, after maybe the fourth week, was getting harder on him, but Dave was really strong and brave. Wanting to work every day. And it was great because we had a very good time together, the whole band, having long talks with the guys. It was a different vibe than on tour, we were living in the same house, and like, having breakfast together, we’d get to spend the whole day together in a very peaceful environment

Thom: And it really seems like you guys were working and writing in a way that Megadeth really hasn’t in a long time, in a more collaborative fashion, all living in a house together, and working together, which definitely you can speak to, seemed different than how Dystopia was made.

Kiko: I can’t speak for all the albums of course, but Ellefson he mentioned that was like the way they used to do it in the past, in the 90’s. Because it’s different, with technology, you don’t really need to be all the time together, like in the 80’s or 90’s, you needed to be in a room playing together, because the equipment to record was different. It was more like jamming, and recording, like really going to a proper studio. Now you can be like, in a house, and you can have the best of both Worlds, because you can have all the technology to record, and then the next day come back to the same idea, or three weeks later you go back to that idea, and everything is there and you can just play from the point where you stopped, you know. In the past it was not that easy to do that.

And also, this relationship, the whole band together, I think it’s very important to play together, but to hang, to talk, to get to know each other, be comfortable and confident in each other, so when you show an idea, everybody is excited to hear because there’s this relationship. It’s not like trying to compose with someone you don’t know, now you really know that person. It helps to be vulnerable, to show you ideas, to show was you think about, or to say something about somebody else’s idea, you feel more comfortable to say, “This is good. This is not so good.” Which is very hard, in a band, to criticize your friend. But if you’re together the whole day, and really getting to build that relationship, then everyone gets the confidence to say whatever is necessary.

Thom: So after he gets through his treatment and you guys are gonna get back to work? Speaking of, you guys just announced the Five Finger Death Punch tour in Europe in January, so it seems everybody is hopeful that Dave is gonna be back and up and running by then, and back on track?

Kiko: Exactly, yeah. I think he needs like some time now, a few weeks, he has to do the follow-ups, and see the results of the treatment, but everybody is very confident for this tour, and I guess it’s selling well, and everybody got excited, so that’s good. I’m doing all the stuff here in-between, and kinda waiting in a standby mode, and whenever Dave is ready we go back to Nashville to record the songs. And it might be good to get to re-listen, because we were for two and a half months, listening to the same songs, and the same ideas, over and over again. Which was very good because, every day we could change the little things, and make it into something better. But now we have like a few months and we can look from a distance, and listen again to the ideas, and really be sure those are the best ideas, and the best songs, because we still have a lot of ideas that are not finished, so you never know, we could keep working on more stuff, you know?

Thom: Yeah, and even Dirk said earlier, that you can kinda go back in kinda with fresh ears now, so this time off really could prove to be a positive thing in terms of making the record and not having to rush or force anything, because you can go back in on those ideas that you probably hadn’t heard in months and months, and hear them with totally fresh ears, in a way you may not have before.

Kiko: Exactly. Totally. That’s probably gonna be very helpful. Because we’re going to be very confident about the songs, or maybe we’re going to hear something that we were not hearing back then

in July, and then we tweak the songs even more, or create another part, another outro or whatever. So I think that’s gonna be really helpful to get a different perspective on those ideas.

Thom: So this is really the first time collaborating, studio-wise, with Dirk. What’s that been like?

Kiko: Dirk is amazing. Not only as a drummer, but as a musician and a writer. He’s very musical. He’s very talented in many ways. He has great ideas, songwriting ideas, he writes great riffs. He has a great sense of structure for the songs as well. Which is not a very common thing for drummers, to be honest. And he’s way beyond that. He’s a great musician. So that’s great, it’s really, really good. He’s an amazing all-around musician, aside from being a great drummer.

Dirk will just come in, and record or write an amazing drum part, or a great fill, or just something to make the song better. And if the drums suck, the song’s gonna suck. He always bring cool stuff that makes your ideas even better. So it’s great to work with him.

Same with Ellefson. He has like a, he’s like the book of heavy metal, the book of Megadeth. Because he knows the whole thing. He has been there the whole time, he knows all the songs, all the stuff, he’s like, “Oh this is more like this song from this album.” Or, “We did this in ’87.” He remembers everything. And he has like this very positive vibe, and he’s always excited about everything, which is great. Because when you’re composing, say you show an idea, and you’re not really sure, you’re not sure if people are gonna like it or not, Ellefson is always like, “Oh, this is so cool man. In ’87 we used to do something like this!” Then you get excited, and you get more confident, and then he suggests something, and it just flows, you know. Besides being a positive guy all the time, he knows everything about the band, so it’s good to ask him, or listen to his point of view. It’s very important.

Thom: So this is your second Megadeth record, you’re like an old seasoned vet now. Is there pressure following-up the huge success of Dystopia, the Grammy, etc?

Kiko: Oh man, there’s always pressure you know. But you have to try to think positive. Receive the pressure, because it has to be, every Megadeth album is an important album. Anytime you record an album, any album, it’s something that is gonna stay, so it’s a milestone in your career. So there’s this pressure, so just take it, and do your best. Then believe that you’re doing your best, and whatever comes out, that was your best at that moment, and that should be enough. That’s what I think, and the way we have to think. The pressure is there to be 100%. Take the pressure, and just go 100%. If you do your best, it must be enough, you know?

Thom: So you’ve been keeping busy in the downtime. What have you been doing? I see you did another Kiko Loureiro Guitar Experience, and some shows in Brazil.

Kiko: Yes I did. I went to brazil, I have a trio with my instrumental music, I always get invitations to go there and do stuff, and actually, I was already kinda planning to go down there, because we were about to go to Brazil for tour, for the Rock In Rio, so I was already kind of accepting the offers, because then I would’ve been there anyway, and I would’ve just continued with Megadeth. But then when Dave gave me the news, then I really went back to those offers, and I did some gigs there, and then I did my Guitar Experience, which is like a full day of Guitar teaching, and playing with students, which is something I am going to do here in California in the new year as well.

Thom: So are you excited for the Megacruise?

Kiko: I did a cruise a couple times in my life, I did one of the Metal cruises once, and it was pretty cool, to see all the bands, and obviously the other activities. It’s going to be fun to jam and see the fans. I am really looking forward to it.

kikoloureiro.com Kiko Loureiro Guitar Experience: kikoloureiro.com/gxp

-Thom Hazaert