By Dave Gil de Rubio
Dave Mustaine is nothing if not a survivor. Turning 63 on Sept. 13, the Megadeth founding member could be considered long in the tooth in the world of hard rock and heavy metal. But with the band having clocked its 40th anniversary last year, Mustaine shows no signs of slowing down despite recent health issues.
Back in 2011, he was diagnosed with stenosis, which was attributed to years of headbanging. More recently, a throat cancer diagnosis came along in 2019 and between that and the subsequent pandemic that followed, the California native had to scratch and claw to make sure “The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!,” Megadeth’s 16th studio album, which was released in 2022.
And now, Mustaine and the latest band line-up—James LoMenzo, Dirk Verbeuren and Teemu Mäntysaari—are heading out on the road with Mudvayne and All That Remains as part of the “Destroy All Enemies” Tour. It’s a struggle Mustaine was proud to have come out of the other side of.
“Unlike some of the other bands that haven’t been doing this as long as we have, we are here to do the music and not do all of the byproducts,” he said. “We’re constantly striving to make the band tighter, have the songs sound better and make our performances better. I can honestly say right now that I’ve taken a new commitment with my playing.
There are a couple of little tricks I used to have that made up the main part of my whole style and I had forgotten about it during the whole pandemic and cancer stuff.”
Recorded in the Tennessee countryside, the new album provided solace for Mustaine following his cancer diagnosis thanks to the tranquil environs he wound up recording in.
“As much as you can imagine, [recording and fighting cancer] weren’t related but they were completely enmeshed,” he explained. “It sounds like a dichotomy, but they were two separate living and breathing organisms and I had to commit myself to both of them 100 percent if I was going to have any success at either.
What helped were those morning drives from my farm to the farm next door through the mist, fog, rain, mud, flora and fauna. I’d go right up past the livestock and roll up on the studio that the guys made in there. The only thing that came close to that were the chocolate shakes from Chick-fil-A that helped me keep my weight up.”
And while a lineup change from longtime bassist David Ellefson to LoMenzo occurred that Mustaine understandably chose not to discuss and proved to be a road bump during the recording of “The Sick, the Dying…and The Dead!,: Megadeth continues to play with its trademark intensity and focus.
Aided by former guitarist Kiko Loureiro (who has since been replaced by Mäntysaari), songs like the propulsive “Killing Time” strike a stellar balance between jackhammer riffing and acoustic nuances while “We’ll Be Back” is marinated in the organic propulsive drive that harkens back to the Megadeth of old.
Switching gears to the tour, Mustaine is both humbled and thrilled to be on the road again. Not only is he jazzed with his opening acts, but is grateful to see how the band’s fan base has evolved over time.
“I can’t vouch for every song from every band and every minute of every show, but I’m having a blast,” he said. “It just feels good out here and I think what’s happening with us right now is that we’re getting into new territory we get to call our own and grow. And we get to see new and different fans. My God—there are so many fans up in the front that are really young—maybe 13- to 18-year-old boys. And loads of women, young girls and a lot of other people that I’ve been noticing. Back in the day, we used to have people pumped to show up and that kind of went away for a while, but it’s starting to come back. And it’s super cool too.”
As for a musical legacy that’s found Megadeth considered one of the big four of American thrash bands alongside Anthrax, Slayer and Mustaine’s old band Metallica, the grizzled guitarist is rightfully proud of the path he’s blazed for four decades-plus.
“We do something that wasn’t a thing until I started doing it,” Mustaine explained. “Everybody plays guitar and guitar playing has been around forever. But I think when somebody comes along and does a new approach to something—it changes stuff and that’s super exciting to see how the topography is going to change. It’s kind of like when you see a map from back in the 1700’s and you see how all the border lines change—it’s really exciting.”
