elkevino

David Ellefson is no spring chicken. Three-and-a-half decades after co-founding the pioneering thrash metal band/institution that is Megadeth, he's put plenty of miles on his body and his soul. Fortunately he's spent the majority of them clean and sober — after making the choice to put the music first — so that it's easier for him to make a "50-year-old's decisions" when gearing up for another trek to bring metal across the globe. That doesn't mean he's ready to accept a role as an elder statesman of the metal world. Far from it. While he may be a contemporary to bands he idolized growing up -- Megadeth is hitting Europe for some shows with Judas Priest and select dates with KISS -- Ellefson is still a vital metal warrior, fueled by coffee and honor-bound to give his fans their money's worth when he takes the stage. He's also still very much a fan of metal. --- So let's talk about the 'Killing Is My Business' reissue, and how business is these days. We're lucky in Megadeth because we can still write and produce compelling, new material, but that legacy of stuff from especially the earliest records -- probably the first, I'd say, four records -- are things of legend at this point, that even young, teen-aged fans that are first learning about Megadeth, they want to hear things off of 'Killing Is My Business' and 'Peace Sells,' 'So Far So Good So What,' 'Rust In Peace.' Those are really the four cornerstone records for us. --- While you're trekking through Europe, Slayer will be on their farewell tour. Is there an element of introspection that triggers with seeing another member band of the proverbial Big Four hang up the axe? Look, groups retire for all kinds of different reasons. Either they've just lost interest, their heart just isn't into it anymore, maybe it's a health issue, for who knows what reasons. And I don't know why Slayer's hanging it up; I've not talked to Tom [Araya] or Kerry [King] about it to know. It's great to see them have this big last hurrah of success. I'd like to think they're not gone forever, on some level, y'know what I mean? Many farewell tours have made for a hell of a reunion tour later. But they've also lost their dear friend Jeff Hanneman, and he was a key writer for Slayer. Me and Dave have been through that, past members have passed away. We've been through a lot of lineup changes and stuff, and when lineup changes happen, it's always kind of a shot in the dark whether you're going to be able to capture lightning twice and recreate the magic. Some of our lineups did and some of them didn't. --- LINK TO FULL STORY.