Interviewing people in the music business can often be like picking up a girl at a high school dance. You spend a lot of time preparing what moves you want to make. You study the layout and you try to make sure you are ready for anything that happens. In rock n' roll, as in high school, sometimes you can be 100% prepared and just doesn't quite work out the way you had hoped. You may have to settle for a nice slow dance or maybe a peck on the cheek. Other times, the girls stay on one side of the gym while the guys hug the other wall and you end up going home alone without even so much as a phone number. Still, you can't wait till the next weekend's dance where you can try it all again.


My interview with Dave Mustaine of Megadeth was not a home run -- I didn't even get to second base. I knew going into it that I only had fifteen minutes to chat with the Metal Master but I was still hopeful I could squeeze a few more minutes out of him. In the end, he had his entire day set up with fifteen minute phone interviews and his assistant was hell bent on making sure he stayed on track.


I didn't get the chance to talk about Dave's new line of guitar pickups or delve into his past. I also missed the chance to ask him to play a round of the 70's classic game show Match Game. I was going to ask Dave to pretend that he was Charles Nelson Reilly and that I was game show host Gene Rayburn. The question was going to be, "There is a new documentary being made about Lars Ulrich of Metallica. Instead of calling it Some Kind of Monster, it's called Some Kind of _______." It would have been up to Dave to fill in the blank. Now that would have been funny.


While we didn't get to go where no interview has gone before, we are left with some interesting information about the new DVD and, based on Mustaine's final comment, perhaps a more in-depth interview may be in our future. Let's hope that comes true and we can pick up right where we left off. For now, read on to learn more about a man who really is an Arsenal of Megadeth.



Jeb: I have been told that you were very involved in compiling the footage for the new DVD. How did this come about?
Dave: It was not entirely all my doing; I can't sit back and say that I did it all. There is a guy named Kevin Flaherty who is in the credits. Kevin went through the vaults and compiled all the footage and he went through mountains of red tape to get clearance to use everything. Sadly, there is a lot of stuff that didn't get used. There are a couple of television shows that wanted fifty grand for a thirty-second piece. I was like, "I'm sorry, EMI is good to me but they are not going to spend fifty grand for something that is not going to make or break the video." There were a couple of songs that were not allowed to be on it because it was too hard to get licensing. I felt it was an opportunity for these companies to make a little money from publishing. If you don' t want to be part of it then you just don' t want to be part of it.


Jeb: A lot of bands put out DVDs and are not nearly as into as you were. I don' t want you sound like you had little to do with it.
Dave: I was involved with it but it was not all my work. The thing that was really cool about this is that back in the 90's, there was a period of time where we switching from VHS and Laser Disc to DVD. In my genre, there were only a certain amount of people who can be racked in the metal category. We had a couple of things out there and they were really short. They were only 30 minutes long and they were next to these bands who had stuff that was 90 minutes long. I told the guys at Capitol that our products were too short and that they had to come off the shelf. They took them off the shelf about ten years ago and that is actually when the whole project began. We have been waiting for this to evolve and come about. If you notice at the end of the DVD it says, 'to be continued' because there is more, hopefully, to be seen.


Jeb: As you watch the finished product what do you feel? You have had some good and some bad in your life, as we all know.
Dave: We all have good and bad things in our life. Because I am a public figure people tend to take sides. What do I have now in my life that causes me problems? I have the ongoing feud with Metallica that I don' t want to have any part of anymore. I have come to terms with all of that and I would like to consider them friends. I also have a feud with Kerry King of Slayer. I have no idea what that is even about as I have nothing against Kerry. In my entire life, I have two problems. How many people do you know that only have two problems in their life? The sad thing about it is that it is publicized.


Jeb: You do tend to get made into the bad guy...
Dave: It is quite comical. We were all friends, and deep down inside, we are probably all still friends. The problems we have are very controversial and there is always some journalist that wants to stir shit up. I won' t be part of it anymore. I respect them and I would like to keep it that way.

Jeb: To go clear back to "Peace Sells" your videos have a message to them. The production always pushed the envelope. How much did you use videos to unfold your musical vision?
Dave: I never professed to be a video director. "Peace Sells" was presented to us as a finished product. "In My Darkest Hour" didn't see us get too involved either. I was more involved in "Holy Wars" but I was not really involved in a lot of the other ones. If you are talking about me writing a story board for a video, it has not happened.


Jeb: Are you saying it ain' t gonna happen?
Dave: No, no, I would love to write a story board for a video. I have had ideas that were very close to what the video was like but in the end it has never really come down to where my vision ended up in the video.


Jeb: In the media you are often portrayed as an angry person but in interviews you usually come across as a cool dude. Your music is full of angst. I want to know if you used your anger to propel your success?
Dave: Certainly I did. Anger is a terrible motivator for most areas in a human beings life. When it comes to picking up a guitar and channeling your anger through it, angst is much more healthy. You have to remember that there was a time in this society when people like Lenny Bruce went to prison for saying fuck on stage. Now you are not considered any good unless you say fuck!


Jeb: Before you have to go, I have to ask if your injury is completely healed and if so how far back to 100% are you playing-wise?
Dave: It is 100% fine. Actually, because I had to relearn how to play I have overcame a lot of crutches that I used to use. I am actually playing better than I was before. Some of the songs I relearned and kind of cheated but now I have gone back and cleaned them up a lot. I am playing with a group of people that I love playing with. I am hoping that you can come see us the next time we come around so we can continue this interview.




By Jeb Wright, April 2006

Foros de Rock y Heavy Metal

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