MEGADETH mainman
Dave Mustaine was interviewed by
Andrew Haug for this week's edition of
Triple J's
"The Racket" radio show, which airs in Australia. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.
When asked about the ongoing
"Occupy Wall Street" protests assailing income inequality, joblessness and big banks,
Mustaine said, "I think it's really dreadful what's happening. The buck stops with the president of the United States. He's the most powerful person in the world. He's also the most divisive president we've ever had. I've never, in my 50 years of being alive, listened to an American president try and turn one class of people against another class of people. I've never —
never — heard a president say, 'Go down and join the protesters down at Wall Street,' knowing that there are Nazis down there, knowing that there are people down there who are trust-fund babies, that are super, super wealthy and they're going down there and pretending that they really care; they just wanna be part of the 'movement.' And the fact that that whole protest that's going on down there, it's costing the police $125,000 a day. And they're not raising any money for that. Who's paying for that? The taxpayers. What I would like to do is really help these guys get organized, but I don't think there's anybody there that you would be able to talk to about getting organized. If anything, if those guys wanna protest, protest on the steps of the White House, not on Wall Street."
According to the
Associated Press, the
"Occupy Wall Street" protesters say they're fighting for the "99 percent," or the vast majority of Americans who do not fall into the wealthiest 1 percent of the population; their causes range from bringing down Wall Street to fighting global warming. The movement gained traction through social media, and protests have taken place in several other cities nationwide.
Dave Mustaine interviewed on
Triple J's
"The Racket" (audio stream):
MEGADETH's new album,
"TH1RT3EN", is scheduled for release on November 1 via
Roadrunner Records. The CD was recorded at mainman
Dave Mustaine's
Vic's Garage studio in San Marcos, California with producer
Johnny K (full name:
John Karkazis), who has previously worked with
DISTURBED,
SEVENDUST,
MACHINE HEAD and
STAIND, among others. The artwork was once again created by artist
John Lorenzi, who worked on the last two
MEGADETH studio albums, 2007's
"United Abominations" and 2009's
"Endgame", as well as the band's 2007 box set,
"Warchest".
"TH1RT3EN" marks the recorded return of bassist
David Ellefson who was part of the band's classic lineup from 1983 to 2002. In a move that delighted the band's legion of diehards,
Ellefson returned to performing live with
MEGADETH in early 2010 and has remained a fixture on the stage ever since. This is the first time
Ellefson has played on a
MEGADETH record since 2002's
"Rude Awakening".
MEGADETH filmed the
"Public Enemy No. 1" video on September 17 in Santa Clarita, California. The clip was shot on a movie set where old Westerns are filmed.
