Ex-MEGADETH Bassist DAVID ELLEFSON: 'I Refuse To Limit My Musical Experiences'

Holland's Vampire Magazine recently conducted an interview with former MEGADETH and current F5/TEMPLE OF BRUTALITY bassist David Ellefson. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Vampire Magazine: I guess it was right after MEGADETH quit that you wanted to form another band, how important is it for you to be a musically active person?

David Ellefson: "I'm a different person now then I was at 18 years of age when I moved to Los Angeles and got everything rolling. Those experiences shape you and you grow. However, there is a part of me that is forever 15 years old and that is the part of me that continually picks up instruments and writes, plays, records and longs for the stage. This is why I've continued to put together new bands to have musical camaraderie with my fellow musicians. That's why it's important for me to keep creating because that's why I started playing in the first place!"

Vampire Magazine: F5's music balances between heavier rock and light metal, I have seen people calling F5 a heavier DISTURBED or CREED, has this musical path been a purposeful decision?

David Ellefson: "I don't really care what they call it as long as they listen to it! Again, aside from some guest appearances and co-writes over the years no one has really heard me step out and do a record as extensive as F5. I've done quite a few new records this year and every one of them has a unique sound and captures a different side of me. F5 is modern, TEMPLE OF BRUTALITY is full-on agro/thrash, SOULFLY is a combination of industrial thrash metal, and KILLING MACHINE is straight-ahead traditional metal. All of them are part of who I am and I refuse to simply limit my musical experiences because I'm afraid someone, somewhere may not like it! Personally, I think I've created enough records in 2005 that will appease most metal fans of all tastes."

Vampire Magazine: In other things, some time information surfaced that you had a band called 7X70 with Vanilla Ice, Nicko McBrain [IRON MAIDEN] and Dan Spitz [ANTHRAX]. How is that thing progressing?

David Ellefson: "Actually, I was never really part of that group. Dan called me asked me if I wanted to join it and I told him I'm interested in it because I thought it would be fun to do something with he and Nicko. But I never officially join any band without first playing some music with them which never happened at any point in time with 7x70. I don't even know if its band any longer."

Vampire Magazine: Recently news about your other band TEMPLE OF BRUTALITY surfaced as well, a debut album is coming up. Can you reveal something about this album? What is it going to be like?

David Ellefson: "TEMPLE is another side of me which is full-on aggressive, progressive and thrash metal. My long time fans will probably love this band as it is somewhere between EXODUS and HATEBREED. The band just signed a deal with Demolition/Universal Records to release the debut album, 'Lethal Agenda', later this year. There is huge interest in the band and gig requests are starting to pour in now. It's a great way to get out some aggression!"

Read the entire interview at Vampire-Magazine.com.