DAVE MUSTAINE Says The U.S. Government Is Trying To Get Rid Of The Middle Class

Natalie Zina Walschots of Exclaim.ca recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Exclaim.ca: What are your current fixations?

Mustaine: My current fixation is that I'm sadly mesmerized by watching the news and how the government is destroying this country. It's pretty obvious to me that they're trying to get rid of the middle class. It also seems like we're moving more towards a single world currency, and I find that very frightening.

Exclaim.ca: What has been your most memorable or inspirational gig and why?

Mustaine: The most memorable would have been the performance for Jimmy Kimmel. We all donned actual makeup from Universal Studios, all done up like the classic Universal movie monsters. I was just coming off surgery and was not very mobile, so I decided to be Frankenstein so no one would care if I was stiff. Jimmy dressed as the Donkey Kong gorilla, too. We played four songs, and it was really great; we had a lot of fun. We've played a lot of shows that were bigger, of course. The biggest was the Rock In Rio show; we played to 40,000 people. All of the "Big Four" shows [with METALLICA, SLAYER and ANTHRAX] were really amazing. Those shows were certainly the most cathartic, the most healing. It was really great to be able to bury the hatchet and just play together. That was very important to me.

Exclaim.ca: What should everyone shut up about?

Mustaine: Everyone needs to shut up about this whole Occupy Wall Street thing. I think the protesters have very good intentions, but it's an example of good being misled. The President is setting these guys up to be dead in the road. Everyone should protest at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue if they want some change. I also really hate some of these bleeding hearts, like Michael Moore, the fat dude who does these exposs. We don't need more of that; we need lower taxes and governments that listen.

Exclaim.ca: What do you fear most?

Mustaine: I fear broken glass; I fear intersections; I fear snakes. That's probably it. I didn't have a lot of phobias when I was younger, but I got scared as I grew up. I stepped on broken glass in a lake once, cut up my feet really badly, and so many of my friends have gotten T-boned at intersections. Once, when I lived in Arizona, I went to take the garbage out and there was a rattlesnake behind the garbage can. It scared me so badly that I came back a killed it with a rock and a hockey stick. Later, I felt terrible; it wasn't the snake's fault. Scorpions are scary, too. I once had a pet scorpion that I named Andre after an old tour manager of ours.

Exclaim.ca: What does your mom wish you were doing instead?

Mustaine: Nothing. My mom is gone now, and for years she didn't understand or approve of what I did, and that kept us apart. But she got to see me be successful and had embraced me again, became proud of me again near the end of her life. She loved to pay for everything with a cheque, so that people at the checkout would see the name Mustaine and she could tell them I was her son.

Read the entire interview from Exclaim.ca.