DAVE MUSTAINE: 'When NICK MENZA Died, It Broke My Heart'

When MEGADETH performs at the Revolver Music Awards (formerly Revolver Golden Gods) on December 13 at Webster Hall in New York City, the band's set will include a tribute to its former drummer Nick Menza, who passed away this past May.

During last night's (Tuesday, November 1) press conference at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, New York to announce this year's event, MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine remembered his late bandmate, saying: "When we realized that [Nick] wasn't gonna be able to play with us, a big part of me died, because I still secretly… well, not secretly, I guess — I think people knew we were trying. I had hoped that we would be able to play together at least one more time, and when he passed away, it was hard for me. We were playing some place in — I can't remember where it was — and I dedicated a song to him, and I broke down in the middle of the song."

He continued: "It's really weird when you have those moments and you don't know how much you care about somebody until something terrible like that happens. So if I could say anything tonight without being too corny, if there's somebody that you owe an 'I love you' to, or 'I forgive you,' or "I'm sorry,' do it, because you never know when someone's gonna be gone. I had no idea Nick was gonna go, and when he died, it broke my heart. So we wanna celebrate his life."

Mustaine will join SiriusXM's Jose Mangin as the co-host of the Revolver Music Awards, which will be doling out a total of eleven awards, including "Album Of The Year", "Song Of The Year", "Dimebag Darrell Best Guitarist" and "Best Vocalist".

A few days after Menza's passing, Mustaine insisted that he had a "very, very close" relationship with the drummer, who last year accused the MEGADETH frontman of sending him a "ridiculous proposal" for a failed 2015 reunion of the band's classic "Rust In Peace"-era lineup. Mustaine told the Q103 radio station: "I think when you're that close with somebody, the temperatures run a lot hotter than in most relationships, so the love is that much more deeper and the anger is so much more hot and the sadness is so much more profound. So I think that's when you know that you're really in a relationship with somebody that matters to you."

He continued: "People think that we had this failed reunion attempt. There were several times that we tried to reconcile stuff, and it just didn't happen for whatever reason — I don't know why, but it didn't."

On May 21, Nick collapsed after suffering a heart attack during a concert with OHM: at The Baked Potato in Studio City, California and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner said Menza died of natural causes. The cause of Menza's death was listed as hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.