DAVID ELLEFSON: MEGADETH Was 'Just A Starting Point For Me Creatively'

Ofer Vayner of Alternative-Zine.com recently conducted an interview with former MEGADETH and current F5 bassist David Ellefson. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Alternative-Zine.com: I'd like to go back and talk about your past with MEGADETH and how you see it in retrospective.

Ellefson: Well, obviously we did some huge things together over the years and I think the best work we did was when we were united as a team, probably the early to mid-1990s from "Rust In Peace" through "Cryptic Writings". However, as I look at it now, I think that band was really just a starting point for me creatively. At this point I'm taking all my experiences from those years and building on them as I re-create myself moving forward.

Alternative-Zine.com: After you left MEGADETH it was well known you were in a feud with Dave Mustaine, getting up to the point where you wouldn't mention the band in interviews or on your website. However, in recent years it has become known you've patched things up, so what was the turning point for you? What can you say about your relationship with Mustaine today?

Ellefson: We had some conversations back in 2006 but nothing more has happened since then.

Alternative-Zine.com: In a previous interview, not too long ago, you said that you'd re-join MEGADETH if you were given the chance straight away. Assuming the next phone call you get suggests it, would you still do it today?

Ellefson: I don't think I said I'd do it "straight away," but I did leave the door open if it made sense for us to do something again in the future.

Alternative-Zine.com: What's your take on MEGADETH's current material?

Ellefson: Since I'm not part of it, I really don't pay much attention to it now.

Alternative-Zine.com: When you started your career you were quite young (about 18),and since then the times have changed quite a bit – what do you feel is the major difference between the music world back then and the current one?

Ellefson: The record industry as a whole is really different now than it used to be. When I was a kid you'd dream of growing up to be a rock star; making records, touring the world, making money and all the rest of it. Today, it's not like that. The records don't sell as much so there isn't as much money. Because there isn't as much money it makes it more difficult to exist as an artist, or certainly to make a living at it as a young start-up artist. I think you really have to do it for the love of the music, which is why we should be doing it in the first place, but it forces you to really ask yourself if you can sustain a living as an artist solely by playing your music. I'm glad I got to be part of the generation that I did because we had a good run at it during those years in the business.

Alternative-Zine.com: Dave, you're a married man with kids now. Tell us what's it like being a rock star and a family guy? Do the two collide often? Any Osbournes [-type] moments?

Ellefson: As radical as I am with music and that life I'm pretty conservative when it comes to raising my kids. In some ways I think all my radical living over the years has taught me that there are definitely some bad roads you can go down and the people that want to lead you there should be avoided at all costs. At the same time, I don't think you have to be a prude about things either. It's OK to let your kids stretch out and find their own uniqueness. I think that's the trick in parenting; being liberal enough to let your kids explore and find out who they are but not being so liberal that the kids end up being their own parents either. Fortunately, my kids are way into sports which I think is a good path for our family to be on.

Read the entire interview at Alternative-Zine.com.