MEGADETH Bassist Has No Problem Jamming With JASON NEWSTED During GIGANTOUR

Cindy Scull of the Dallas radio station 97.1 The Eagle recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson. You can now listen to the chat below.

Asked about the rumors that MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine may join forces with former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted on stage on this summer's Gigantour to perform a classic METALLICA song Mustaine co-wrote during his short tenure with the band, Ellefson said: "What's cool about this Gigantour coming up is, obviously, Dave and Jason both being former METALLICA members, I think that's the one obvious caveat of this tour. And so, it started with, 'Hey, should we do a jam at some point at one of the shows, or at all the shows, we get on stage, various members from the bands, we do a jam together.' And I think somebody brought up the idea along the way that, 'Hey, how about Dave and Jason jam a METALLICA song,' or a maybe, at least, because they're both former METALLICA guys, they get up and jam together. And for me, look, I'll gladly hand Jason the bass. If he wants to come up and jam, he's more than welcome to. To me, if there is two, or four, bass players, whatever. Let that be the case."

Ellefson also revealed that the inspiration for the more relaxed attitude MEGADETH has regarding jamming with other musicians came from the shows the band played in recent years with METALLICA.

"I think when we did the 'Big Four' dates with METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH and ANTHRAX these last few years, METALLICA had the foresight of, 'Let's bring everybody up and let's do some jams,'" Ellefson explained. "We did one — the night we filmed that 'Live From Sofia' DVD — and it was such a hit, and everybody loved it — we, the musicians, had a great time, the fans loved it — so as those shows carried on, we continued to do that, and I think that kind of set the stage of just the spirit of it all. And so, if that happens, the jam on Gigantour, which I'm sure it will at some point, whatever songs we play — be they one of ours, or someone else's, or a cover tune, or whaterver — it's just fun to get up and do that. It shows musical brotherhood and camaraderie. You know, Gigantour is not a competition, it's a fellowship."

MEGADETH's latest album, "Super Collider", sold 29,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 6 on The Billboard 200 chart.

"Super Collider" arrived in stores on June 4 via Dave Mustaine's new label, Tradecraft, distributed by Universal Music Enterprises (UMe).

The album is available as a limited-edition CD with 3-D cover and bonus tracks, regular CD, regular LP, limited LP plus a bonus colored seven-inch single with two bonus tracks, and a download voucher.