MEGADETH Mainman: 'GIGANTOUR Is Gonna Be So Fantastic This Year'

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine was the special guest Wednesday night (August 30) on Indie 103.1 FM's "Chaos" metal show in Los Angeles with host Full Metal Jackie. A transcript of his appearance on the program has been posted online at the MEGADETH fan site Rattlehead HQ. A couple of excerpts follow:

Chaos: You do have a new album in the works. I was reading about "United Abominations". Originally I was reading that it was, like, late October release. Tell us about what's happening.

Mustaine: Well, the record…. We didn't have enough time before Gigantour started to finish the record. We basically have some little fixes that we needed to… finishing touches, if you will. And we're in the process of doing that right now. I've been working at the studio from basically… My schedule, like today, I was in there at nine until five. And then I drove to S.I.R., where we rehearse at, and we were there from 6 until I left to come here. And that's been the drill, and then you go to the hotel and you pass out.

Chaos: Something I always loved about seeing you on television or being interviewed by the media… I think there's always been this misconception about musicians. And you got a guy walk in with long hair and they kinda assume, umm, you're not gonna know a whole lot and you always surprise people because you're pretty inteligent and you have a lot to say. And you carry on a conversation with these guys that I think, like, I think they're gonna, corner you, maybe. And you know what you're talking about. And I've always thought that was awesome. And that must… Do you like walking in there and, like, showing them?

Mustaine: Well, I don't really like boasting or bragging or anything. But I certainly [feel] confident when people try to pigeonhole heavy metal fans in general as being unintelligent. I enjoy being able to stand up for us. And one time I was the unofficial elected official for the disenfranchised youth of America, and basically I could take their…. you know, it's like Tony Motan (sp?),"I can take their stinking bullets, you know." [Laughs] And you know what? It's okay, 'cause I... there were questions, what you're talking about, the CNN Democratic National Campaign coverage. There's a lot of times when I would ask questions, 'Does it matter to us?' The political posturing and stuff back then, it's vast and it's varied and a lot of times it's up and down. The climate, politically, is very hot right now. And I think it's going to be very interesting for the listeners to look at the lyrics of the new MEGADETH record. My god, it's called "United Abominations" — it's so obvious.

Chaos: Oh well, we're looking forward to it and glad you're taking your time. 'Cause there's nothing worse than being rushed, I'm sure.

Mustaine: Well, there are certain things that, you know, we've done in our career we've really been able to, you know, hurry and get things done. But this is just the one area that we wanna make sure we take our time with. 'Cause I am just so happy with the people I am playing with right now. Everything is just so right. It's just so right right now. Gigantour is gonna be so fantastic this year, because... I have a brand new amplifier that was just created for me, from Line 6, that I'm using. And nobody else in the world has it, and it's one of the most fantastic sounding things I have ever heard in the world. And Glen's [Drover] playing through the same amp too. And the guitars I'm using are sounding fantastic. I have new pick-ups that were designed for me by Seymour Duncan. New bass player; we're working out all kinds of stuff. Our drummer Shawn Drover just changed drum endorsements from Pearl to Tama and he's absolutely ecstatic. We were not happy with our previous relationship and moved on. And he's playing even better now after the recording out in England. Playing slow is really difficult and in the beginning of the record we really going over a lot of things slowly so that we could get all the particulars worked out."