Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has taken exemption to bandleader Dave Mustaine’s comments about one ex-member’s past behaviours.
In an interview in December, Mustaine said that the thrash metal band won’t reunite with any former members on their ongoing farewell tour due to the “behaviour of one of the band members in the past”.
Although the singer/guitarist didn’t name names, this was thought by many to be a reference to his longtime second-in-command Ellefson, who was dismissed in 2022 after footage of him on an intimate video call with a fan was leaked online. Rumours circulated that the person Ellefson was interacting with was underaged, but this was later refuted by both Ellefson himself and the fan in question.
Now, talking to Quemar Un Patrullero, Ellefson has responded to Mustaine’s comment, telling Mustaine to “fuck off” and saying “I didn’t do anything that would prevent me from coming back” to the band in future.
“To have it end where it did, and then [for Mustaine] even recently to say, ‘Oh, because of what one person did, I can’t bring anyone back.’ You know what? Fuck off. Just fuck off,” the bassist says (via The PRP). “Who is that one person? It wasn’t me, ’cause I didn’t do anything that would prevent me from coming back at all. At all. And so this sort of deflectionary thing, to sort of get on some moral high ground, it’s like, gimme a break. Really?”
He adds: “And look, I had rock stars much bigger than Dave coming to my side and coming to my aid, standing by me, saying, ‘Man, just let me know if you need anything at all. That’s really fucked up.’ It’s fucked up about how I was handled being discarded. People saying, ‘I’m really disappointed that they chose business over brotherhood,’ ’cause at the end of the day, the brotherhood will always last beyond the business of owning a rock band – especially something we started and built together.”
Ellefson says that he “could call a lawyer” over Mustaine’s remarks but that he won’t because “there’s two ways to win in tug of war”: “I either pull you over the line or I just drop the rope and let you fall on your ass. [Laughs] And that’s what I’ve chosen to do – drop the rope.”
Ellefson originally recorded bass parts for Megadeth’s 2022 album – The SIck, The Dying… And The Dead! – but following his dismissal, his parts were removed and re-tracked by Testament’s Steve Di Giorgio. He was replaced on a more permanent bassist by James LoMenzo, who previously performed with Megadeth during Ellefson’s absence from the band in the mid-2000s.
Megadeth released their self-titled final album in January and started their farewell tour with a run of Canadian shows in February. The run will continue in South America in February. US and European festival dates have been booked for the summer, to be followed by an autumn North American tour supporting Iron Maiden and some Australian shows. See details via the Megadeth website.
Mustaine announced that the band would call it quits last summer. He originally said that they were packing it in as they wanted to go out in top form. He’s since revealed that he has the hand condition Dupuytren’s contracture, which causes him pain when he plays guitar, and that that is also a factor in the split.
Following his Megadeth exit, Ellefson joined a number of bands, including alt-metal supergroup The Lucid and death metal act Dieth. He also performs in Kings Of Thrash alongside fellow ex-Megadeth member Jeff Young.