Megadeth will perform as the headliner on the second day of this year’s Mystic Festival on June 7th. The US-based thrash metal legends are still going strong so we caught up with Dave Mustaine and asked him about all sorts of things – not always music-related.
Łukasz Brzozowski: Which moment in Megadeth’s history do you consider the most difficult for you as a musician and as a person?
Dave Mustaine: Well, there are different degrees of difficulty so I’m not exactly sure what you’re talking about. Are you talking about difficulty on stage, difficulty that was personal to myself or maybe something that somebody else did and it was difficult… Can you explain a little bit better what you’re asking me?
ŁB: About situations when problems have built up to the point that you wanted to let go of playing in the band.
DM: I don’t usually feel that but the times that I have felt that usually have been during the summer months. Especially during the festivals. It’s the time when we sit in town for several days and we don’t know where we’re at, we don’t know anyone, we don’t have any friends there… It just feels very lonely. Those are difficult times when you’re on tour and you have got a bunch of days-off in a place that we don’t know anything about. The best times however are when we get to a city that we do know something about – we have our favourite restaurants, we have wonderful friends like you or so many other people. You know, it’s just about being able not to feel like some invaders so much.
ŁB: But when you’re on the road, you’re bound to be in places you’re not necessarily familiar with for a lot of time. How do you avoid boredom and loneliness in that case?
DM: I guess that most important thing is to not think about being in a place and being bored. It’s better to concentrate on good things.
ŁB: Such as?
DM: For example, to see new things, to see people, to learn something about local food or go to a pub or something. It’s almost every time you start sharing a beer with somebody and you’ll get a good story about something going on locally.
ŁB: Are you one of those people who likes to wander spontaneously around a newly met city and establish relationships with new people?
DM: Am I the person who likes to wander through the streets? No. But do I like to meet new people? I don’t mind meeting strangers and don’t feel unsafe when meeting people but I do tend to be cautious when I’m meeting someone that I don’t know. Just because you don’t know anything about people and you never know if somebody, for example, struggles with mental health issues or anything like that. In such moments you can make someone very upset or angry and that’s not something I wanna do.
ŁB: Between the releases of „Dystopia” and „The Sick, The Dying…. and the Dead” a lot of trouble happened to you: cancer, a pandemic, the sudden end of cooperation with a long-time member of the band… What did you learn from these situations?
DM: There’s a lot of different things… Do you wanna pick specific topic and I can answer that for you?
ŁB: I assume that cancer was the most difficult thing that happened to you throughout that period.
DM: Cancer taught me that I was a lot stronger than I thought I was.
ŁB: In what sense?
DM: Physically, mentally and several other ways too – spiritually for example. And also the support from you and other fans around the world was so much appreciated. I was so grateful for all of it. It did such a good job helping me stay positive and stay in the fight. And I’m cancer free now so that’s great.
ŁB: I suppose such a situation intensifies your concern for your own health, even if it’s over.
DM: I don’t worry too much about anything anymore. I take super care of myself health-wise. Like, yesterday I woke up at 6.30 AM and did a workout with my son. Today I woke up early too and I’m doing press the whole morning and preparing for the upcoming tour. We’re busy guys over here. We don’t sit around and do nothing. We don’t wait for something to happen, we make it happen.
ŁB: Do you also get the impression that these days even more aged musicians realize the importance of staying fit when you play in a band full time?
DM: Yes, it’s critical. If you’re gonna be having any kind of extra fun while you’re out – staying up late, celebrating with your friends, maybe having a drink or anything like that… Any of those things means introducing something not so healthy to your body. So you’ve got to work a little bit harder to recover for the show. If you’re an entertainer you need to remember that you’re about to entertain. You want to try to stay fit? You also need to remember that you should consume a little bit less calories than you burn during that day. That’s how you’re going to stay comfortable in your own body. I really started concentrating on new techniques and stuff some time ago and work hard to perform in the best way I can every night. And it works. The day after the show I listen to these tapes and they sound great. I want to keep getting better and to improve.
ŁB: The constant desire to develop is an unusual thing for a musician with more than four decades of stage experience.
DM: And I like it. Other guys do as well. Teemu and I were going over „Hangar 18” the other day and I can’t tell you how many times we’ve gone over that song to make sure everything’s right. It’s amazing to have someone that wants to constantly go over stuff to make sure it’s perfect. You know – let’s go over this, let’s go over that… It’s just like in „Karate Kid” when the guy’s ready to act right when someone’s throwing punch at him because he’s been practicing for so long.
ŁB: How do you stay consistent with the regime you impose on yourself? From what you say, it’s easy to infer that you have a lot of work on your hands – are there moments when you just don’t feel like it?
DM: I never get on stage and don’t wan’t to be on stage. I love it. When I was a kid I wanted to be on stage and that feeling doesn’t change. When I wanna do something, I wanna do it.
ŁB: You once mentioned that when you started learning to play the guitar, it didn’t give you much pleasure, but you played anyway. Is being stubborn your leading trait of character?
DM: Is being stubborn a good or bad thing?
ŁB: As good as possible!
DM: I’m smiling as I’m saying this so thank you for that! I think that stubbornness is really good for me in a lot of situations. You know, not giving up on stuff, not taking „no” as an answer – who knows where I’d be right now if I wasn’t so determined? I’m glad of it. My whole world has changed because of that.
ŁB: Were you always so determined not to take someone else’s rejection when you wanted to realize your vision?
DM: I think that not taking „no” as an answer is very important. I grew up on my own and I was living on the streets so I learnt how to take care of myself – otherwise it could’ve ended up badly. In situations like that you cannot take „no” as an answer. You gotta fight.
ŁB: The day before our conversation, your two albums, „The World Needs a Hero” and „United Abominations”, celebrated their anniversary of release. The former was a clear return to metal after the controversial „Risk”, while the latter was a showcase for Megadeth as a band with a stabilized form and style. Which of these albums do you recall more fondly?
DM: I would say „United Abominations”. „The World Needs a Hero” came in a really sad time in a band. Marty Friedman said he didn’t wanna play metal anymore and he left Megadeth. We were in a point that we kept getting more and more watered down and I just said that I can’t do it anymore. „United Abominations” was recorded in England and that was a wonderful experience. We could use some different equipment here – including John Bonham’s drum kit!
Łukasz Brzozowski