"That was once of the most historical times in rock ’n’ roll," Dave Mustaine breathes as he recalls Metallica’s early years, he still has the awe in his voice. "When James and myself and Cliff and Lars were in the band… I mean, we'd be bigger than The Stones and Gun N’ Roses together if we were still around."
Quite a claim, even by Dave Mustaine's high standards. But
who knows? It may have worked out that way - though can you imagine Dave
Mustaine being a party to ‘Nothing Else Matters’?
And The Rolling Stones? Can there be any parallel there with
Megadeth, or even with Metallica?
"When The Stones were into ‘Their Satanic Majesties Request’ and stuff like that, that was just a period of time when they were feeling little bit randy! There was a period of time when we were feeling kind of the same.
"You can only dabble in stuff about the dark side for so long before you get branded as being a Satanic band. You can have a couple of cool songs that kind of hint at or lean toward that dark side, but if you make album after album like that, then you end up being lumped into a market like, say, Slayer, and some of the other bands that are Black Metal bands.
"I mean, they're all fine bands," ha adds quickly. "But it's very limiting."
Megadeth are no Black Metal band, and they're no Rolling Stones either. Megadeth have a chic, cool appeal as the state-of-the-art Speed Metal act. Reputation cemented, Dave Mustaine is branching out, most notably by producing and playing on the much-anticipated comeback album by British NWOBHM stars Diamond Head.
"I saw Sean (Harris - vocals) in England. I've always really loved Diamond Head and what they've done and everything, and so I said, ‘Man, I'm a young, hungry producer and I would like nothing more than to produce a Diamond Head record’, because I know how to produce good.
"I mean, I'm not great, but I'm really good, and I thought that, given the brilliance of their song writing and my determination to make an instrument sound the absolute best an instrument can, and with their capabilities and my knowledge of the technology, we could make a kick-ass record.
"Sean said something like, ‘Pretty sure of yourself, aren't ya mate?’. And I went, "What was that? Are you pissed off or something?’.
"I didn't say anything but I thought he thought I was being conceited. The next thing you know, they'd sent over a tape with two songs on it, and said. ‘Do what you want. Play on it, produce it, mix it…’.
"I cut the song into about three million pieces and did a bunch of stuff that I kept thinking, ‘Now, if Sean and Brian were here, would they smile? Would they give me the thumbs-up, or would they say, ‘You fucking wanker?’!
"I figured, ‘Well, they're probably going to call me a wanker, so I'm going to do it anyway’. The tape went back, and Brian wrote me a letter and said that it was absolutely brilliant, that it's THE Metal, and that he and I have to get together and write a masterpiece! That's flattering."
So did you actually play on the LP or just produce it?
"I play on it, and mixed it with Max Norman."
Have Megadeth done for Diamond Head what Metallica did for The Misfits?
"I think Diamond Head have benefited greatly from both Megadeth and Metallica. I wouldn't actually say that Metallica, as a band, did as much for The Misfits as Cliff Burton did on his own, because Cliff was sporting that horrible tattoo!
"I had no idea what it was and one day I just said, ‘Cliff, how drunk were you when you got that tattoo?’. And he goes, ‘Jeez, don't you know what this is?’.
"I said, ‘Yeah, it looks like a fucking iron-on tattoo!’. And Cliff just goes, ‘Man, this is The Misfits!’.
"And I went, ‘Yeah, right. Who?’. I had no idea who they there!
"Speaking of tattoos, in ‘Sweating Bullets’ there's a line that goes, ‘Someday you too will no my pain/And smile its black tooth grin…’ - and those fucking maniacs in Pantera… everything that they had was the black tooth grin! They had posters of chicks in their dressing room, and they'd blacken out their teeth! We were in Hamburg, and Darrell and his guitar tech showed up - and they both had tattoos on their legs that said ‘Black Tooth Grin’!
"So now, every time these guys tour with somebody, they get a tattoo that reminds them of that particular tour. I'm thinking to myself, ‘Thank God I never did that, or I’d look like a walking human doodle pad!’."
Megadeth's last UK single, 'Skin O' My Teeth', was issued in several formats which, when assembled, made up a Megadeth board game, a neat gimmick which gets short shrift from the fiery frontman.
"That wasn't my idea. This is music, not f**king Monopoly, you know? I make music, I don't make board games. That was a marketing ploy by somebody over in England, and I don't want to have to trick fans into buying stuff. Malcolm McLaren was famous for swindling people, and I don't want us to be juxtaposed with someone like him ever."
Megadeth are still burning up the road in support of 'Countdown To Extinction'. The current Megadeth show is fast and loose, unhindered by a slavery to technique.
"We have never been a band that's perfect onstage," confesses Mustaine. "I've never been too concerned about playing note-for-note perfectly - ever single scale robotically, mechanically reproduced - because part of my playing style is... I don't know, maybe this is bit conceited of me, but I think that the playing comparisons of Marty (Friedman) and myself are kind of... Marty's like Uli Roth and I'm like Jimmy Page!
"Marty's the proficient technician and I'm the sloppy, soulful guy. We compliment each other really well. If I was any better and he was any worse, we'd sound like every other band in the world."
Any concerns about Marty's recent solo release, 'Scenes'?
"Nah," he says quietly. "Marty does that stuff just to get it out of his system, because he's got so much going on musically in his head. There's hornets in his brain, and if he's not playing all the time...
"I tell you one thing," he says, changing tack. "Every single one of those songs he's done on his instrumental album - it's just water off a duck's back. As soon as he records it, he couldn't give a shit about the song. He could write another in a second.
"But the songs that Megadeth write, we write bearing in mind that they have to endure the test of time. When you listen to a song like 'Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?', that song's coming on for being almost 10 years old. There still hasn't been a song written by anyone that I know of that is similar, as far as being an outspoken, for the people simple, riffing, melodic song. I think that possibly I may hove come close with 'Sweating Bullets', but we'll have to see..."
