Dave Mustaine is a one of the metal world’s leading songwriters and a highly regarded guitarist. Having achieved around 20 million album sales worldwide with his band Megadeth, his latest recorded return to thrashing form reflects the quality heard live in his disciplined touring of the now annual Gigantour multiple band concert show. Now endorsed by Dean guitars, Dave is rejuvenated with a drive that includes resurrecting guitar solos and refining musicianship in mainstream metal. Megadeth has weathered personnel changes, personal demons and potential ruin due to injury yet Dave’s focus has resulted in the band’s most solid line-up since the early nineties. Australian Guitar’s Paul Southwell chatted to the jet lagged yet lucid guitarist front-man who helped invent thrash metal during the most recent Gigantour visit.
It’s good to see Megadeth going back to their metal roots. Was there a point along the way where you decided that you weren’t going to chase making hit songs?
Dave Mustaine (DM): It’s hard not to chase number one if you can do it. When you have success at that level it can become inebriating and it can be one those things where if it goes away you can completely ruin your life.
So with the latest album [United Abominations] how much did legendary metal producer Andy Sneap steer your music?
DM: I’m known for my sound but it had gotten to the point where Jeff Balding and I just weren’t connecting as a production team anymore and then Andy came in and he connected. Jeff is of the same quality that I am but he is not of the same cloth. I’ve been able to get Megadeth sounds with just about everybody. When Marty [Friedman – lead guitar] had left I thought, ‘I’m turning it around right now’ and that takes a lot with something as big an entity as Megadeth. The number one song on a rock radio station in California at one point was my single ‘Trust’. That, to me, growing up in California and knowing that the number one radio station there is playing your song, well, that can be like having a really hot chick. Who cares if she’s blind?
So how much say do you have in it or does the record company sway it?
DM: Oh, you used to and then I kind of lost all of that say. But I’m getting it back again but times are changing in this information age. They look at artists as being plastic, like some sort of a queue number and we’re not. We’re human beings that have lives and that care about what our friends say. Its f**king lonely out here sometimes. I had a pretty profound change in my life recently and I’m a different person. I still get upset and get angry but I just deal with it differently. I like to respond and to think about it.
To an extent doesn’t that go against the ethos of what constitutes Megadeth? Pure outright aggression so I’m curious how you reconcile with that.
DM: I think so and I wanted Megadeth music to be something that you could f**k or fight to no matter what. When Marty was in the band the music kept getting changed to be more exotic and more melodic, more poppy and more mainstream. I couldn’t take it and in the making of ‘Cryptic Writings’ there was one part where I was mocking Marty and we were doing this one part in ‘Risk’ and it like [sings riff] but I was really going ‘narnh nah, narnh nah, narrrnh nah’ to him. So he said, ‘Dude that f**king totally hot’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe that you would…’ so yeah, I lost the battle on that one. Then when he was actually going to leave and pursue a new life in Japan, he’d married a Japanese girl over in America and has an affinity for the Asian culture. I wish him well.
So, why go to Dean guitars over ESP?
DM: I had been a Jackson endorser and then Jackson had been bought by Fender so I left. I wasn’t happy where I went and I wanted to go back to Jackson. I had gotten the contract and it was filled out ready to be signed. I was, for all intensive purposes back with Jackson. Someone said to my wife, ‘blah blah blah’ and my wife said, ‘Dave, Dean guitars want to talk to you’. So the guy got into his private jet and he flew out to meet me and I thought, ‘that’s serious’. The guitars play fantastically and the CEO of the company is a great guy, the namesake of the company. He sold the company and then when the CEO bought it back, he’s redeveloping and rebuilding the company. So, Dean Zulinski is actually back but he is not the principal owner of the company. [For the signature guitar] they changed the headstock ‘cos I like six [tuning pegs] in a row and the strings are gauge 10-52s. Everything else about it is cream of the crop. It plays like butter and that thing is a monster.
Regarding the pickups on your guitars. Is it still Seymour Duncans?
DM: Yeah, I’ve used Seymour Duncans almost for my whole career. I’ve never really experimented too much with pickups. I basically told Seymour’s people what I wanted and that’s what they gave me. It’s a Jeff Beck pickup because that’s what I was using before the JBJs with a little bit more oomph to it. For my music, why go to all of that hassle to EQ your amplifier if you’re guitar sounds like crap? Start with the guitar.
With amplifiers, I know that you were using Line 6 for a bit – is that still active?
DM: No, I still own the stuff but it just a venture where they made me some personal amps and that was a surprise that they gave me. They sound great and they’re really lightweight. But, I’ve been a Marshall guy ever since I could afford it and you can get it replaced just about anywhere. The Line 6 I wouldn’t be able to get it replaced as easily if something was broken somewhere.
Your technique must have changed as a result of your arm injury. Did you learn to approach playing differently with arm exercises?
DM: I actually improved my playing ability because I had to learn how to play again. There’s some stuff that I did that was cheating ‘cos I‘m self taught but then as soon as I started doing it the right way I was like, ‘God, this sucks, I can’t believe I’m so terrible’. But then all of a sudden it all clicked and I was able to cross this imaginary teeny little stream over to a new consciousness with my guitar.
With doing the ‘Warchest’ box-set [live tracks and rarities from early 90s era] and the numerous re-mastered re-releases, do you remember the technology used then and think that was so archaic?
DM: Yeah certainly. If I was starting out right now I probably wouldn’t make it. There are so many people out there now that have no talent that have used Pro Tools to make themselves sound good. I miss the days of real musicians. I have a lot of experience with internet business so I know how to embrace that technology and to introduce stuff to our fans that makes it not only a band that they can musically listen to but a band whose ideas they can subscribe to ‘cos they’re not over the top.
On ‘Warchest’ there are some thumping guitar sounds. Was it due to microphone placement and cabinets used? If not, what were you doing back then to capture it?
DM: I think a lot of it was hand techniques when you use a lot of palm muting. I use a considerable amount of the flesh on my hand [outside of the palm] to dampen the strings. I’ll anchor my little finger around the pickup ring and that’s how I can tell when I’m going back and forth. I’m really just conserving energy and hand-space. Its economy in little hand shakes and playing shortcuts.