40 years later, Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine is still crushing the world

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, April 25, 2023

EVERETT — Now 61, there were many times Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine could have retired from music.

In 1993, he almost died after an overdose, in 2002, a doctor told him he’d never play again after a nerve injury in his left arm, in 2019 he was diagnosed with throat cancer.

But he shows no signs of slowing down. After four decades of metal, Mustaine and Megadeth will perform in Everett to begin the first leg of another tour.

“The desire comes from a lot of things — I love playing music, I love playing live,” Mustaine said in an interview with The Daily Herald. “It’s always fun to be able to call out to the audience at the end of a show, but I don’t waste a bunch of a time sitting up there and talking like some of these frontmen that have diarrhea of the mouth.”

The “Crush the World” tour kicks off Wednesday at Angel of the Winds Arena before heading to 12 stops all over Canada.

“We wanted to come to a really cool place to get ready for our tour,” Mustaine said. “We wanted to be in a place where we know if we walked into the city for the evening to get something to eat, we’d be around good people and entertainment.”

Mustaine formed Megadeth in 1983. He was the original lead guitarist in the legendary metal band Metallica, before a falling out with the group got him fired.

“I couldn’t hold my liquor like they did, and when I got drunk I would get violent,” he said. “That’s what cost me my job was I punched James (Hetfield) in the face because he kicked my dog.”

It wouldn’t take long for him to find purpose. While riding the bus back home to Los Angeles, he found a pamphlet by former Sen. Alan Cranston, D-California, that read “The arsenal of megadeath can’t be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to.” The term stuck with him, and he aspired to form his own band that was “more metal than a band that had metal in its name.”

Megadeth has since sold about 38 million records worldwide. It is considered one of the “Big Four” American metal bands from the 1980s underground scene to achieve mainstream commercial success, along with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. It is known for thrasher hits such as “Symphony of Destruction,” “Tornado of Souls” and “Peace Sells”

Much of the band’s continued success stems from its popularity in other countries. In Canada, it has sold 860,000 records. Megadeth also recently performed in Japan, where it has sold 200,000 albums.

“If we go to a city that’s starved for live music, it doesn’t matter if it’s metal or if it’s hard rock, they’ll still have a great time,” Mustaine said. “If you are a good entertainer, people will appreciate that you’re trying hard, instead of going out there self-aggrandizing and thinking you are the (expletive).”

Megadeth’s current lineup of Dave Mustaine (lead vocals and guitar), James LoMenzo (bass, backing vocals), Kiko Loureiro (guitar, backing vocals) and Dirk Verbeuren (drums) is the most consistent it has had in years. In the early days of the band, drug and alcohol addiction impacted many of its members. Other band members have either left or been fired by Mustaine since Megadeth’s heyday in the 1990s.

Former drummer Gar Samuelson and guitarist Chris Poland were fired in 1987 for pawning band equipment to buy drugs, Mustaine said in an interview with Gibson TV. Longtime drummer Nick Menza was removed from the band in 1998, and eventually died of heart failure in 2016 while performing on stage in Los Angeles.

“There’s a lot I regret. I regret not making things right with Nick before he died,” he said. “I have a lot of things that make me really happy, but for some silly reason as humans we could have 99 wins and 1 loss, but we’ll think about that (expletive) loss.”

If you go

Megadeth will perform Wednesday April 26 at Angel of the Winds Arena, 2000 Hewitt Avenue, Everett. Tickets range from $65.50 to $85.50 for standard admission. Call 425-322-2600 or go to the venue’s website for more information.

Jonathan Tall: 425-339-3486; jonathan.tall@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @EDHJonTall.