Megadeth shouldn’t require any type of introduction, especially if you're a music fan. Nevertheless, for the uninformed, they are an American Thrash Metal band from Los Angeles formed in 1983. They are known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship and are members of what is known as one of the "big four" of American Thrash Metal along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer. All four are hailed as being responsible for the genre's development and popularity.
MMORPG.COM was one of the first publications to meet with Megadeth’s founder/vocalist and guitarist, Dave Mustaine to talk about the Wargaming collaboration as well as some things Megadeth! This interview took place in early July of 2023, right before Megadeth took their tour overseas outside of the USA.
MMORPG: Dave, Megadeth has had some substantial contributions to the video gaming industry, including Guitar Hero, Grand Theft Auto, you voicing a character in Brutal Legend as well as the Megadeth Invasion game back in 2017. What keeps motivating you to keep contributing to this gaming industry??
Dave Mustaine: Well, first off, it's good to be able to talk with you and with the magazine. We've been involved in gaming pretty much ever since it started with Atari back in the day with Pong and going to arcades and doing PacMan and Tron and stuff like that back in the day. So, yeah, I've been a fan of all things blinking and all bells and whistles. So am I an active gamer at the moment? I'm actively aware of what's going on in the gaming world right now. But my hands are kind of messed up from arthritis which makes it hard to play. So I choose to use what I guess I have left in the tank with my fingers on my guitar. But I do really enjoy watching some of the games that aren't as involved. You know, like, some of the simple games I used to play with my kids when they were little, like driving, snowboarding stuff like that, the multiplayer and shooting stuff. That's exciting for me, but I just can't get my fingers to work fast enough. By the time I'm ready to shoot the first gun, I'm usually dead.
But the music part has been great. Megadeth music has not only been the soundtrack to a lot of games and stuff, and also a lot of people's lives, but it also has a driving tempo to it that works really well with the gaming community.
MMORPG: So let's talk about this collaboration with Wargaming.net. How did this come about? Did they seek you out? Did you guys talk to them?
Dave: You know, I don't remember exactly who made the first phone call. But I can tell you when I first heard about it, I was thrilled, I think it was one of the funnest things that we've done in probably 10 or 15 years. You know, sometimes it's the partnerships that you don't expect that are the most rewarding.
MMORPG: This collaboration will happen across four different Wargaming.net games on several different platforms. And they're going to be activities inspired by three Megadeth album covers (“Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?”, “Rust In Peace” and, “The Sick, the Dying…and the Dead!”). How were these three albums chosen and any hints as to what they will look like in-game?
Dave: The albums were chosen by Wargaming.net. So we've been really enjoying ourselves and having a lot of participation from both sides, not just them doing everything and me walking away saying “I did everything” and sponsoring Samsung and sending messages from my iPhone, you know, that kind of shit. It's been great to have their ideas and the song choices. It just shows that it's a good partnership because they know some of your music that's not the singles.
MMORPG: We’re also going to hear Megadeth mascot, Vic Rattlehead speak for the first time! Can you tell us who did that voiceover or whether it was mechanical?
Dave: It was mechanical. It was a bunch of effects and stuff put onto a raw vocal track, and it was basically effected and submitted and I kept listening to the performer’s voiceover track till we felt that it kind of symbolized what Vic was. Because, you know, it's the first time he's had a voice in his existence, and we wanted to make sure that it wasn't like, (Dave speaks here in an almost Rocky Balboa tone) “Hey yo! I’m Vic!” And people would go “What the F*%k I waited 40 years for this?”.
MMORPG: Vic Rattlehead is one of the most iconic Metal mascots out there with, of course, Iron Maiden’s Eddie. Does it feel good that he gets some exposure? And how did it come up to use him in these games?
Dave: Regarding use in the game, again, that was the game company’s idea. The structure of the game is there are different commanders, and in this particular version of the game, they can be any of the four band members or our mascot, Vic. And I think that's really cool. Because if you like the game and you don't care for the band stuff, then you know what, that's fine. Just go out there and kick ass and have fun.
MMORPG: Vic is over 40 years old, let's just say, rounding up. He really hasn't changed much in appearance as he's always been, the business suit guy.
Dave: I think if you look closely, you can see he's getting a little wrinkled.
MMORPG: So all of Megadeth did commander voiceovers? Was this something everyone looked forward to? And did you guys have a say in the actual lines spoken?
Dave: We all did our own voiceovers. And did we have anything to do with what was said? I imagine that some of the script if it was difficult, you know, like “I will be back” versus “I'd be back” (Dave says both in a mimic of Arnold's voice). You know, we did it the way that was best for what gifts God's given us. And, things like, Kiko being in a tank full of American guys. Or, you know, English-speaking guys. Dirk (Megadeth drummer) is an English speaker, but he's very much Belgian. So, you know, it's almost like a U.N. (United Nations) tank. Or should I say an un-U.N. tank?.
MMORPG: So the tracks “Peace Sells” and “The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!” will play as tankers get ready for battle, and “Tornado of Souls” will play when warships hit the sea. Did you guys have a hand in deciding what tracks to use for those? Or was it just the gaming company’s choice and was the choice difficult to make?
Dave: They had some tracks that they liked, that they felt would be the right tempo and the right kind of structure. I don't think you see bands like, and I don't want to dig at anybody but bands that play, for example, a song like “Take Five”, you're not going to see people gaming to a song that's in a weird time structure. Dave Brubeck has that famous song called “Take Five” that's in 5/4 time.
So, you know, I think they know what works better for their games than we do. So when they came to us and let us know what it was they were looking for, it was really easy. And they had some submission ideas. And we said, of course, this will be perfect for what you're looking for. And, it wasn't hard. You know, when you're again, in a partnership with people who know what they're doing and who are aware of who they're working with it becomes a really pleasant, enjoyable process. And we're not done with this (collaboration) yet. But I can already tell you if someone were to ask us if we would do something with these guys again, I would say there's no reason not to. It's been very enjoyable.
MMORPG: Let’s switch to a couple of music based questions before you leave. I'm a big fan of the album “Rust In Peace”. I'm a big fan of Megadeth from way back when and “Rust In Peace” is actually featured in this collaboration. So I was happy to see you reunite with Marty Friedman at Budokan. How was that experience overall?
Dave: That was really fun. You know, Marty is a very sweet soul. And he's a very gentle person. I think he was brought into this Earth to be one of those spirits that brings joy to others and expects nothing in return. Because he's just a different kind of guy, you know, just a real sweet person, playing on stage… he's a motherf@$&r. And when we saw him at Budokan recently, there was a lot of cathartic activity that took place because of that.
I think 27 or 28 years ago, we were asked to play Budokan and I was going through some medical issues at the time. I had just been released from the hospital. And our agent had me going to the airport right away to go to do a Japanese tour. And I said, I can't believe you did that, you know, I just got released from the f’ing hospital. So I fired him, and we canceled the Budokan show, not knowing it was gonna affect Marty. And THAT was pretty much a fatal blow to our relationship because it was so important to him.
So when the show came up, and the Budokan opportunity came around, I thought it was great for us to be able to contact Marty and say, Hey, man, you know what? We can make up for this spiritual long in the universe, you know, I'll be able to rerecord this tape and make a good experience out of it. So he agreed, we played, and he was very instrumental in what we were doing, talking about how we enter and exit the stage and where everyone's gonna be at what parts during the songs and pretty much took ownership of things. Just like he did when he and I were charging the worlds and we're going to, we've been talking about doing this again at Wacken in Germany. He's going to be playing there the same day we are so we're, we're hoping it'll happen. (And it did on August 4th!). I'm not sure if it will or not. But we're hoping and yeah, Marty, it's just been such a great experience for me over the years there were you know, a lot of ups, a couple of little teeny downs, when we parted ways but to be playing with him again, and there not be any kind of expectations. It's just been marvelous.
MMORPG: Any chance that any of those shows will be recorded and released to the general public?
Dave: Yeah they’re all recorded. We have 130 shows recorded right now. So I mean, you know at some point, I'm sure we're gonna look back and we're gonna want to use the live track from somewhere or something or maybe do a live or a double live or a triple live record. And the great thing would be if we did do that there would be such a cornucopia of offerings of different types of settings, audiences, musicians, and song choices. We've got most recently playing in Tampa with Lee Ving from Fear for the MD. 45 project that we did with Megadeth. And what you just said about, obviously, Marty, there’s been some times also
that we've done some stuff I remember a long, long time ago, doing something on the Gigantic tour. When we played Dallas for the first time, I mean, everybody that plays Dallas plays Pantera songs now, so it's kind of almost a given but back when we first did it, you know, it was still very open wounds and very much on the hearts and minds of everybody. So Several of us from different bands got together and went out there and did a track honoring Darryl. Of course, Vincent was still alive at the time. But you know, it's tragic what happened to those boys. They were amazing musicians, great people.
MMORPG: We just had a 32-year anniversary of the “Clash Of The Titans” show where Megadeth played with Slayer, Anthrax, and Alice In Chains. So how does it feel to still be playing and still be relevant for so many years?
Dave: I think the last part of your question is more of a surprise than the first part. You know, when you say how does it feel to be playing? I think that's kind of like going up to an old tennis player and saying, “How's it feel to get out on the courts and swing a racket?” You know it's like putting on a pair of well-fitting shoes, it's comfort and it feels good, you know? I mean, I know you have garments that you put on, you just feel like a f’ing burlap sack and other stuff that you've put on, like this, my favorite sweatshirt, nice and cozy. And that's what a lot of these things are with the songs you know, the songs are really not necessarily a panacea, but they just feel good. Now, there are other songs that are really challenging to play. I remember when we did the “Rust In Peace” anniversary and trying to sing “Architecture Of Aggression”. That is by far one of the stupidest things I've ever done in my life. Try singing and playing that at the same time. I did. But boy, was it hard. I kind of felt like someone had taken a rubber glove and tied all the fingers together at the end.
MMORPG: Is there any chance we'll still get more releases from Megadeth in the future?
Dave: Well. You know, I could I could do the knee-jerk reaction that all musicians say and say yes. Truth be told, it depends. It depends on what's going on with the band we have, you know, where we've been playing for a long time. So consequently, when you've been in business for a long time, kids happen. And we've got families at home and some of them have families. And so this has been such a great Bohemian journey for us with all of our friends around the world and being barefoot in blue jeans and just celebrating stuff. So when the time is right to do a new record, it'll certainly be, it'll start. We've got songs leftover from the last project and projects before that, not entire songs, but pretty much completed songs with a little bit of a riff here or there that need to be either located in my archives or created once I listened to the riff again, and get inspired.
So that's how I write. I have stuff if I don't use it, I put it in an archive, if I don't like it, it will never see the light of day. And I don't have any riffs recorded in my archives that are songs that I wouldn't want to keep, they just weren't finished. So I might have a part and then it needs a second part and I just don't have that at the time but the first part is appealing to me. It may not be a great part, it may be like a passing part in between songs or maybe an intro or an outro or something like that. So when it’s time to do a new record, we could realistically go in tomorrow and start but we've got so much life left in “The Sick, the Dying…and the Dead!” which was a number one record in America on Billboard and this really high charting record around the rest of the world. It’s the highest charting record we've ever had and, is
still chugging away at sales. And you know, (the album) “Dystopia” was the beginning of a renaissance for us and our comeback if you will. And it's great to see fans waking up again to Metal in general, but coming back around. For us, it's neat, because it's not so much what we think about Megadeth it's what the fans think about Megadeth. And right now Megadeth is a band for the people.
