On the latest episode of The David Ellefson Show, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson reflected on the making of the band’s latest album, “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!”
Ellefson laid down his bass tracks on MEGADETH‘s sixteenth LP in May 2020 at a studio in Nashville, Tennessee. In July 2021, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine announced during an episode of his Gimme Radio program “The Dave Mustaine Show” that Ellefson‘s bass tracks would not be used on the new MEGADETH LP.
“The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” was released in September 2022 via UMe. Just months after TESTAMENT bassist Steve DiGiorgio recorded his parts for the effort, former MEGADETH bassist James LoMenzo rejoined the band in time for the summer 2021 leg of “The Metal Tour Of The Year” and was later named a permanent replacement for Ellefson.
Ellefson said in part about the recording sessions for “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!” (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “That was a brutal record. I’m glad to be away from it, to be honest with you. It was a terrible process. It was five years in the making. Every song I wrote for it got taken off — every riff I added, every lyric I added. It was spiteful, it was vengeful and it was hateful. And it was not my record. I went into it. I said to Dave [Mustaine], I said, ‘Why don’t we go in here? We’re at a phase now, we should go in here like it’s ‘Peace Sells’. We [should go in there like we] have no money. We have no time. Write a song, record it, move on. Write a song, record it, move on.’ I said, ‘I feel like fans are tired of these over-digitized, fucking locked-to-the-grid, these perfect heavy metal records.’ Fans want fucking records — I think — that are more organic. It sounds like a band playing in the room together.
“Then this 40th anniversary of [MEGADETH‘s] ‘Youthanasia’ [album] came up and I go back to that,” Ellefson continued. “Shawn Drover [former MEGADETH drummer] got me into that record again. And I hadn’t listened to it in a lot of years, and I listened to it and I go, ‘Fuck, we were good, man.’ That’s us playing together in the room, all four of us, laying down tracks together. And I miss that.”
Circling back to the process of making “The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!”, David said: “There was clashes all the way down, and for me, it started in 2018 when Dave came in to — we started a tour in Oslo, and he came in and he said he wanted to re-record [METALLICA‘s] ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ demo [which Mustaine played on when he was briefly a member of METALLICA]. I’m, like, ‘Are you kidding me? This is where we’re at? After all this time? We’re supposed to be writing a new album and new songs. And I was just, like, ‘I am not down with that.’ As fun as it would be to play those songs, ’cause that’s one of my favorite METALLICA recordings, I was just, like, ‘Yeah, I ain’t down with that.’ I’m sorry. I couldn’t kiss the ring for that one. I was, like, ‘I’m out.’ And so I think our problem started then. So as we went into the record, he knew I wasn’t willing to just fucking say, ‘Yes, Dave,’ and go along with shit. So eventually I’m out of the band. So it goes. Bands are what bands are, and it is what it is.”
Ellefson added: “Sadly, I have not listened to [‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’ since it came out]. I heard the one video… The record brings up bad feelings for me. And not being thrown out of the band, but just everything about that record.”
Seven years ago, Mustaine said that he didn’t want to “perpetuate false information” by giving METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich songwriting credit on the previously announced expanded version of “No Life ‘Til Leather”.
“No Life ‘Til Leather” was released as a limited-edition cassette for Record Store Day in April 2015, available exclusively in independent record stores. It featured artwork copies from drummer Ulrich‘s own personal copy of the original demo, as well as his handwriting. At the time, the band also promised that expanded editions of the demo, which had never before been commercially available, would arrive on CD, vinyl and in a collector’s set.
The seven-song tape was recorded with the first lineup of the band that appeared live as METALLICA, including Ulrich, guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, lead guitarist Mustaine and bassist Ron McGovney. The original recordings were paid for by High Velocity record label owner Kenny Kane, with a view of making them available as an EP in 1982.
Mustaine discussed the proposed expanded edition of “No Life ‘Til Leather” during a June 2018 interview with U.K.’s Kerrang! magazine. Saying that the last time he spoke to Hetfield was when the METALLICA guitarist/vocalist called him to talk about the “No Life ‘Til Leather” re-release, Mustaine recalled: “He was trying to get me to give publishing over to Lars, despite James and I being the sole songwriters. Lars wanted a percentage and I just said no. I love James, he’s a terrific guitar player, but yeah, I can’t do that. The songs are already out there. I’m not going to release something just to have a product to sell — especially if they are perpetuating false information. Lars did not write the songs. It was just me and James. Period.”
Ellefson, who has lived in Scottsdale, Arizona since 1994, was fired from MEGADETH in May 2021, just days after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.
LoMenzo originally joined MEGADETH in 2006 and appeared on two of the group’s studio albums, 2007’s “United Abominations” and 2009’s “Endgame”. He was fired from the band in 2010 and replaced with Ellefson.
Ellefson was in MEGADETH from the band’s inception in 1983 to 2002, when the group briefly broke up because Mustaine suffered severe nerve damage that left him unable to play.
Mustaine reformed MEGADETH 18 years ago. Originally setting out to record a solo album, Mustaine enlisted studio musicians to play on what ultimately became MEGADETH‘s 2004 “The System Has Failed” comeback album, subsequently recruiting former ICED EARTH bassist James MacDonough to take Ellefeson‘s place for the album’s touring cycle.
In 2004, Ellefson sued Mustaine for $18.5 million, alleging that Mustaine still owed him substantial merchandise and publishing royalties. In January 2005, the case was dismissed in court, and five years later, Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH.
