Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson recently took a deep dive into his sprawling musical career, discussing the formation of the legendary thrash metal group, their early embrace of digital technology, and his extensive work outside the band.
During a recent appearance on the “Rock Kommander” podcast, David Ellefson looked back at the organic, ground-level origins of the group following frontman Dave Mustaine‘s high-profile exit from Metallica.
“For me, Megadeth is something I did for so many decades. ‘Cause I was a founding member of it. So we met just like this, in an apartment, and drank some beers, talked about heavy metal, talked about rock and roll. We got guitars in our hands. The songs were starting to be written. And we just kept it moving from there,” Ellefson shared (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
“When you start something, you really have to believe in it, because you’re ultimately trying to convince other people that this is the thing, this is cool,” Ellefson explained. “Now, I was lucky because with Megadeth, the music connected with people. They liked it. There was a story there about Dave [Mustaine] coming out of [his former band] Metallica. So right from the beginning there was a story. Because what makes my band any different than your band or his band or her band? What’s the hook, as they say, right? So there has to be something of interest. And so I was lucky with that, to move from Minnesota out to Hollywood and land in something like that right away — and at the very beginning. I didn’t join the group; I helped form it.”
The bassist highlighted the group’s first two decades under Capitol Records as the era that truly solidified their sonic identity. However, the musical landscape shifted drastically in the 1990s with the rise of the Seattle grunge movement, spearheaded by acts like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. To adapt and maintain a direct line to their global fanbase, the band became pioneers of the early internet.
“And Capitol Records came to us in 1994, when we launched an album called Youthanasia, and they asked us if we would be interested in forming basically the very first-ever band web site, which we did, called Megadeth Arizona — ’cause the band was based in Arizona at that time. And so we were a very much an early adapter. We were always an early adapter with technology, with kind of the new way of doing things. We were dubbed, at one point, the world’s state-of-the-art speed metal band. And, so when the Internet opportunity came to us, we said, ‘Absolutely.’ So we did. And the Internet, Megadeth Arizona was used as a way to launch that album in 1994. And then we secured Megadeth.com. Some fans actually had already bought it, because that’s what they do, right? They would buy and and hold on to it. So we were able to acquire that from them. We started Megadeth.com. We had our chat rooms, we had our message boards, so we were in this long before today the news sites and people with the leaving comments open and all this kind of stuff. The Internet, for us, was a very useful tool to be connected with our fans all around the world, ’cause we were a big international rock group.”
Following a severe arm injury sustained by Dave Mustaine, Megadeth temporarily disbanded in 2002. While the frontman reformed the group in 2004 for the comeback album The System Has Failed, initially recruiting former Iced Earth bassist James MacDonough for the tour, David Ellefson used the hiatus to broaden his horizons.
“In the 2000s, when the group disbanded, I quickly moved on to some other things. I actually went to college. I got my business degree. I worked for Peavey, doing artist relations, which was a way to sort of connect to companies’ musical products with the artist community. And at the time, a lot of young groups like Slipknot, Kid Rock, Nickelback were coming up the ranks, and I interfaced with them very early on. And they became tomorrow’s big rock groups. They became the Kiss of tomorrow.”
During this period away from the thrash titans, he also formed the band F5 and contributed to two albums by Max Cavalera‘s heavy groove outfit, Soulfly.
After a heavily publicized 2004 lawsuit against Dave Mustaine over royalties was dismissed in court, fences were eventually mended. David Ellefson officially rejoined the lineup in 2010, kicking off an 11-year run that included historic shows with the “Big Four” (alongside Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax) and a long-awaited Grammy victory for their 2016 record, Dystopia.
“And, to our fans, did they care if we won a Grammy? Probably not. For the industry, I think it was a cool acknowledgement that we always mattered, we were always relevant, we were always important not only to our fans, but even inside the industry of music and entertainment, we were always a leader. So, finally to have won the award was kind of, like, ‘Okay, good. Check. Got that done.’ And that was on the Dystopia album, which was really one of the great Megadeth records; I feel like that was really one of the great ones. So, time to move on from the, from the group.”
Returning to the fold required a shift in business dynamics. As detailed in his first book and past interviews, he re-entered the band as a salaried employee rather than an owner. This arrangement, he previously stated, absolved him of administrative headaches and helped preserve his friendship with Dave Mustaine. It also allowed him the freedom to spearhead outside endeavors like the all-star collective Metal Allegiance, which launched on the Motörhead ‘Motörboat‘ cruise.
“So when I went back to Megadeth, now I had this experience as a founding member of Megadeth and as a songwriter and a contributor to that band, but also to have my world wide enough that I knew how to step into situations to record, to perform with them. I started another all-star group called Metal Allegiance that we put on the Motörhead ‘Motörboat’ cruise. And that kind of started the all-star thing on these cruises where famous rockers get together and they do the all-star jam kind of thing. So, I got to be part of a lot of early ideas, early things that stuck and caught the attention of other people,” he summarized regarding his varied career.
David Ellefson‘s second tenure with Megadeth ended nearly five years ago when he was dismissed from the group following the leak of explicit videos and messages on social media.
