While former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson has again expressed a respectful hope to be included in the band’s final chapter, his Ellefson-Soto bandmate, veteran vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, has now made a passionate and direct public appeal to Dave Mustaine. In a dramatic interjection during a new interview, Soto declared that the only way to achieve “true closure” for the legendary thrash band is to reunite “the Joe Perry and Steven Tyler of this band” for one final hurrah.
The powerful moment occurred on the Rock ‘N’ Blues Experience podcast, where Ellefson was giving his first detailed reaction to Megadeth‘s recent farewell announcement. After Ellefson spoke about his hope for an inclusive final tour, Soto could not contain himself.
“I’m sorry, I have to interject here,” Soto began. “Dave Mustaine, you need to call David Ellefson and you need to put him as part of the end — if this is truly the end and you’re calling it a wrap, you need to include David at some point, even if it’s one show, one song, something like that. To me, that’s the true closure. That’s the real way to actually close the book on Megadeth. They have to at least include David… You need to get the Lennon and McCartney, the Joe Perry and the Steven Tyler of this band together for one final hurrah.”
Soto‘s fiery appeal came after Ellefson offered his own, more measured take. The founding bassist explained that while the farewell announcement was “a little shocking,” he understood, referencing a past comment from Mustaine‘s wife, Pam, who once joked, “The old horse is slowing down.”
Ellefson reiterated his hope for a final reunion in the vein of the recent Black Sabbath tribute, where “everybody got to say goodbye.” However, he made it clear that he would not be the one to initiate contact.
“Look, he removed me from the group, so it’s not my place to call him to go back,” Ellefson stated. “I think in a perfect world there would be at least a moment where maybe some of, if not all of, the rest of us got a chance to say goodbye as well.”
The question of whether Megadeth‘s final chapter will be a solo farewell or an all-encompassing celebration of its entire, complex history now hangs in the air, with the ball firmly in Dave Mustaine‘s court.
